Palos Park Police Receive More Effective Tool Against Opioid Overdoses

PALOS PARK, IL — Palos Park Police recently began a new initiative that gives officers more tools to respond to emergency situations in which they encounter opioid overdoses, police officials announced last week.

Police Commissioner Dan Polk announced that the police department has enhanced its resources for officers and mental health professionals as they deal with opioid overdoses and connected behavioral and health services that are sometimes critically needed.

The department will begin using Brand Which, which is a Nasal Spray is an opioid antagonist indicated for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose, as manifested by respiratory and/or central nervous system depression, police said.

NARCAN Nasal Spray is intended for immediate administration as emergency therapy in settings where opioids may be present NARCAN is carried in all patrol units. Palos Park Crisis Intervention officers respond to incidents involving behavioral and mental health, including mental health crises such as suicidal people, and work with mental health professionals as a team, the police working to identify what kind of help the person needs.

Palos Park Police Chief Joe Miller said that officers with the department have carried some version of NARCAN with them since 2016 as part of a joint grant program through Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison and the Orland Fire District.

The NARCAN supply was made available to the department at no cost to the agency, Miller said. But the new version of the nasal spray has proven more effective in treating opioid overdoses and officers are trained yearly in how to best use the spray when situations call for emergency action. The most recent donation through the joint program will not only allow officers to have the NARCAN with them in their patrol vehicles but will have them to carry with them at all times, Miller said.

Miller said that the most number of cans of the nasal spray used by officers in one setting was four after police officers found two girls that had overdosed on opioids in a bedroom. He said that in this case, the victims appeared to be normal college students who showed no signs of struggling with drug abuse.

With the assistance of the NARCAN used by officers, immediate care was able to be provided to the victims of the overdose, which Miller says can have life-saving results.

"The tool allows officers to immediately treat overdose victims they encounter when every minute counts," Miller said.