Proposed law: NJ cops should carry tool that can save lives

🚨 The bill was prompted by a scary incident involving a child

🚨 Some officers would need to be trained, under the bill

🚨 An original version included a mandate for all officers

Police officers should have easy access to a small tool that can save lives instantly, according to a proposed law moving through the New Jersey Legislature.

The measure, approved on Monday by the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee, permits law enforcement agencies in New Jersey to equip their officers with epinephrine, a prescription drug that can be injected into a human to reverse a severe allergic reaction.

Under the bill, any officer who carries an auto-injector would have to be trained on how to use it.

Life-or-death scenario

“Police officers are often the first to arrive on the scene, and in an emergency where every second counts, having access to life saving medicine like epinephrine can make all the difference,” said Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth. “This is a commonsense bill that would enable law enforcement officers to be properly trained and equipped to respond to someone experiencing anaphylaxis.”

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O'Scanlon said the bill was prompted by a scary incident involving a constituent's grandchild. An epinephrine injector failed to work when the child was suffering from a severe reaction, and police were helpless.

The child recovered from the incident because someone else on the scene had a working injector.

"These EpiPens are pretty easy to administer. There's no real downside," O'Scanlon said.

His original bill required that all officers carry epinephrine and be trained on the use of it. The bill, which isn't offering any appropriation for municipalities to make the move, was modified to get rid of the mandate.

"It's not a mandate, it allows. But we're going to be out there encouraging it," O'Scanlon said.

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