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London Police Association hopeful officers administering naloxone will be exempt from SIU

Take-home naloxone kits come with two injections, which temporarily reverse an opioid overdose for drugs like fentanyl. Sean Lerat-Stetner/Global News

The London Police Services Board and the London Police Association are keeping a careful eye on how a new amendment to updated police oversight regulations will sit with the province’s police watchdog.

Bill-175 passed earlier this month and a last-minute amendment may keep the Special Investigations Unit from probing cases where officers have administered the opioid antidote naloxone, as well as other life-saving measures like CPR.

Rick Robson with the London Police Association tells 980 CFPL it’s a strange situation for officers to be in.

“It’s still a bit of a grey area which is unfortunate because it is about saving people’s lives, and forcing police to be involved in saving lives and into a medical issue we’ve been drawn into it,” Robson said.

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There is a role for us to play but it is a medical issue, we’ve been forced into it but at the same time when we do it, we’ll be looked at investigated, its kind of a strange dynamic.”

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Robson says although there is still some confusion surrounding the move, he says it’s a step in the right direction.

“I do seek a little bit of clarity in terms of the decision they came to, it seems now they will be putting it over to regulations, so we’re sometime down the road yet before we get there.”

Like Robson, members of the London Police Services Board say the amendment is a start, but time will tell how it’s applied.

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