Two local police departments are taking part in a program to stop the deaths from heroin overdoses.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman made the announcement at City Hall on Thursday.
Schneiderman’s Community Overdose Prevention (COP) Program will fund, train and equip officers within the Brighton and Rochester Police Departments with the opioid antidote naloxone.
“Equipping law enforcement officers in Rochester and Brighton with naloxone will save lives and help fight the scourge of opioid addition in Western, New York.”
The city is seeking funds through the grant initiative to launch a pilot program that would train police officers about opioid antidote naloxone to combat heroin overdoses.
"Of course, we don't want to have to use this but we recognize that we have a serious issue,” says Mayor Lovely Warren. “This is not just hitting the city; this is hitting the state of New York. It’s hitting us hard and we want to use all the tools at our disposal to deal with it."
Thirty kits will go to the Rochester Police Department and 40 to the Brighton Police Department.
Each kit contains a pouch with two prefilled syringes of naloxone, two atomizers, gloves and instructions.
"Anything that gives us the opportunity to save a life is a good thing,” says Rochester Police Chief Michael Ciminelli. “So we're excited about this opportunity to see if it's going to enhance our public safety here."
With the rising incidents of heroin fatalities, Senator Ted O'Brien calls the naloxone a "miracle" drug that would not only benefit law enforcement but families as well.
"In the Senate and the Assembly, we've now forwarded bills to the governor awaiting signature that would extend the use of naloxone beyond police departments so individual parents could obtain this life saving drug as well. And we're hopeful that the governor would sign that in law for New York."
Naloxone is an effective heroin antidote that can instantly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
The Community Overdose Prevention program launched in April, which uses criminal and civil forfeiture money to train and equip state and local officers on heroin antidote.
Twelve Western New York agencies have applied to participate, 107 law enforcement agencies statewide are involved in the program.