DRUG USE SHOULDN'T PRECLUDE JOB AS COP

Inflexibility.

I have been looking around the newsroom and wondering how many of my fellow
newshounds are qualified to join the Denver Police Department. It's a
rhetorical question, because I suspect not many of them want to be police
officers.

I'm sure there is a little cop in all of us. It's because of the power of
the badge and the gun on the hip, that sort of thing. But most of us
realize that the day-to-day work of a police officer is no picnic.

There's the danger, of course, and then those gawdawful reports they have
to write, the long hours waiting to testify in court, the anger some folks
have toward all police departments, the horrible hours.

But back to my original thought. I suspect not many of us are qualified for
the DPD because of a past snort of cocaine or two, or three, or more, or
even lying about it.

Heck no, I have never used cocaine nor have I had a single puff of
marijuana. My generation was comparatively innocent compared to recent
years. Like drugs, sex was not something kids started engaging in at age
12. Holding hands was a big deal when I was young.

But that was then. This is now. And now Mayor Wellington Webb has decreed
that no police recruit who acknowledges the use of cocaine -- or who who
lies about it -- will be accepted for training in the Police Academy.

His decision followed acceptance in the Academy of Ellis Johnson, a recruit
who admitted using cocaine 15 years ago. He had been turned down as a
Glendale police officer.

Safety Manager Fidel Montoya OK'd his Denver application, even though Webb
opposed it. The controversy partly resulted in the resignation of Tom
Sanchez as police chief.

It will be tough going for Johnson. He still faces nine months of
probation. If he survives that, the controversy will remain a cloud over
his head. Attorneys who defend alleged criminals he arrests will always
raise the issue of Johnson's previous use of cocaine and LSD.

While no one suggests drug addicts should be police officers, Webb's
dictate seems harsh. We are emerging from a time when experimentation with
drugs was a rite of passage for young people.

If President Bill Clinton can get away with puffing but not inhaling
marijuana, and Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush avoids
answering questions of alleged past cocaine use, can't we be a little more
tolerant of a past snort or two of nose candy by Denver cops?

There's a shortage of top police officers everywhere. Recruiters from Los
Angeles have recently been in Denver looking for candidates for the LAPD.
Will they be taking away men and women who might be top Denver officers but
for a minor indiscretion or two?

Police officers everywhere are taking a lot of heat because of incidents in
New York, the Mena case in Denver and alleged police misconduct in
Glendale, but most Denver area cops are decent people doing a good job. It
would be a shame to lose quality officers because of the inflexibility of
Mayor Webb's directive.