JEFFERSON POLICE REINSTATE DRUG TESTS

'It Will Hold Us Accountable'

Policy Mirrors Louisville Program To Check Officers

Six years after a former chief found it inadequate, the Jefferson County
Police Department is re-instituting a policy of random drug testing for
officers.

Department officials say the need for such a policy was underscored last
year when two officers were charged with illegally obtaining prescription
drugs.

"We recognize that a police department mirrors the community," said
Jefferson County Police Capt. Tim Emington, who is overseeing the
department's testing program, which starts next month. "To think that we're
exempt from the ills of the community is just being naive."

Louisville police started a similar program last June; so far, no one has
tested positive for drugs.

Dan Carlson, associate director of the Center for Law Enforcement Ethics in
Richardson, Texas, estimated that fewer than half the departments he works
with conduct random drug testing.

Some officers across the nation argue that such testing infringes on their
rights, is not cost-effective and hurts morale, said Sylvester Daughtry
Jr., executive director of the Commission on Accreditation for Law
Enforcement Agencies.

But Louisville and Jefferson County police officials say they have worked
with their respective unions to hammer out what they say are reasonable
approaches to random testing -- taking into account officers' privacy
rights and ensuring the tests are reliable.

County Chief William Carcara, his command staff and the leadership of the
county Fraternal Order of Police have agreed to go through the testing
process first as a show of good faith.

Louisville Chief Greg Smith made the same pledge, saying in a bulletin
signed in October 2000 that he and the FOP executive board would be tested
that month.

They weren't tested that month -- in part because the entire implementation
was delayed -- but Smith said in an interview that his command staff has
agreed to be part of the testing, even though they're not required to
because they're not covered by the FOP contract.

Meanwhile, Jefferson County police held sessions with officers and
commanders this week to explain the program, which is expected to test
about a third of the agency's 500 sworn officers each year.

Like the city's program, the county will require urine samples and test for
nine classes of drugs, including cocaine; PCP or angel dust; marijuana;
amphetamines; opiate derivatives (from poppy seeds to heroin); barbituates;
benzodiazapines (which includes Valium); methadone; and propoxyphene
(Darvon, a painkiller), said Dr. John F. Rose of Occupational Physician
Services, which is under contract with both departments to administer the
testing.

The annual cost for each department is about $6,000.

The city and county departments have a similar protocol, with OPS using a
computer to generate random lists of about 20 employees to be tested in a
given month.

Under the county program, those employees come from two pools -- metro
narcotics officers and all other sworn officers. Emington said that ensures
narcotics personnel are tested more often.

In the city, the two pools are: sworn personnel from officers to
lieutenants; and captains to the chief, said Lt. Jim Woosley, who oversees
the city police program.

An officer who refuses to take a test, or tests positive, is subject to
discipline, up to termination.

If a test comes back positive, a medical review physician contacts the
officer, who must provide an explanation. If a prescription drug triggers a
positive result, Rose said, the doctor verifies the prescription and checks
to ensure the officer is not getting the drug from more than one source,
called "doctor shopping."

Carcara said two recent cases involving officers allegedly illegally
obtaining prescription drugs underscore the need for random testing.

Officer Scott D. Shearer was fired in November after being charged with
fraudulently obtaining prescription medications during a hospital visit in
June. Stephen N. Hall resigned from the department a few months before
being indicted in September on charges he illegally obtained prescription
drugs nearly 100 times while on the force.

The status of those cases was unknown yesterday.

County police had a random drug testing policy from the early 1990s until
1996, when then-chief Ron Ricucci said the program was not costeffective
and not a priority.

Ricucci, currently chief of the Front Royal, Va., police department, said
he always had the ability to test officers suspected of using drugs and
that regular testing of metro narcotics officers, who are in contact with
drugs more often than other sworn personnel, remained intact.

An improved random testing provision was negotiated into the officers'
contract during his tenure, but funds for the testing weren't available,
Ricucci said.

The department had hoped to start random testing earlier in Carcara's term,
which started in 1999, but union privacy concerns needed to be resolved,
Emington said. The department suffered another setback last fall in
securing a testing site.

A dozen officers who attended an information session at the county FOP
lodge on Price Lane on Wednesday had few concerns. "I think it's a good
thing . . . it will hold us accountable," said Officer Bruce Bunton.

Louisville police officers have not had any complaints about the random
drug testing, Smith and city FOP president David James said.

Officers were randomly tested for drugs for the first time last summer --
more than a year after the program was to start. Hilary Bohannon, the
city's human resources director, blamed the delay on concerns about finding
a secure testing site and ensuring the process was reliable.

Since June, 72 officers have been tested and none have tested positive,
according to police records.

Since 1999, two Louisville officers have been tested under a reasonable
suspicion provision in the officers' contract. One officer who was tested
in October 1999 has since resigned; the other was tested in September 2001
and is under internal investigation.

In addition, city police Officer Curtis W. Burton was charged in December
with obtaining a controlled substance -- a painkiller -- by deception. He
was arrested after police received a tip, the department said. An internal
investigation is pending.

Carcara said random testing reassures the public that the department is
drug-free and gives officers confidence that their backup is not impaired.

Said Lt. Tony Cobaugh, president of the county FOP: "Every police officer
in our department understands that above all, this is important for citizen
safety, officer safety and the integrity of the men and women in the
department wearing the uniform. . . . I certainly want to believe that all
of my brothers and sisters are drugfree."