VICTORIA -- Victoria’s police chief is speaking out after his officers saved a man suffering from a suspected overdose.
In early February, VicPD officers came across a man lying on the street in downtown Victoria. When officers checked on the man, they found he was unresponsive.
Suspecting the man lying on View Street was suffering from an overdose, police immediately called for paramedics and administered the life-saving drug, Naloxone.
In a tweet, Victoria Police Chief Del Manak praised his officers for their response and said it “marked the 100th life saved by @vicpdcanada.”
Manak says the risk of more overdose deaths is high because of the toxic drug supply currently circulating in B.C. He says members of the Victoria Police Department are customarily the first people to arrive when someone is in distress, and that the continued overdose crisis is having a negative effect on officers.
“It takes a toll on them in the long run,” he said. “But what I am most proud of is that when somebody is need of medical attention, our officers are there no questions asked and no judgement.”
“Without relying on other agencies to come for support it just shows again the benefit of having officers on the frontline and having them equipped with Naloxone,” Manak told CTV News.
Manak says since the overdose crisis was declared a health emergency in 2016, all member of the department have been trained on how to administer Naloxone. He goes on to say due to the toxic drug supply, more needs to be done to prevent deaths from overdose.
