“OD MAP” Is Up and Running

In the second hour of our ongoing Safety and Loss Control Workshops, we have a session on Minnesota’s opioid epidemic. We began by asking the police officers what they are experiencing in their cities. Their responses reflect the wide range of impact. One city is handling and investigating numerous opioid overdoses and deaths, while a city 33 miles away had just one in the last year. All report that meth is still prevalent, and many mention the crimes—particularly theft and burglary—that accompany the drug problem.

Another common concern is the lack of information as to what is trending, and the ability to track overdoses that are occurring in other jurisdictions and in other regions of the state. The Minnesota Department of Health’s “Opioid Action Plan” called out the need for law enforcement and the rest of the public safety communities to be able to get real-time information on overdoses occurring around the state.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has rolled out “ODMAP.” This is a free tool that provides real-time overdose information data across jurisdictions. It is user-friendly and allows entries to be made from the scene, the car, or later when officers are at the station. On the backend it tracks the day of the week, date, time, location, Naloxone use, and—most importantly—it tracks “spikes” when multiple overdoses begin to occur in a short amount of time. Each department has the ability to set the number of incidents they would consider a spike.

Project Coordinator Lindsey Bartholdi will be at some of the workshops, available to answer questions and even schedule appointments to help implement the program in your department. If you are unable to attend the remaining workshops, I encourage your department to contact the BCA for more information at (651) 793-7000 or odmap@state.mn.us

Visit our website for more information on the remaining workshops and to register.

Up next: What We Learned (A Review of What We Heard While On the Road)

Stay safe,
Rob