For Immediate Release
September 27, 2016

Point Park University officers now equipped with heroin antidote Narcan

PITTSBURGH, PA – Point Park University police officers have been trained in the use of Narcan, a heroin antidote, and the medication is now available in centrally located buildings around its Downtown Pittsburgh campus and in patrol vehicles.

Narcan is the brand name for naloxone hydrochloride. Point Park officers will be using the nasal spray version. It is administered when people are either known or suspected to be having an opioid overdose.

“Allegheny County is touched by the same heroin epidemic we are seeing throughout the country,” said Jeffrey Besong, chief of police and vice president of Public Safety at Point Park. “We have not had an overdose issue on campus, but our officers also are patrolling part of Downtown Pittsburgh. Equipping our officers with Narcan puts them in a position to save lives, as police often are first responders for incidences involving overdoses.”

The addition of Narcan on campus is just the latest example of the proactive approach Point Park takes with regard to safety. It comes on the heels of Point Park’s addition of body-worn cameras, which the university’s 13 sworn police officers began wearing Aug. 1.

“It’s very important to us that students, faculty and staff feel safe when they are on campus, so we are always looking to be ahead of the curve when it comes to the tools we have at our officers’ disposal,” Besong said. 

In fact, Safe Campus, the National Campus Safety Summit, placed Point Park’s police department on its Safe Campus 2016 Top 25 list. Point Park was selected from more than 4,700 eligible college or university administration departments based on efforts and improvements in campus safety.

In the past five years, Point Park’s police department – one of just seven accredited university departments in the entire state – also has:

• Developed  a video to assist in the training of students, staff and faculty on how to handle the threat of an active shooter;
• Increased the number of officers on staff;
• Enhanced technology, including a new ID card system and installed Metis two-way emergency devices that interface with the school’s emergency notification system;
• Updated communications and 911 equipment;
• Started the Sexual Harassment and Rape Program (SHARP) and Refuse to Be a Victim program.

Contact:   Lou Corsaro

                    Point Park University

                    lcorsaro@pointpark.edu

                    412.392.6190

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Founded in 1960, Point Park University is a dynamic, urban university with a strong liberal arts tradition. Located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Point Park enrolls nearly 4,000 full- and part-time students in more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs offered through the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Communication and Conservatory of Performing Arts. Visit PointPark.edu to learn more.