Surrey RCMP reports surge in illicit drug overdoses

Mounties in Surrey have been dealing with an increasing number of illicit drug overdoses, according to a new City of Surrey crime statistics report.

In 2023’s third quarter, RCMP in the city responded to 192 illicit drug overdoses between July and September, which is a 44 per cent jump from the same period last year. Of those, 48 individuals resulted in death. Police say they administered Naloxone 42 times over that period.

The RCMP notes that it does not attend all drug overdoses in the city, as many incidents are attended by fire or ambulance crews.

Over the same period, the police responded to 1,513 mental health calls, which is a 23 per cent drop from 2022’s second quarter. They attribute this drop to a new app that all officers are now using to help with those calls.

“In May 2023, the Surrey RCMP introduced HealthIM to provide Frontline members with a mobile application to assist with a more efficient and consistent response to mental health calls,” the report said. “HealthIM app usage may be a possible contributing factor to the decrease.”

Overall, Mounties responded to a total of 55,103 calls for service in Surrey, which is 4 per cent higher than the same period in 2022.