NORTH BAY — North Bay’s Police Chief believes more has to be done about the opioid crisis.
“It a topic that is not only current but is also a topic that is countrywide,” Scott Tod, North Bay’s Police Chief, told Rogers Radio.
He’s calling for a national task force to deal with the problem.
The topic was front and centre recently at a panel discussion at the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting which was held recently.
"What I'm calling for is a national task force that does a massive data collection in regards to what do we know about deaths that have occurred as a result of the opioid crisis in the last five, as well as the near-deaths that happened in our communities, that aren't so well recorded," noted Tod.
Tod discussed lessons learned in policing locally and how they have learned to better collaborate with other government and community agencies.
He feels it's time to look at doing things differently around addiction and how they respond as law enforcement.
"Have someone else look at the problem, to remove the biases, some of the systemic issues that policing have right now, around costs, around resources. Have someone else look at the issue to see what other methods they can come up with for us to be successful," Tod says.
Tod realizes they won't be successful in charging everyone or finding all the drugs, all the time, so the time is now for a national strategy with police and other community partners.
