POLICE, FIRE CONTRACT TALKS TO PUSH DRUG TESTING

Cocaine Arrests Make It Priority

Random drug testing for the city's 650 police officers and firefighters
will be an issue in upcoming contract negotiations, officials say.

"It certainly is a high priority for us,'' Fire Chief Debra Amesqua said
Tuesday. "We've been trying to get it for four years.''

The conviction this week of veteran Madison firefighters Michael Merkle and
Terry Rice on federal cocaine charges has again raised the question of
whether public safety personnel -- cops and firefighters in particular --
should be subjected to random testing to ensure they are not using drugs.

Both departments have sought in the past to randomly test their employees,
but unions for both the firefighters and police officers have fought the move.

Supervisors for the Fire and Police Departments said Tuesday they support
random testing and will likely fight for it in contract negotiations.

Contracts for both the Police and Fire Departments expire Jan. 1 and early
negotiations are under way.

"It's been at the table in prior years, and I would expect it would be
again this year,'' said Assistant Police Chief Richard Cowan of the random
testing proposal.

"I think it's a good idea,'' Cowan said. "It does a lot to reaffirm to the
public what we would hope would be their confidence in us.''

Cowan said the department in the past has discussed requiring random tests
for particularly sensitive jobs -- like those who work for the Narcotics
and Gang Task Force.

Right now, both departments can require drug testing only if employees are
suspected of drug use.

That's the way things should stay, said Sue Armagost, president of the
Madison Professional Police Officers Association.

"We would be, in general, against random drug testing,'' Armagost said,
calling it "demeaning and invasive.''

But, she said, "We'd be in total support of testing if there's any reason
to suspect drug use.''

Joe Conway, president of Firefighters Local 311, said he also opposes
random drug testing.

Calls for random testing in light of this week's plea agreements with the
two firefighters, Conway said, are just "knee-jerk reactions.''

"We have a zero tolerance for drug and alcohol use when people are on
duty,'' Conway said. "But we believe there is a better program out there
than random drug testing.''

Conway said firefighters want to see a committee formed to study ways to
identify people who may have a substance abuse problem.

"Look, we don't want anybody to be on the job impaired. We put our lives on
the line and we need people to be prepared for their job,'' Conway said.

Ryan Mulcahy, an aide to Mayor Sue Bauman, said the city hasn't officially
decided on how high a priority drug testing should be in the upcoming
negotiations.

"We will give very serious consideration to random drug testing for the
Police and Fire Departments as part of our bargaining position,'' Mulcahy
said. "We haven't decided anything for sure yet, but we are considering it.''