SIU won´t budge after police chiefs urge naloxone policy change
(The Star Fashion & Style)

Ontario’s police watchdog is pushing back at chiefs for suggesting their officers might hesitate to provide the life-saving drug naloxone out of fear that it could prompt an investigation by the civilian agency. In a strongly worded letter Thursday, the director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said the agency would not back down on its expectation that it be notified in cases where a civilian is injured or dies after an officer administers naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.The message comes in response to a request from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) that the SIU dispense with its expectation that it be notified when the drug is administered by officers but a death or injury nonetheless occurs. A central reason the OACP provided was that the policy could discourage officers from acting quickly to save lives. SIU director Tony Loparco took issue with that purported fear.“The SIU rejects the contention that the vast majority of police officers might do anything less than act swiftly in the discharge of their foremost duty, namely, the preservation of life, for fear that their conduct will be subject to a fair and independent investigation.�Loparco goes on to say that such an investigation is “precisely the answer for the small minority of officers who may have fallen short in their duty, a position with which the OACP presumably agrees.�The back-and-forth about police naloxone use comes as more front line officers in Ontario — including Ottawa, Waterloo, Durham and the OPP — are being equipped with the live-saving kits in the fight against the opioid crisis sweeping Canada. In a report to the Toronto police board released Thursday, Chief Mark Saunders outlines a proposed plan for “structured deployment� of naloxone nasal spray, including to every front line officer in Toronto’s downtown core.Opioid-related overdose deaths have more than double ...