Put EpiPens in police cars

For anyone with severe allergies, an EpiPen can be a lifesaving tool. Astonishingly, it doesn't seem that Nassau and Suffolk County police officers will be carrying that lifesaving tool with them anytime soon.

An EpiPen is an auto-injector of epinephrine, the only medication that can stop a fatal allergic reaction. An EpiPen is easy to use and often brings immediate results. Four years ago, state legislation allowed local governments to put EpiPens in police vehicles. And yet, a slew of head-scratching bureaucratic snafus and political complexities have kept EpiPens out of Nassau and Suffolk police cars.

It shouldn't be this difficult. First responders must be able to respond — fully — to any emergency they confront.

Suffolk has an easier path forward. Outgoing County Executive Steve Bellone already signed legislation to put EpiPens in all patrol cars. But the state law needs a tweak. It currently applies to municipalities with populations of less than 1 million. Suffolk and Nassau each have populations significantly larger.

State Sen. Dean Murray has written new legislation to fix the state law, making the maximum population 2 million to include Nassau and Suffolk but exclude New York City. The State Legislature should pass it upon its January return to Albany. Once it's passed, Suffolk should implement it.

Nassau's situation is more complicated. Republicans in the county legislature introduced a bill but never voted on it, and County Executive Bruce Blakeman never got behind it. Why? The reasons are unclear, as neither the county nor the Police Benevolent Association would respond to questions, and the county health commissioner told Newsday only that there were "logistical and medical reasons." According to outgoing presiding officer Richard Nicolello, the issue may have to do with the notion that Nassau police officers are not emergency medical technicians, a title that requires six months of training.

Administering an EpiPen does not require six months of training. One can be found in many a diaper bag of new parents. Police officers currently can administer Narcan in case of an overdose. They can, as Nassau Legis. Josh Lafazan noted, deliver babies. They carry weapons and we trust them to keep us safe. So, Nassau needs to find a way to allow its officers to carry and administer epinephrine — even if it requires a tweak in its own legislation or a further amendment to state law.

If there are other roadblocks — in terms of cost, training, or anything else — the counties need to find a way past them, too. Suffolk is working with a hospital system to fund the start of its program; Nassau likely could do the same. 

The state legislation passed in 2019 is called Gio's Law — named after Giovanni Cipriano, a 14-year-old Nassau County resident who died in 2013 from a reaction to a peanut. No other Long Islander should suffer the same fate.