Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter plans to open a command post to address the ongoing opioid crisis here. Meaghan M. McDermott
Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo and Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Michael Mendoza are expected to announce Wednesday changes and improvements to how the county is dealing with the opioid situation.
However, police chiefs from town and village departments — which are dealing with the crisis on an almost daily basis — were not invited to the news conference, according to James VanBrederode, chief of the Gates Police and president of the Chief's Association of Monroe County.
Dinolfo has scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m.
Representatives from local government and from the medical community also are scheduled to attend. It was not clear how they would be participating, or what the specific announcement would be.
A change in how the county handles data related to opioid overdoses and deaths may be in the works.
Over the past year, the county has been criticized for perceived delays in its release of the statistics. Official county data come from the office of the medical examiner. County officials have said it takes time to determine a cause of death when there may be confounding factors, and that families are owed accurate information.
The issue became political last year when then-candidate for sheriff, Todd Baxter, said Monroe lagged behind Erie and Onondaga counties in releasing data. Since then, law enforcement agencies across Monroe County have pooled the data they collect when responding to calls. Police said their numbers for 2017 may be low, but they showed nearly 750 overdoses and approximately 140 deaths.
Since becoming sheriff, Baxter said he wanted to set up a command post for the opioid crisis..
Law enforcement officials have said repeatedly that they can't arrest their way out of the problem. The presence of representatives of the medical community could mean changes in how drug users can find treatment, and what that treatment entails.
Finding treatment, particularly in-patient, has been a problem for addicts and their families. Last fall, several human service agencies combined to start Open Access, a referral site that takes people without an appointment.
This is a developing story. Check back for details.
PSINGER@Gannett.com