Mahoning County Hazmat has new tool to detect chemicals, drugs and liquids

Mahoning County's Hazmat Team has a new tool to help them respond to and identify potential public threats in a much more efficient way. Mahoning County's Hazmat Team has a new tool to help them respond to and identify potential public threats in a much more efficient way. It's courtesy of a grant from Homeland Security. Stephen Szekely of the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department is the Chief of Mahoning County's Hazmat's Team. "What it does is, it shoots a specific laser light into the product and vibrates the molecules. That vibration of the light goes back to the meter and it compares it to a library of known chemicals. So when it compares it, it lets us know exactly what we're dealing with," said Szekely. Mahoning County's Hazmat Team was able to get a grant through Homeland Security to pay for this Raman Spectroscopy Meter at a cost of $50,000.