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Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

“Our calls for service in regards to overdose deaths and overdose calls for service are rising dramatically over the last five years,” he said. “There’s no question about that. So, I would say it’s the worst it’s been.”

He said the overdose victims were all men ranging in age from their early 20s to mid-50s.

“It was all males involved in that, from different parts of the city,” said Frederick. “Only one in the downtown core. None of them occurred in public. They all occurred in their residence or someone’s residence. And all of them occurred when other people were present.”

Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

He said this is not a case of a bad batch of drugs hitting the streets. Frederick said none of the cases are connected and the four overdoses involved three different kinds of drugs, though he wouldn’t reveal what they were.

Frederick made the comments shortly after the province announced it changed a Police Services Act requirement that police report to the Special Investigations Unit when an officer unsuccessfully administered naloxone. The medication is used to block the effects of opioids, and can temporarily reverse an overdose.

The SIU is an arm’s length watchdog that investigates cases of sexual assault, serious injury or death involving police. In the past, an officer giving naloxone to someone who then died would trigger an SIU probe. Frederick previously cited that as one of the reasons he refused to equip his officers with naloxone.

The province removed that concern on Tuesday.