Transparency data

Police carriage of naloxone process evaluation - monitoring data

Published 9 May 2025

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1. Police carriage of naloxone

Naloxone is a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose and is vital to preventing drug-related deaths. In part 2 of Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs focusing on prevention, treatment and recovery[footnote 1], increasing access to naloxone was described as a vital harm reduction measure that will save lives.

Due to police officers’ and police community support officers’ (PCSO) frequent interactions with vulnerable individuals at risk of overdose during their patrol duties, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has advocated for naloxone provision among police forces. They have supported its carriage by providing guidance and advice to police forces. This has been endorsed by The Home Office, the Joint Combating Drugs Unit, and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). Naloxone provides a recognised, effective means to enable first aiders to keep a person alive while awaiting the arrival of an ambulance.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, where a police force has offered naloxone to police officers and staff, the decision to carry is voluntarily. In Scotland, carriage is mandatory for all types of frontline officers and inspectors, but use is voluntary.

2. Police carriage of naloxone monitoring data

In order to aid ongoing monitoring, management data is collected from all territorial UK police forces and the British Transport Police by NPCC and the Home Office.

The data has been quality assured by police forces and may be subject to change.

2.1 Provision status of naloxone carriage

Table 1 contains monitoring data for December 2024 for the provision status of naloxone for all territorial UK police forces and the British Transport Police. There are 32 UK Police Forces with some provision of naloxone, either ongoing (24) or piloting (8), with another 7 committed to rolling out provision[footnote 2] and 5 piloting in the near future. There were 2 police forces with no carriage or plans to carry.

Provision status is defined as:

  • ongoing provision: some police officers or staff are carrying naloxone during their duties on a permanent basis

  • agreement but not yet implemented: force has agreed to carry naloxone outside of a pilot, but no officers are carrying yet

  • piloting: some police officers or staff are carrying naloxone as part of a pilot, but no permanent decision on carriage has been made

  • pilot to start soon: a pilot has been agreed but has not yet started

  • no carriage or plans to carry: a decision has been taken not to allow police officers or staff to carry naloxone

Table 1: Naloxone provision status by police force monitoring data, December 2024

Police force Provision status of naloxone
Avon and Somerset Police Ongoing
Bedfordshire Police Ongoing
Cambridgeshire Constabulary Ongoing
Cleveland Police Ongoing
Cumbria Constabulary Ongoing
Derbyshire Constabulary Ongoing
Devon and Cornwall Police Ongoing
Dorset Police Ongoing
Durham Constabulary Ongoing
Dyfed-Powys Police Ongoing
Gwent Police Ongoing
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary Ongoing
Hertfordshire Constabulary Ongoing
Kent Police Ongoing
Leicestershire Police Ongoing
Lincolnshire Police Ongoing
Norfolk Constabulary Ongoing
North Wales Police Ongoing
North Yorkshire Police Ongoing
Northumbria Police Ongoing
Police Scotland Ongoing
South Wales Police Ongoing
South Yorkshire Police Ongoing
West Midlands Police Ongoing
British Transport Police Piloting
Merseyside Police Piloting
Northamptonshire Police Piloting
Nottinghamshire Police Piloting
Police Service of Northern Ireland Piloting
Thames Valley Police Piloting
West Yorkshire Police Piloting
Wiltshire Police Piloting
Cheshire Constabulary Provision agreed but not implemented
Humberside Police Provision agreed but not implemented
Lancashire Constabulary Provision agreed but not implemented
Metropolitan Police Service Provision agreed but not implemented
Surrey Police Provision agreed but not implemented
Sussex Police Provision agreed but not implemented
City of London Police Pilot to start soon
Gloucestershire Constabulary Pilot to start soon
Staffordshire Police Pilot to start soon
Warwickshire Police Pilot to start soon
West Mercia Police Pilot to start soon
Essex Police Other[footnote 3]
Greater Manchester No carriage or plans to carry
Suffolk Constabulary No carriage or plans to carry

2.2 Number of police officers, staff and vehicles carrying naloxone

As of December 2024, across the UK, there were approximately 20,650 police officers and 880 police staff carrying naloxone day-to-day; naloxone was also available in 950 police vehicles:[footnote 4],[footnote 5],[footnote 6],[footnote 7]

  • England and Wales: 7,300 police officers, 880 police staff, 950 vehicles

  • Scotland: 13,200 police officers only

  • Northern Ireland: 40 police officers only (Police Service for Northern Ireland are in pilot)

  • British Transport Police: 50 police officers only (British Transport Police are in pilot)

2.3 Number of naloxone administrations

There have been 1,232 administrations of naloxone in the UK by the police from June 2019 to 30 December 2024:[footnote 8],[footnote 9],[footnote 10]

  • England and Wales: 554 administrations

  • Scotland: 630 administrations

  • Northern Ireland: 46 administrations

  • British Transport Police: 2 administrations

  1. Home Office (2021) Independent Review of Drugs by Professor Dame Carol black, GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-drugs-phase-two-report. ↩

  2. Essex reported their status of naloxone carriage as ‘Other’ but have been counted in ‘Provision agreed but not implemented’ as they reported that naloxone would be available for selected officers and staff from April 2025. ↩

  3. Essex reported their status of naloxone carriage as ‘Other’ but specified that naloxone would be available for selected officers and staff from April 2025. ↩

  4. Police Forces were asked to provide an approximation if the exact number of police officers or staff carrying naloxone was not known. ↩

  5. North Wales have provision but did not submit up-to-date data for the December 2024 return on the number of officers carrying naloxone. Data was imputed from their July 2024 data return. ↩

  6. Devon and Cornwall do not provide naloxone as personal issue and therefore are not included in the total number carrying naloxone; however, all operational officers/specials/staff that use the neighbourhood or response vehicles have access to naloxone. ↩

  7. Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. ↩

  8. An administration of naloxone does not necessarily lead to a life being saved. For example, naloxone may have been administered in non-opiate related incidents as a precaution when the presence of an opiate is unknown. ↩

  9. It is likely there have been more administrations than those reported due to challenges in establishing systematic and consistent data recording. ↩

  10. Forces were asked for the date of their first administration. The earliest recorded administration shared was in June 2019. However, there may have been an earlier administration, as West Midlands Police identified their first administration was in 2019 but did not specify the month. ↩

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