XPost: can.politics, alt.drugs.hard, tor.general
XPost: ont.general
From: gregpcarr@yahoo.ca

Death of drug squad officer by fentanyl overdose confounds police
Crown and police reviewing cases that Const. Michael Thompson worked
on before his death in April.

Const. Michael Thompson had been a Toronto police officer since 2006
and a member of the drug squad since 2014.

By WENDY GILLISCrime Reporter
Thu., Nov. 16, 2017
When Const. Michael Thompson died this spring, the passing of the
strapping, sporty 37-year-old officer was as confounding as it was
sudden.

A respected and friendly cop with more than 10 years on the force, the
last stint spent working undercover with the force’s drug squad,
Thompson was found in medical distress in his Durham home on April 10.

Three days later, he died in hospital.

As it was a sudden death, an investigation by Durham Regional Police
into it was triggered, as was a probe by Ontario’s coroner’s office.
For months, the cause of death was unknown and it was believed, at one
point, to have been a virus.

It wasn’t until results from toxicology and pathology tests came back
in late July that it became clear.

Thompson is among the growing ranks of Canadians dying from a fentanyl overdose.

“It is always a difficult time when we lose a member of the Toronto
Police Service, regardless of the circumstances. It’s even more
difficult when the circumstances of a specific loss leave us with more questions than answers,” acting Chief Jim Ramer said Thursday. He
later left police headquarters to with Thompson’s drug squad
colleagues.

Foremost among the questions now is how Thompson came into possession
of the drug. The quantity found in his system indicates that it could
not have been caused by mere contact with the drug; the officer
ingested what ended up killing him, Toronto police said.


Andy Pringle, chair of the Toronto police board, said Thursday that he
has been assured the circumstances into Thompson’s death will be
“fully investigated.” When briefed on the officer’s death at an
in-camera meeting Thursday, members of the board quickly asked if the
officer could have had any access to the drug through work, although
Pringle said there is no indication that this was the case.

“It’s possible he got it from the street or from the drug squad. But
it’s also possible that we’ll never know,” said Meaghan Gray, the
Toronto police spokesperson.

There are no requirements for regular drug testing within the Toronto
police.

The board briefly considered bringing in random drug testing for
officers in “high-risk” jobs more than a decade ago, an initiative
recommended in a report by retired judge George Ferguson.

But the measure was never implemented.

News of Thompson’s death came shortly before the Toronto police board
received a report showing that as of October, Toronto officers
responded to 2,120 overdose calls, compared with 1,650 in the first 10
months of 2016.

Toronto police officers do not carry naloxone, a drug that can reverse
the effects of an overdose of an opioid such as fentanyl, which is
some 50 times stronger than heroin.

Harm-reduction workers, medical experts and the Toronto Police
Association have argued the service should follow the lead of the
Ontario Provincial Police, and services in Barrie and Durham, and
equip their frontline officers with naloxone kits.

“There will be instances where police officers are there first, before
EMS or Fire. It could happen in this room,” Uppala Chandrasekera, a
Toronto police board member sworn in last month, said at Thursday’s
board meeting.

“It should be part of the first aid protocol. What it does is buys
time. . . . I think, if there is a possibility, even a slight
possibility, that we could be saving a life, we need to be doing
that,” she said.

Toronto police Supt. Scott Baptist told the board there were a number
of reasons why Toronto police are not equipping officers with naloxone
kits, although the force is considering providing some to certain
officers, such as sergeants, or specific units.

Among the concerns are that the drug can be easily ruined by extreme temperatures, Baptist said.

Another issue is that Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special
Investigations Unit, has stated it will invoke its mandate whenever
the drug is administered by an officer and the person is admitted to
hospital or is seriously injured or dies.

“As much as the officer would be trying to save someone’s life, that
does not negate the fact there is going to be a lengthy, stressful
process that’s hard on our officers to have to go through to justify
that they did it,” Baptist said.

“It could also potentially result in civil litigation against the
Toronto police service.”

Baptist noted that the drug is available free to every friend or
family member of a drug user, and is also carried by members of
Toronto Fire and paramedics, who are generally the first to respond to
overdose calls.

The board asked that Toronto police return with a full report on
issues surrounding carrying the drug. The document will be tabled in
February.

Asked whether the death of one of their own could affect the decision
on whether to equip officers with naloxone, Gray said they were “two
completely different issues.”

“The passing of Michael Thompson is completely different from the
types of situations that our drug squad officers or any other officer
faces,” she said.

In his statement, Ramer stressed the resources offered to Toronto
police officers “to help members deal with personal crises, health
problems, PTSD, and an array of other issues.”

Gray said Toronto police has been actively examining the types of
services and supports offered to police, and, in particular, those
assigned to high-risk units, such as the drug squad. That has included surveying members on where the gaps are and looking at best practices
in other comparable police services.

“At the end of the day, we want to try and make sure this never
happens again,” she said.

Thompson was being remembered Thursday as a dedicated professional
whose death has devastated family, friends and colleagues.

At the Toronto Police College as a rookie, Thompson stood out to
Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu, then a recruit trainer. She taught more than
a thousand recruits in her time there, but clearly remembers Thompson,
a respectful team player who made lasting friendships with his fellow
rookies.

In basic training, there can be a tendency among recruits to be
inwardly focused, due to the intense training. Not Thompson, she said.

“He was always engaging in eye contact, in conversation, always saying
‘Good morning, hello,’ ” Sidhu said, adding that she could see his
pride in wearing the Toronto police uniform.

“It’s just a tragedy,” said Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto
Police Association.

With files from Alanna Rizza

https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2017/11/16/drug-squad-officer-died-of-fentanyl-overdose-toronto-police-say.html

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