Front-line officers admit carrying opioid antidote
Despite chief’s stance, some cops use naloxone kits found at most pharmacies
Some front-line Windsor police officers are quietly carrying naloxone kits, despite Chief Pam Mizuno’s refusal to equip the force with the life-saving antidote to opioid overdoses, according to several former and current police members.
The officers, who spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity, said they carry the same nasal spray kits available to members of the public at most pharmacies.
The police union would not confirm if officers carry naloxone on their own. But the Windsor Police Association is encouraging members to carry it, regardless of the service’s official stance.
“These kits are made available to the public,” said Const. Jason Dejong, president of the association. “We want to encourage our members to protect themselves or their partners from a potential exposure, and we encourage them to carry it. At the same time, we’re looking to the service for policy to further protect our members as it relates to naloxone.”
Windsor is the sole remaining mid- to large-size city in Ontario where the chief does not allow officers to carry the antidote, which the province hands out for free to first-responder agencies.
“Most services in the province have gone that way, for sure,” said Joe Couto, spokesman for the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, which supports officers carrying naloxone.
Retired chief Al Frederick, who was at the helm of Windsor police as the opioid crisis took hold, would not equip his officers with naloxone. Mizuno has maintained that position.
She told reporters following a police board meeting in October that she will not issue an edict for her officers to carry naloxone because it should be the responsibility of paramedics.
She did not address the issue of officer safety.
Mizuno has since repeatedly refused to comment on the issue. She did so again on Thursday.
“Chief Mizuno has spoken to the media and provided the WPS stance regarding officers being issued naloxone,” Sgt. Stephen Betteridge, spokesman for Windsor police, said Thursday in an email. “There is no new information to provide at this time.”
Betteridge did not answer questions about whether Mizuno is aware officers are carrying naloxone, and what her opinion is about that.
He also did not respond to an inquiry about the number of calls involving overdoses police responded to this year.
Betteridge also would not comment on whether the chief has ordered officers not to carry naloxone, or if she simply has not provided it to them.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, who has previously stated his opposition to giving local officers naloxone, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Dilkens, also chair of the Windsor Police Services Board, said last month “there is nothing presented to me that shows arming our officers with naloxone is the right thing to do.” Dealing with overdose victims, he said, is a job best left to paramedics.
Dilkens said in November equipping cops with naloxone would lead to a “snowball effect” with police being pressured to carry other medications such as Epipens, or nitroglycerine for heart attacks.
The Windsor Fire and Rescue Service is also behind the curve. While firefighters across Ontario now carry the life-saving medication, Windsor Fire Chief Stephen Laforet has not equipped his personnel with naloxone.
The unions representing both firefighters and police want their members carrying the overdose antidote.
Apart from personal protection, Dejong said officers with naloxone could potentially save civilian lives.
“We’re looking to the service to provide policy or direction as to how to administer naloxone with respect to the public, to ensure that our members are protected as it relates to civilian oversight,” said Dejong.
Between January and November this year, officers with the London Police Service administered 192 doses of naloxone to 111 people. Const. Sandasha Bough, spokeswoman for London police, said 103 of those people survived.
All of London’s sworn members, including cadets and special constables, have carried naloxone since June 2018.
“Due to concerns about an increase in the fentanyl-related overdoses that London police officers are responding to, members began carrying naloxone kits to ensure they are able to provide immediate assistance if exposed to fentanyl or to provide immediate assistance to someone who has overdosed,” said Chief Steve Williams.
Over the seven months they had naloxone in 2018, London officers gave 96 doses to 59 people, with 57 surviving.
“Fentanyl and other opioids continue to be a significant issue in London,” said Williams. “We are going to these types of calls too often, but, fortunately, we have been able to help a significant number of people.”
Ontario Provincial Police started rolling out naloxone to all frontline officers and certain specialized units in June 2017. The main reason, said Staff Sgt. Carolle Dionne, was officer safety.
“It was initially, and still is, primarily for the protection of an officer, if an officer is exposed,” she said.
“It’s part of the use of personal protective equipment, which is mandatory for us to have during drug searches, seizures, sampling of evidence that we collect. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
But OPP officers have also used naloxone to help save 102 civilian lives.
“If there is a life-threatening situation and emergency medical services are not immediately available, the officers are also trained to use it on members of the public,” said Dionne.
The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has been publicly pushing for police officers across the province to carry naloxone for the last couple of years.
The association has a page on its website with the heading Do the Right Thing: Naloxone Kits for Police Personnel.
“For us, this is really about a medical issue of somebody in distress,” said Couto.
“If an officer has the ability to administer naloxone to assist that person who is having an overdose, and perhaps save a life, they should have that option.”
It’s also about officer safety, he said.
“We have a health crisis, a genuine health crisis in this province,” said Couto. “Our priority is of course to save lives, but also to protect our officers.
“I know that many front-line officers tell us they are concerned for their personal safety in terms of being inadvertently exposed to substances.
“We must protect our personnel. We have a duty to.”
But he added it is up to each police service to decide what is right for its community, and the association has no comment on the refusal of Windsor’s chief to authorize the use of naloxone.
“I trust that Chief Mizuno is going to weigh all the issues that the previous chief weighed, and make the correct decision for her community,” said Couto. “We’d certainly respect that.
“We have a fentanyl crisis in the province. So this is part of the debate. What’s the role of a police officer versus the medical personnel that we work with — the paramedics, firefighters and others?
“It’s certainly something that the chief in Windsor will have to consider and make a decision she feels is right for her community.”