LAX Airport Police Deploy Naloxone Into Field

The Los Angeles Airport Police in a partnership with the Los Angeles Fire Department has implemented the training and distribution of Narcan (generic Naloxone) to nearly 400 of its officers.  The opioid epidemic is one of the most challenging, dangerous issues we face as a society, and the likelihood of exposure to first responders has dramatically increased.

In an effort to proactively protect officers and the general public from accidental exposure to dangerous drugs like fentanyl, officers from the Airport Police have been issued Narcan intranasal spray, an opioid receptor blocker, for use in the field.

Drugs like fentanyl are ten times deadlier that heroin and one hundred times more potent than morphine. A three-gram dose of fentanyl, which can be absorbed into the skin just from exposure, can kill an average-sized adult male.  “For first responders who are exposed to powerful opioids or victims of overdose, properly administered naloxone can be the difference between life and death,” said Chief of Airport Police David Maggard Jr.

The Los Angeles Fire Department will assist the Los Angeles Airport Police with mandatory training, data collection, evaluation and reporting on all applications of naloxone.

In addition to 550 sworn officers, Los Angeles Airport Police Division also employs 430 security officers and nearly 200 civilian professional staff. As the largest aviation law enforcement agency in the nation, Airport Police patrols and secures Los Angeles International Airport, the Nation’s second busiest and world’s fifth busiest airport, and VNY general aviation airport.