Port Hueneme Police Department Deploying New Piece of Equipment Designed to Save Lives from Opioid Overdose

The Port Hueneme Police Department began issuing a new tool in the field which is designed to save lives. All officers have been trained, assigned, and outfitted with Naloxone which is a nasal spray version of Narcan. Naloxone is an approved medication through the USDA that acts as an opioid antagonist designed for the emergency treatment of suspect opioid overdose victims.  

As officers commonly respond to drug overdoses, police are now able to administer Naloxone to combat the immediate effects of an opioid overdose. Since 1999, opioid overdoes have quadrupled. With this increase, the 2017 report of the Presidents commission combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis recommended that all law enforcement agencies in the United States be equipped with Naloxone. Thanks to Ventura County Emergency Medical Services, Ventura County Behavioral Health, and Project Safer, this has been made possible.

Providing law enforcement with the knowledge and the tools to reverse opioid overdoses in the field can reduce the time between when an overdose victim is discovered and when they receive lifesaving assistance. Opioids cause death by slowing, and eventually stopping the person’s breathing. When administered, naloxone restores respiration within two to five minutes, and may prevent brain injury and death.  Naloxone works on overdoses caused by opioids, which includes prescription painkillers and street drugs like heroin. Naloxone has no potential for abuse and has no known adverse effects on persons who are not experiencing an opioid overdose.

In 2017, the County of Ventura recorded 165 overdose related deaths. The City of Port Hueneme accounted for 3 of those deaths along with 5 in 2016.  

Naloxone is effective because the drug forms a stronger bond than opioids to chemical receptors in the brain, replacing them and helping to reverse the impacts of an opioid overdose. The use of Narcan has been around since the 1970’s and was commonly injected by medical personnel. With the USDA approved nasal spray version, police personnel now have the ability to treat for opioid overdoses in the field.

This new tool is not only designed to save the lives of opioid users but police officers as well. Most recently, officers throughout the United States have been exposed to fentanyl residue which is deadly in small doses. Fentanyl almost immediately causes respiratory distress. Last week in Alameda County, police detectives were exposed to this deadly drug while searching a motel room which caused immediate overdose symptoms. Officers on scene were able to save the officer’s life with the deployment of Naloxone.

Witnesses to overdoses should not fear calling the police for medical attention out of fear of being arrested. California Penal Code section 11376.5 protects persons seeking assistance for overdose incidents from prosecution for being in possession of, or under the influence of controlled substances.

Opioid overdose continue to be on the rise and this is our part to help change this trend. Opioid overdoses have surpassed automobile accidents as the highest cause of preventable death in the United States.

By providing our officers with Naloxone, we provide an additional line of defense against opioid deaths, both to the public and for accidental exposures to our officers.

By training our officers to administer Naloxone, an initial dose of the drug could be administered in the valuable minutes before paramedics arrive on scene.  We want the public to know our primary role is to protect and save lives and educating our community could lead to a greater willingness to call 911 in an overdose situation especially when California law precludes charging callers with drug offenses.

Implementing this overdose reversal program can only have positive benefits in our community. This is just one positive step in which law enforcement can help address a public health crisis which will inevitably help establish and strengthen meaningful police-community relationships.

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