MOST NEW DENVER POLICE HAVE DRUG OR LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS

DENVER (AP) -- The majority of new police officers who hit the street late
last year have either used drugs experimentally or have run afoul of law
enforcement before becoming officers, according to application records.

Of the 30 new Denver police, only six had clean records, The Denver Post
reported Sunday, citing public records from the Denver Civil Service
Commission.

"What the heck is going on here?" said Councilman Ted Hackworth, a critic of
the city's process of hiring police officers. "How are these people getting
hired?"

A hearing on how the Civil Service Commission plans to revamp its hiring
procedures is scheduled for Wednesday. The commission is responsible for
hiring police officers.

The changes were called for after the controversial hiring of Ellis "Max"
Johnson, who admitted on his application to sometimes using drugs -- some as
potent as LSD and crack cocaine -- more than 150 times. Johnson is still in
the police academy

"Johnson is just opening up the door to what's really going on in that
department," Hackworth said. "When there are 100 percent qualified
candidates, why aren't they getting hired? Why are these people coming
first?"

Of the 30 officers who were hired in June, 19 of them experimented
sporadically with marijuana several years before, The Post reported.

Denver police candidates cannot have used drugs for one year before applying
to the department, according to commission rules that have existed for about
a decade. Any candidate who admits to using any drug more than a year ago,
in any quantity for any period of time, is reviewed on a case-by-case basis,
but is not automatically disqualified.

One officer said he smoked pot about 25 times in a 16-month period and
bought it illegally three times, according to commission records.

The most recent any admitted to using drugs was in 1994.

"Temptation today is greater than ever in the history of America," said Paul
Torres, the commission's executive director who has been at the center of
recent controversial hires. "It's a societal problem and readily available.
It's very difficult not to find it (marijuana) around."

In addition to past drug use, 10 of the 30 recruits had other law
enforcement problems, records showed.

Four of had been arrested at least once -- two for assault, one for not
paying his child support and the other for driving while intoxicated,
records show. Another officer -- a seven-year veteran of a suburban Denver
department -- was fired, then reinstated after an internal investigation
determined he had stolen department records.

"If these were the people who were hired, I'd like to see those who were
rejected," said Councilman Ed Thomas, a former police officer. "I think
they've lowered the bar so much, it's an embarrassment."

The Denver district attorney is investigating Johnson's hiring while the
city council is reviewing the entire process and whether to replace one of
the commission members.

Mayor Wellington Webb is piecing together a new review commission to analyze
whether hiring procedures for police and firefighters need drastic change.

"They didn't take a guy I know of who has a sterling military record, but
they'll take a guy who admitted to smoking crack cocaine..." Thomas said. "I
want to have them sit in front of me and explain the benefits of a cocaine
abuser protecting the streets."