Per WMATA: Metro Transit Police Officers have a new tool to protect customers and save lives. All active duty MTPD officers and Metro’s crisis intervention specialists will be equipped with naloxone (commonly known as Narcan) to prevent deaths by opioid overdose.
The addition of naloxone as a life-saving resource comes as a result of increased calls to MTPD reporting suspected overdoses, from 27 incidents in 2021 to 43 incidents in 2022. MTPD officers are often first to respond to reports of sick customers possibly experiencing an overdose, and naloxone can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose in the critical minutes before paramedics arrive. An MTPD officer administered life-saving naloxone to revive an unresponsive person suspected of experiencing an opioid overdose on the first day they were equipped with the drug.