Drugs tsar presses for random tests on police
By Tim Reid

POLICE officers may be required to take random drug tests as senior ranks
acknowledge that the force's new recruits come from a generation in which
drug use is common.

There have been several recent cases in which officers involved in raids
have kept drugs either for their personal use or to sell on. Senior
officers fear that officers breaking the law in this way are becoming open
to corruption and blackmail.

Keith Hellawell, the Government's newlyappointed "drug tsar", has sent
guidelines on drug testing in the workplace to all 43 forces in England and
Wales.

Mr Hellawell, who chairs the Association of Chief Police Officers' drugs
committee, said: "The feedback has been very positive. Many are considering
introducing drug testing within their forces as part of a positive health
package, like many other professions have."

Random tests are already carried out by the Army, Royal Navy, public
schools and many businesses, but the practice has until now been resisted
by police because it was believed that drugtaking within the force was
"not a problem".

The prevalence of drug taking among the young a recent survey showed that
a third of all teenagers in Britain had tried drugs prompted the new
move. Mr Hellawell said: "That is why I felt it ought to be done. From
ACPO's point of view, it is an area that we need to keep abreast of. I have
always felt that the issue of drug taking within the force has been skirted
and not faced head on."

Mr Hellawell, the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, who takes up his new
post in January, stressed that testing would be designed to act as a
"preventative" measure rather than a device to "catch lots of officers out".

Ian Oliver, the Chief Constable of Grampian, is one of the first to
announce that he will introduce random testing in his force.

Officers who are caught using drugs usually leave quietly, but recent cases
include a young London officer who left in May after being arrested
offduty taking cocaine outside a Brighton club. Another Metropolitan
Police officer was arrested last year as he visited a drug dealer to buy
cannabis.

Last year, the Army carried out 20,000 random drug tests. Earlier this
year, 12 soldiers from the Black Watch were dismissed for taking soft drugs.

In the United States, tests on police officers are already widely carried
out. A computer picks out a payroll number and the officer is required to
give a blood or urine specimen.

Bob Elder, a spokesman for the Police Federation, which represents
rankandfile officers, said: "If it is something that ACPO is considering,
then obviously we will have to look at the issue. I'm not sure whether it
is or isn't a problem, but I don't think we should dismiss it out of hand."