Every police officer in Windsor will soon be trained to use and be equipped with Naloxone.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told AM800's The Morning Drive that 24-7 police support is currently needed at the city's COVID-19 isolation and recovery centre, for those in the homeless community who have tested positive for the virus.
Officers are also needed around the clock at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre, which is acting as an emergency homeless shelter.
Dilkens says those two situations are bringing officers into more contact with people who may need Naloxone.
"I know in my conversations with the chief, she always said we're going to make this a data driven decision," says Dilkens. "We're going to do the right thing based on the facts in front of us and now these two situations I'm sure will mean that the chief is going to move forward and make sure our officers are alarmed with naloxone."
He says he's sure it's going to happen.
"We're going to have the naloxone available for all officers because we just don't know and you can't plan with precision which ones are going to be assigned to these specific areas and we need to make sure that they're all ready to react," he says.
The drug is used to counteract the effects of an opioid overdose.
The Windsor Police Service has been slowly phasing in the use of Naloxone for certain elements of the service, but Windsor remains the last in Ontario to equip all of its officers with the drug.