JEFFERSON COUNTY POLICE OFFICIAL MISSES DRUG TEST, GETS REPRIMAND

Lt. Col. JacQueline Cooper, deputy chief for operations of the Jefferson
County Police Department, has been reprimanded for failing to appear for a
scheduled drug test.

Cooper, who joined the department in 1977, was supposed to take the test on
Oct. 17 but didn't appear for it until five days later.

She was extremely busy with preparations for a literacy fair cosponsored
that week by the department, said Sgt. Troy Riggs, a police spokesman. She
also had a role in graduation ceremonies and a luncheon that week for the
county department's final class of recruits.

But in a Nov. 21 letter of reprimand, Chief William Carcara said, ''Delays
of this nature cannot be tolerated and warrant discipline.''

Yesterday, Carcara said Cooper had ''logical reasons for missing the test''
but still violated department policy, prompting the disciplinary action.

Riggs said Cooper had taken vacation days on Oct. 21 and 22 but came in for
the test on the 22nd.

To maintain her integrity, he said, Cooper volunteered for a hair follicle
test, which detects drugs for up to 90 days after they are used. She also
took the routine urine test, which can spot cocaine for about five days
after it is ingested. She passed both tests, according to Carcara and
department records.

The department began drug testing about five months ago, and Cooper was the
first officer to fail to appear as scheduled. Carcara said the county's
contract with the Fraternal Order of Police doesn't set out a penalty for
that, so he consulted with county Judge-Executive Rebecca Jackson's staff,
which agreed a reprimand was warranted.

''We treated Jackie as we would any other officer,'' Carcara said.