When Const. Michael Thompson died this spring, the passing of the strapping, sporty 37-year-old officer was as confounding as it was sudden.

A respected and friendly cop with more than 10 years on the force, the last stint spent working undercover with the force’s drug squad, Thompson was found in medical distress in his Durham home on April 10.

Three days later, he died in hospital.

As it was a sudden death, an investigation by Durham Regional Police into it was triggered, as was a probe by Ontario’s coroner’s office. For months, the cause of death was unknown and it was believed, at one point, to have been a virus.

It wasn’t until results from toxicology and pathology tests came back in late July that it became clear.

Thompson is among the growing ranks of Canadians dying from a fentanyl overdose.

“It is always a difficult time when we lose a member of the Toronto Police Service, regardless of the circumstances. It’s even more difficult when the circumstances of a specific loss leave us with more questions than answers,” acting Chief Jim Ramer said Thursday. He later left police headquarters to with Thompson’s drug squad colleagues.

Foremost among the questions now is how Thompson came into possession of the drug. The quantity found in his system indicates that it could not have been caused by mere contact with the drug; the officer ingested what ended up killing him, Toronto police said.

As a drug squad officer, he had regular access to street-level narcotics.

Andy Pringle, chair of the Toronto police board, said Thursday that he has been assured the circumstances into Thompson’s death will be “fully investigated.” When briefed on the officer’s death at an in-camera meeting Thursday, members of the board quickly asked if the officer could have had any access to the drug through work, although Pringle said there is no indication that this was the case.

“It’s possible he got it from the street or from the drug squad. But it’s also possible that we’ll never know,” said Meaghan Gray, the Toronto police spokesperson.

There are no requirements for regular drug testing within the Toronto police.

The board briefly considered bringing in random drug testing for officers in “high-risk” jobs more than a decade ago, an initiative recommended in a report by retired judge George Ferguson.

But the measure was never implemented.

News of Thompson’s death came shortly before the Toronto police board received a report showing that as of October, Toronto officers responded to 2,120 overdose calls, compared with 1,650 in the first 10 months of 2016.

Toronto police officers do not carry naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose of an opioid such as fentanyl, which is some 50 times stronger than heroin.

Harm-reduction workers, medical experts and the Toronto Police Association have argued the service should follow the lead of the Ontario Provincial Police, and services in Barrie and Durham, and equip their frontline officers with naloxone kits.

“There will be instances where police officers are there first, before EMS or Fire. It could happen in this room,” Uppala Chandrasekera, a Toronto police board member sworn in last month, said at Thursday’s board meeting.

“It should be part of the first aid protocol. What it does is buys time. . . . I think, if there is a possibility, even a slight possibility, that we could be saving a life, we need to be doing that,” she said.

Toronto police Supt. Scott Baptist told the board there were a number of reasons why Toronto police are not equipping officers with naloxone kits, although the force is considering providing some to certain officers, such as sergeants, or specific units.

Among the concerns are that the drug can be easily ruined by extreme temperatures, Baptist said.

Another issue is that Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, has stated it will invoke its mandate whenever the drug is administered by an officer and the person is admitted to hospital or is seriously injured or dies.

“As much as the officer would be trying to save someone’s life, that does not negate the fact there is going to be a lengthy, stressful process that’s hard on our officers to have to go through to justify that they did it,” Baptist said.

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“It could also potentially result in civil litigation against the Toronto police service.”

Baptist noted that the drug is available free to every friend or family member of a drug user, and is also carried by members of Toronto Fire and paramedics, who are generally the first to respond to overdose calls.

The board asked that Toronto police return with a full report on issues surrounding carrying the drug. The document will be tabled in February.

Asked whether the death of one of their own could affect the decision on whether to equip officers with naloxone, Gray said they were “two completely different issues.”

“The passing of Michael Thompson is completely different from the types of situations that our drug squad officers or any other officer faces,” she said.

In his statement, Ramer stressed the resources offered to Toronto police officers “to help members deal with personal crises, health problems, PTSD, and an array of other issues.”

Gray said Toronto police has been actively examining the types of services and supports offered to police, and, in particular, those assigned to high-risk units, such as the drug squad. That has included surveying members on where the gaps are and looking at best practices in other comparable police services.

“At the end of the day, we want to try and make sure this never happens again,” she said.

Thompson was being remembered Thursday as a dedicated professional whose death has devastated family, friends and colleagues.

At the Toronto Police College as a rookie, Thompson stood out to Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu, then a recruit trainer. She taught more than a thousand recruits in her time there, but clearly remembers Thompson, a respectful team player who made lasting friendships with his fellow rookies.

In basic training, there can be a tendency among recruits to be inwardly focused, due to the intense training. Not Thompson, she said.

“He was always engaging in eye contact, in conversation, always saying ‘Good morning, hello,’ ” Sidhu said, adding that she could see his pride in wearing the Toronto police uniform.

“It’s just a tragedy,” said Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association.

With files from Alanna Rizza