The Vancouver Police Department has ordered 680 naloxone kits to equip more of its officers with the means to assist a person suffering from a drug overdose.
Some officers have carried the nasal spray form of the overdose-reversing drug since September 2016 — the first police agency in Canada to do so — and have administered it 144 times, according to Supt. Matt Harty.
The addition of more kits comes as the Vancouver Police Board received two complaints this year from citizens frustrated that officers were not equipped with naloxone while in the vicinity of an overdose.
“How are police officers, who are meant to work for the community, not carrying naloxone kits while patrolling the Downtown Eastside?” said a registered nurse in her written complaint. “This seems completely irresponsible. Is this the case with all Vancouver police?”
'Shocked by this response'
The nurse’s complaint stemmed from an incident on the late afternoon of April 12, 2024. She stopped on a Main Street sidewalk near East Pender Street to assist with an unconscious, drug-overdosed man.
At the time, a woman had called for paramedics while a few people attempted to prepare naloxone to inject the man. She said two officers were standing on the sidewalk, observing the scene.
“After I had administered two doses of naloxone and was waiting for paramedics to arrive in order to provide the victim with oxygen, it was clear that the overdose victim was still not responding,” she said.
“I asked the Vancouver police officers for an additional naloxone kit, to which they stated they did not have any on them, or in their car. I was and still am completely shocked by this response.”
Paramedics responded and revived the man.
The police board received a similar complaint regarding an overdose that occurred Feb. 23 near Main and Keefer streets. A mother wrote the complaint on behalf of her son, who was present during the event.
Witnesses observed a male collapse from a suspected opioid overdose and onlookers flagged down a passing VPD patrol car. Officers were unable to administer naloxone because they were not equipped with kits.
As per standard practice, police notified paramedics and firefighters, who attended and revived the man, according to a police report that went before the police board at its Sept. 19 meeting.
'Clearly a gap'
Supt. Harty told board members at the meeting “there was clearly a gap in funding and procurement” of more kits. Money from the provincial government has allowed police to order more naloxone kits for officers and replenish stock.
The VPD received government grants this year totalling $85,000 towards the purchase of 680 kits. The department also ordered 1,500 nasal spray pouches in April so more officers can carry naloxone.
In addition, kits have been installed in patrol supervisor vehicles, the duty officer vehicle and in police wagons, as well as department buildings and the jail.
“Moving forward, we will continue securing funding and replenishing inventory as necessary and monitor the process through our VPD health and safety unit,” Harty said.
“Both complainants were contacted, and we let them know that we had listened to their concerns and shared our response to this funding and procurement gap.”
The department has a current policy where officers don’t respond to calls of a person who overdosed, unless there is a crime involved. The reason for the kits is to ensure officers have the option to assist an overdose victim, if they come upon such a person while on duty.
'They saved his life'
In April 2016, the B.C. Ministry of Health declared the toxic drug crisis to be a public health emergency.
A ministerial order was signed in October 2016 authorizing a person who is not otherwise authorized to administer naloxone to do so — if they believe a person is suffering from an opioid overdose.
This enabled police to carry and administer naloxone, which officers first used Dec. 28, 2016 on a man who overdosed outside Rogers Arena.
Then-Staff Sgt. Bill Spearn told the Vancouver Courier at the time: “The ambulance crew agreed that, yeah, absolutely, what [the officers] had done was the right thing, and that they saved his life by doing it.”
The Independent Investigations Office and Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner have agreed that when VPD officers administer naloxone to a person who is overdosing — and that person dies — they do not require notification.
The exception to this exemption would be if the person who overdosed was in police custody at the time of death.
BC Coroners Service statistics show 296 people died of a suspected overdose in Vancouver between January and July of this year.
