Saunders considers officer drug testing
Chief’s comments come after confirmation that constable died from fentanyl overdose
Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders says he’s actively looking at drug testing for officers in the wake of a constable’s fentanyl overdose death this year.
“I don’t want to lose any officers to anything, especially drugs of any kind and if there are things that we can do to reduce that, then I’m very interested in that,” Saunders said Tuesday during a year-end interview.
Back on the job a little over a week after recovering from kidney transplant surgery, Saunders said introducing drug testing would not be some form of “gotcha.” But it also falls to him to address the “dangers of someone under the influence” working in law enforcement.
Saunders said he has asked police chiefs in other major cities about their drug testing practices, he said. An internal team is reviewing that input and figuring out “what would the best procedure look like.”
More than a decade ago, the late judge George Ferguson recommended random drug testing for officers in “high-risk” jobs in a report aimed at combating police corruption. The police board did not adopt the measure after pushback by the Toronto Police Association. The Toronto Transit Commission introduced random drug and alcohol testing of its employees this year.
Const. Michael Thompson, 37, died last spring after working undercover in the force’s drug squad. The cause of death was confirmed months later based on toxicology and pathology test results. An investigation into his death is ongoing. The chief, interviewed in his office at police headquarters, said he’s well aware that Thompson belongs to a mounting death toll attributed to opioids, which includes the highly potent painkiller fentanyl.
There were 68 deaths in Toronto in 2017, compared with seven last year, he said. The number of opioid deaths in Canada is expected to hit 4,000 by the end of 2017.
Internally, the force is conducting a comprehensive review on the implications of equipping front line officers with naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effect of an opioid overdose. Rather than focusing on law enforcement’s response to the crisis — police respond to fewer than 3 per cent of overdose calls — Saunders said he would like more study on what is leading so many “normal” people to get hooked.
It was something that could have potentially happened to him while recovering from his kidney surgery this fall. Saunders’ wife, Stacey, donated her kidney to her husband, who was born with only one kidney. He discovered that later in life.
They are both making a strong recovery, he says with a wide smile.
“We’re both healthy and looking forward to a great Christmas.”
Pain medication was a necessity after the operation, but Saunders, 55, said he never worried about getting hooked. “No, I am who I am, I . . . don’t get addicted to things,” he said, but added: “It has nothing to do with strength or weakness.”
The former undercover drug cop says he has lost friends to substance abuse “and I can tell you: I’m a lot less judgmental than I was 35 years ago when I joined (the service.) It can happen to anybody.”