cannabisnews.com: Cops Lose Badges After 2 Drug Test Failures 





Cops Lose Badges After 2 Drug Test Failures 
Posted by FoM on March 15, 2000 at 11:29:35 PT
By Jose Martinez 
Source: Boston Herald
Eight Boston police officers - already tripped up once by snips of hair that betrayed their use of illegal drugs - are losing their badges after failing follow-up drug screenings, officials said yesterday.The eight officers, whose names and assignments were not released, were among the 29 cops who had failed their first random drug tests under the strict two-strikes-and-you're-out policy adopted by the department last year.
``We consider drug use a window to the opportunity to compromising a police officer - to corruption, essentially,'' police spokeswoman Sgt. Detective Margot Hill said. ``Their values already are in question. We don't want it to get to the point where their integrity is compromised.'' Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans fired two of the officers who failed their second tests. Two others resigned and four await disciplinary hearings. A ninth officer, who refused to take his first drug test, was fired earlier in the year.The new drug testing policy has turned up no surprises in the department of 2,300 officers, with tests turning up drug use in just 1.3 percent of the force, Hill said.The officers had failed their initial tests despite having advance notice they were to be tested within 30 days of their birthdays for cocaine, marijuana, PCP, methamphetamines and opiates. Eight of them failed random follow-up tests after serving out suspensions and completing drug treatment programs.Boston Police Patrolman's Association President Tommy Nee declined to discuss specifics of the discipline pending or already imposed on his rank and file members, saying the matters are between the officers and their attorneys.``It's unfair,'' Nee said. ``I'm disturbed about the commissioner airing personal and confidential information in the media with most of the matters still waiting to be litigated.''Hill said the new testing procedures had ``broad support'' within the department, where three of the four police unions have approved the new methodology.``All too often, officers are painted with the same brush when one of their colleagues falls,'' she said. ``There is support for this throughout the ranks and in the public, who expect a drug-free police force and should expect no less.''Last year, Boston police adopted the stricter two-strikes policy that automatically terminated officers who failed a second random drug test. The department uses hair tests rather than urinalysis to obtain a better picture of an officer's drug use. Drug traces disappear from urine in a matter of days but remain in hair for up to three months.Published: Wednesday, March 15, 2000Copyright by the Boston Herald and Herald Interactive Advertising Systems, Inc. CannabisNews Police Articles & Archives:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/police.shtmlhttp://www.google.com/search?q=cannabisnews+police
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Comment #3 posted by dddd on March 15, 2000 at 17:30:42 PT
also
How many other ,"normal"citizens,get to have a second drug test before they end up losing their jobs,or back in jail,???
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on March 15, 2000 at 17:26:32 PT
"within 30 days"
Who else in the brutal,no excuse,world of drug testing,gets;"The officers had failed their initial tests despite having advance notice they were to be tested within 30days of their birthdays for cocaine, marijuana, PCP, methamphetamines and opiates. Eight of themfailed random follow-up tests after serving out suspensions and completing drug treatment programs." What kind of "fair" test is it that you get warned "30 days before your birthday"???? I tend to think that more than 8 of these officers would have been in trouble,if the "right now,,,no warning",drug test would have been administered......ddd
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on March 15, 2000 at 13:08:14 PT:
The Worm turns... again
I can't help but wonder; how many lives did they ruin by busting for cannabis possession? How many of their victims got sodomized in prison? How many families did they destroy? How many kids now have records and can't get decent jobs because of them?No sympathy for the Devil from this quarter.On another tack:Last year, Boston police adopted the stricter two-strikes policy that automatically terminated officers who failed a second random drug test. The department uses hair tests rather than urinalysis to obtain a better picture of an officer's drug use. Drug traces disappear from urine in a matter of days but remain in hair for up to three months.I imagine that shaved heads will become a fashion statement real soon in the BPD, and they'll be brought up on charges if bottles of Nair depilatory cream are found in lockers. There's no end of the stupidity of governments.
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