Frontline NRP officers to get naloxone
Lifesaving naloxone kits will eventually be deployed to frontline police officers now that cops won’t be subject to investigation by the province’s police watchdog, says Niagara Regional Police’ acting chief.
“Obviously, I am pleased the province has taken this step and listened to the association of chiefs of police and police officers in Ontario,” said NRP Acting Chief Brett Flynn in a Thursday interview.
On Tuesday the provincial government announced police services will no longer have to call in the Special Investigations Unit — it probes any circumstance of serious injury or death involving police in Ontario — if a person dies after an office administers the drug.
Police departments across the province have been reluctant to deploy the drug — which can stop an opioid overdose in its tracks — because if a person dies, the SIU’s mandate is automatically invoked.
When the SIU investigates the officer involved because what is known as a “subject officer” and is effectively sidelined until the investigation is over.
The changes announced by Queen’s Park to the Police Services Act say the SIU will not be called in provided the interaction of a person who was injured or died was limited to an officer providing naloxone.
Flynn said given the effectiveness of naloxone and the high volume of calls officers respond to involving overdoses, the NRP has long intended to put the drug into the hands to frontline officers.
However, the logistical challenges of training an entire service of officers on the drug’s use, and the potential of increased SIU investigations, have slowed that deployment.
At the moment, Flynn said, naloxone is only deployed to a handful of speciality units where NRP personnel could come into contact with powerful opioids such as fentanyl, which is easily absorbed through the skin.
Those units include forensics, officers in the drug and street crimes units, and civilian personnel who handle seized property.
“That may be a little inwardlooking, but our aim was to ensure we were protecting our officers and civilian staff,” said Flynn. “We look forward to having naloxone more widely deployed because it needs to be.”
Flynn said the primary hurdle is training hundreds of NRP officers. A plan is in the works he said, although he did not have a timeline immediately available for that training and deployment.
According to Positive Living Niagara, at least 13 people have died in Niagara since August due to fentanyl overdoses.