T cops to carry OD-halting drug
Emergency incidents rise
MBTA police patrolmen will begin carrying the powerful overdose-reversal drug Narcan by the end of the year, as the transit agency tries to combat the growing problem of overdoses on T property.
Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan said the department is in the process of ordering doses of Narcan for its 210 patrolmen and plans to train the officers how to administer the medication by the end of the year.
When officers now spot a person overdosing on drugs, they have to wait until medical first responders arrive to administer Narcan.
Sullivan said that by carrying the doses themselves, Transit Police officers will be able to help people more quickly and save more lives.
Sullivan said the T has seen an increase in opioid overdose calls, though he was unable to provide a breakdown of overdose incidents on T property.
Instead, he gave numbers for “medical emergencies,” a category that includes overdose incidents, showing a dramatic increase in recent years.
In 2015, Transit Police responded to 53 medical incidents, two of them resulting in deaths. Last year, there were 75 medical emergencies on T property, seven of them fatal. And this year so far, Transit Police have responded to 93 medical emergencies, three of them fatal.
Sullivan said officers posted in T stations — especially South Station, North Station and JFK station — have witnessed the increase primarily in people using the bathrooms to shoot up drugs, a problem they are now dealing with on a daily or weekly basis.
“Being a public transit system, we have to have facilities that have bathrooms. … The volume has increased of people coming in using the bathrooms for other than the purpose intended, to inject drugs,” Sullivan said. Officers “are very vigilant to make sure when they see someone — based on their training and experience — heading to the bathroom not to relieve themselves. They go in there and check frequently. It’s a constant challenge we are experiencing.”
Sullivan said MBTA management and the three unions that represent the Transit Police were supportive of the plan to equip officers with Narcan.