STATE POLICE FIGHT DECISION NOT TO FIRE POT-SMOKING OFFICER

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. - Mark Atchison was at a family party when he walked
outside and saw two family members smoking marijuana. But the Illinois
State Police master sergeant didn't arrest them. He didn't lecture them. He
didn't even turn away.

"For some stupid reason -- I don't know whether it was to relieve their
tension or it was total stupidity on my part -- I actually took the joint
and did a couple of hits," Atchison later told the State Police Merit Board.

The State Police tried to fire Atchison after he tested positive in a
random drug test three days later. But he argued that, as a good employee
with a clean record, he deserved a second chance. The merit board agreed,
suspending him for six months without pay.

Now the State Police is suing in circuit court to overturn the ruling or
have the case reconsidered. Department officials say they lose credibility
if they can't fire officers who break the law.

"It would be very difficult to explain to people in the general public why
we would tolerate actions among our own officers that we put people in jail
for," Daniel Kent, State Police deputy director of operations, said in the
July 1999 merit board hearing.

Three officers have been fired for positive drug tests since testing
started in 1992, State Police spokesman Capt. Dave Sanders said. Another
firing is pending, but Atchison's is the first in which the officer was not
discharged. It's also the first to involve cannabis, said Atchison's
lawyer, John Hosteny of Springfield.

Standing in the way of the State Police is the five-member merit board, a
panel appointed by the governor to handle State Police hiring, firing and
promotions. Executive director James Seiber pointed out that the merit
board must weigh both sides of an issue and does not serve either the
department or its officers.

Atchison, 42, of Pawnee, Ill., 10 miles south of Springfield, has been on
paid administrative leave from his work as a police pilot since completing
the suspension in November.

He would not comment on the case, nor would his attorney or the State
Police, who are paying former State Police director Jeremy Margolis, a
politically connected Chicago lawyer, $19,975 for "technical assistance."

Atchison's lawyer, Hosteny, argues in court papers that Atchison had never
before been seriously disciplined, had tested negative on three previous
random drug tests and was a skilled pilot with a good work record.

He said the agency's credibility didn't suffer because Atchison did not
escape severe punishment for the February 1999 incident - his six-month
suspension cost him about $35,000 of his $66,700-a-year salary.

Two of Atchison's pilot colleagues testified in his defense, saying
Atchison should be barred from flying but that they wouldn't be troubled if
Atchison returned.

"I wouldn't have a problem working with the man on the road at all," Master
Sgt. Fred Moore said at the hearing. "We all should get second chances."

Hosteny points out that if Atchison did not use drugs again and applied to
the police academy as early as 2002, he would be acceptable. Cadets must
pledge they've not used drugs in at least three years and then not more
than 15 times in their lifetime.

But there's a difference between a youthful indiscretion, which is
generally the case with a new recruit, and a sworn officer with more than a
decade of service who smokes marijuana, Robinson said.