Police watchdog clarifies which cases need to be reported to IIO
Posted December 3, 2016 7:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – BC’s police watchdog is clarifying which cases departments need to report.
Marten Youssef with the Independent Investigations Office says police don’t need to report cases where someone dies while officers are providing life-saving treatment.
“What the policy does is that it says, ‘If you’re a police officer at the scene and all you do is administer CPR or other life-saving measures, including naloxone, you don’t need to notify the IIO,'” explains Youssef.
Many jurisdictions want to equip their officers with naloxone to combat the fentanyl crisis — but they’re concerned it will trigger investigations in cases that are unsuccessful.
“You don’t want to be standing in the way of the police potentially being equipped with saving someone’s life out fo fear that they would be subjected to an IIO investigation.”
He says many jurisdictions want to equip their officers with naloxone to combat the overdose crisis — but they’re concerned it will trigger investigations in cases that are unsuccessful.
He hopes the clarification will encourage more departments to roll out naloxone kits.
