Idaho Falls Police chief talks plans to stop opioid overdoses before they happen
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IDAHO FALLS – The Idaho Falls Police Department and the Idaho Falls Fire Department are launching a new plan for treating those affected by the opioid crisis and leading then to recovery.
In honor of International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31, the plan focuses on building a non-arrest pathway to recovery for those with affected by the opioid crisis and dealing with substance use disorders.
“Opioid deaths are a tragedy, and once someone has passed, there’s nothing that we can do at that point,” says Johnson. “What we really want to do is make it so people aren’t dying from this horrible epidemic that is taking place.”
According to the CDC, over 75% of the nearly 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021 involved an opioid.
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IFFD sent out a news release stating that in many cases, the opioids that ended lives were often prescribed following a medical procedure, and the prescription progressed into an addiction.
“The medical and pharmaceutical profession has come along way. We don’t do policing the way we did it 10 years ago, and they’re not doing pain management the way they did it 10 years ago,” says Johnson. “It’s a little bit harder, I think, for that to occur now that they’re prescribing such fewer pills.”
“If we can help facilitate a couple of people to get off of drugs and to be able to enjoy their lives a little bit more, that will be a huge success with this.”
A team of five employees from the Idaho Falls Fire Department and Idaho Falls Police Department were sent to the the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative conference to learn about effective customized community-based addiction and recovery programs, according to the release.
The program focuses on reaching people before they enter the criminal justice system or experience a drug-related overdose.
“The team not only returned with training, guidance and resources, they also returned with a renewed sense of hope to help people in our community who are fighting battles with substance use disorders,” says Johnson in the release.
Over the last several years, the fire and police departments have been developing the Community Outreach Partnership and Education program, also known as COPE.
The newly developed opioid response plan falls under the umbrella of COPE. To do this, the city hired a part-time social worker whose primary responsibility is outreach.
“There’s a lot of overlap between mental illness, substance abuse and some of the homeless problems we have,” says Johnson. “We would far prefer folks struggling with mental health to seek treatment through the mental health services rather than the criminal justice system.”
Two to three days following an overdose call, the social worker and the Idaho Falls COPE detective follow up with the individual to check on them and provide them and their families with resources.
Although the response plan is still in its early days, the team will track outcomes and adjust and expand the program to meet the needs and demands as more funding becomes available.
“If we can help facilitate a couple of people to get off of drugs and to be able to enjoy their lives a little bit more, that will be a huge success with this,” says Johnson. “We take that as a pilot program, we take that as a success and we’ll see where we go from there.”
Over the past several months, police and firefighters have also met with various local treatment and assistance programs to identify processes, opportunities and challenges.
According to the news release, the Greater Idaho Falls Police Organization has allocated $7,000 in scholarships to help fund treatment. At the same time, a case worker is being assigned as more funding becomes available.
“We have a large call volume that is direct from people that are struggling with mental health in our community. So the same pair of people, the police detective and the social worker, will do follow-up visits with folks that are struggling with their mental health,” says Johnson. “They’ll check in to see if they’ve gotten into whatever treatment they qualify for and have been going to, making sure they’re doing as good as they can and making sure they’re not going back over that line into criminal activity.”
If you are a local health provider with experience in treating substance use disorders and recovery and would like to be a resource for the opioid response plan, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Idaho Falls Police Department at (208) 612-8616.
“We had quite a few opioid deaths, but that number has gone done, which is a good thing. It’s not gone down because there’s less drugs unfortunately, even though we’ve seized a lot of them, but the supply is just so huge,” says Johnson. “Naloxone (Narcan) is just so prevalent now that people are using it, and it’s keeping people alive.”
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