If Something Goes Wrong With Drug Overdose Kits, Will Police Officers Be Protected?

1 September 2018, 17:02

Derbyshire police and crime commissioner believes all frontline officers should be equipped with drug overdose kits, but a serving police officer questions whether he'd be legally protected should something go wrong.

All frontline police officers should carry an overdose kit that can quickly reverse the effects of a opiate overdose, says Hardyal Dhindsa, the police and crime commissioner for Derbyshire.

More than 2,300 people died from overdoses last year and there are increasing calls for the police to do more to intervene.

But Dave, a serving officer for the Metropolitan Police, said that the police already carry a lot of equipment.

"Around a year ago, defibrillators were put in the back of police cars, and there was an argument that if we had defibrillators that we'd end up going to all the ambulance calls," he said.

"But if we've got the kit, we should use it.

"If we are trained, then fine, but if we're not up the standard that paramedics are to administer medication, and we get things wrong, is that job going to protect us?"

Dave said if an accident occurred or somebody died during a police pursuit that "the driver's looked at in a criminal aspect".

"So if you administered this medication trying to save someone's life, and it goes wrong, is the same thing going to happen?"