RTC Security Officers Carry Narcan, Saving 19 Lives in 90 Days

Every security officer patrolling Southern Nevada's buses and transit centers began carrying naloxone on July 1, and in the first 90 days those officers administered it in 19 suspected opioid overdoses, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada said this week as it walked reporters through the response sequence its guards are trained to follow.

The agency described the 19 cases as lives saved. Six individual officers were credited with the responses and each received the commission's Crystal Bus Award.

RTC officials presented the numbers as evidence that a single piece of equipment added to an existing security contract can reach an overdose epidemic that transit systems encounter at street level. The commission's buses carry more than 55.8 million riders a year and run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which puts its workforce in continuous contact with the valley's drug supply.

A tool added to the belt, not a new program

Security officers are contracted through Inter-Con, which the agency brought on starting July 1 to deploy roughly 300 armed officers across the transit system and at all RTC transit centers. The naloxone training was arranged in partnership with the Southern Nevada Health District.

"We just rolled this out on July 1," said Tom Atteberry, senior director of safety and security operations at the RTC. "So, in the first 90 days, our officers assisted in saving 19 people and giving them a second chance at life."

Atteberry framed the medication as an addition to equipment officers already carry. "They feel it's another tool in their tool bag," he said. "Other than handcuffs, mace, a gun, and a baton, now they have something they can also save lives with."

Security Officer Bobby Leyva, who has used the medication on duty, described it in similar terms. "I feel very blessed that I had the Narcan in my position to help somebody out in the field," he said. "We never know who they are. We don't know if they have grandchildren or a wife, so it's always good to know that that person may continue on."

The response protocol Leyva demonstrated for reporters follows five steps: secure the area, check for a physical response, alert dispatch if there is none, administer naloxone, and begin CPR until paramedics arrive. Naloxone temporarily reverses an opioid overdose, but it does not substitute for emergency medical care, and officers are trained to hand the patient to first responders rather than treat in place.

Overdose deaths rising locally while national counts fall

The rollout lands in a county moving against the national trend. According to the Southern Nevada Health District, drug overdose deaths in Clark County rose by more than 50 percent between 2018 and 2025, a period in which provisional national counts declined for a third consecutive year.

"Our teams are out there on the ground every single day, and they see a lot of these tragic situations," Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones said. "That's why we reached out to the health district and, really, in partnership with them, were able to equip our officers with the knowledge base, but really the Narcan supply."

Las Vegas City Councilman Brian Knudsen, who also acknowledged the officers, put the credit in blunter terms. "These are actual heroes, not only protecting the bus drivers, protecting the customers, making our community safer, but they saved somebody's life," he said.

Placing naloxone in the hands of workers who are not clinicians follows a pattern that has spread through libraries, schools, bars and, more recently, transit agencies — settings where an overdose is likely to be witnessed by someone with no medical role. The medication is available over the counter, which removed the prescribing barrier that once limited who could carry it.

Assaults fell in the same period

The agency reported that other safety investments moved in the same direction. In fiscal year 2026, physical assaults on transit operators declined by nearly 29 percent and verbal assaults fell 46 percent, Atteberry said. The RTC is also using a transit security grant of more than $700,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pilot and evaluate AI-powered detection technology on its system.

The commission did not publish a breakdown of where in the system the 19 overdose responses occurred, whether the same individuals were involved more than once, or how many of its officers were on duty in the period.

For riders and families trying to find care after a reversal, the region's treatment options include opioid treatment programs that dispense methadone and buprenorphine under supervision, along with office-based medication for opioid use disorder.