ARBITRATOR REINSTATES ST. PAUL SERGEANT FIRED FOR DRUG USE

A highly regarded St. Paul police investigator who was fired in February
for using marijuana will reclaim his job.

An arbitrator reinstated Sgt. Cregg Brackman, named the state's top
sex-crime investigator in 1997, to the Police Department, Chief William
Finney said Tuesday. The arbitrator disallowed the firing because the
department didn't have a zero-tolerance policy on drug use, he said.

The arbitrator ruled that Brackman should serve a 30-day unpaid suspension
and will be subject to random drug tests for the remainder of his career,
Finney said. Brackman will return to work as soon as possible, but he will
be assigned to a different unit, Finney said.

"I think it's a fair decision," Finney said. "The arbitrator has sent a
strong message."

In February, Brackman, considered one of St. Paul's most tenacious
investigators, admitted smoking two marijuana cigarettes, one in December
and one in January. Acknowledging bad judgment, he said he was under
personal stress at the time. But he denied that he used marijuana often.

The investigation began in December when an investigator with the Dakota
County Sheriff's Department got a call from an informant who allegedly saw
Brackman smoking the drug openly on several occasions. Investigators
searched the garbage at his St. Paul home and found baggies with marijuana
residue. However, the small amounts found weren't enough to obtain a search
warrant or support a prosecution.

Finney said Brackman was the first department officer who had been fired
for testing positive for drug use, but Police Federation president Pat
Finnigan has disputed the chief's claim. Finney said the federation had
urged that Brackman only be disciplined.

A federal court ruling allows random urinalysis for the department's
tactical and bomb squad units, Finney said. Testing of a person in another
unit would have to be initiated by two supervisors, he said.

The department will create a policy that will result in termination for the
first time an officer tests positive for any illegal controlled substances,
Finney said. He said he also wants to develop language regarding officers
who commit alcohol-related offenses.

Brackman, 47, gained publicity for helping to apprehend Tony Dejuan
Jackson, who has been convicted of raping women in Washington and Ramsey
County. He is awaiting a Dakota County trial on charges of raping a woman
in Inver Grove Heights.

Jackson also remains a suspect in the 1995 disappearance of TV anchorwoman
Jodi Huisentruit in Mason City, Iowa.

Brackman has served his 30-day suspension because he had been off the job
since February, Finney said. He will receive back pay for the rest of the
time.

Copyright 1998 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski