A LITTLE PAST COKE USE OK, SAYS LAPD HIRING POLICY

Police Recruitment Rules Draw The Line At Meth, Heroin

To help alleviate concerns that the Los Angeles Police Department has
loosened its drug policy for hiring recruits, the Personnel
Department and the LAPD said they've committed to rejecting
applicants who have tried methamphetamine, heroin and hard drugs
other than cocaine.

Personnel and police officials noted Wednesday that they haven't
actually hired anybody who has experimented with those drugs, but
they wanted to make it clear they won't consider recruits who have
tried hard drugs other than cocaine.

And they said they will reject candidates who tried any hard drug as
a mature adult.

The decision comes after several council members questioned the
LAPD's hiring standards, which were revised in 2003. The new
standards allowed the department to hire officers who had tried hard
drugs once or twice as teens if they were otherwise strong,
responsible candidates.

The department had hired six officers who had experimented with
cocaine - less than 1 percent of the officers hired over the last 2 1/2 years.

Councilman Dennis Zine, a retired police sergeant, had joined
Councilman and former Police Chief Bernard Parks in challenging the
hiring standard. Zine, who heads the council's PersonnelAdvertisement
Committee, hailed LAPD's revised decision.

"I was concerned about the other drugs," he said. "To know that since
the controversy and the motion came out, those have been taken off
the table makes me feel better."

Personnel and police officials have argued that the LAPD hiring
process is stronger after the 2003 changes, particularly since
requiring a polygraph test.

"We have no intention of reducing the standards of the Los Angeles
Police Department and we do think the process now gives us a better
picture of who we are hiring," LAPD Assistant Chief Sharon Papa said.