POLICE PANEL MIGHT LOOSEN DRUG RULES FOR RECRUITS

Proposal Would Aid Short-Staffed Agencies

The panel that sets minimum standards for police recruits across the
state is considering a proposal to further ease the rules on prior
drug use in order to attract more applicants to short-staffed
departments.

Supporters of the policy change say it would widen the pool of
potential recruits and allow police agencies to consider applicants
who might have experimented with drugs earlier in their lives but are
now clean.

But some law enforcement officials contend that any loosening of the
guidelines would send the wrong message about the acceptability of
drug use. They say that previous drug use would hurt an officer's
credibility in court and raise doubts about a recruit's judgment.

The proposal, which also tightens some restrictions, would permit
applicants who had smoked marijuana as recently as three years ago,
compared with the current standard of at least seven years ago. It
would also permit recruits to have used cocaine up to five times -
though not in the previous three years - up from the current limit of
three uses, the most recent at least two years ago.

"If you're going to be a law enforcement officer, you're going to have
to gear your life to be a law-enforcement officer," said Lt. Frederick
V. Roussey, president of the police union in Baltimore. "Kids can make
mistakes, but a mistake is once. A mistake is not five, six times.
That's a conscious choice."

The proposed change in guidelines is before the Maryland Police
Training Commission, whose 14 members include the state police
superintendent, police chiefs, sheriffs and union officials. The
commission will discuss the proposal at its next meeting, April 5, and
could vote on it this summer.

The panel sets minimum standards for the hiring and training of police
officers and sheriff's deputies across the state. Departments can
impose stricter standards than the commission's but not looser ones.
The rules are for recruits only; all police officers are required to
avoid drugs while on the force.

The proposed guidelines are part of a trend nationally, said Andrew
Morabito, senior projects specialist with the International
Association of Chiefs of Police in Alexandria, Va.

"It wasn't unusual in the early 1990s for an agency to say, 'If you
had any drug use whatsoever we're not going to hire you,' " Morabito
said. "Now you'd be hard-pressed to find an agency that has a similar
policy."

In 2003, the Maryland panel began permitting police applicants who
have experimented with cocaine. Last year, it considered a plan to
allow recruits to become police officers even if they experimented
with heroin, PCP and LSD. But that plan was dropped after strong
opposition from an array of police commanders and union leaders.

The new guidelines would keep heroin, PCP and LSD off-limits but
permit recruits who have used up to five times total any other drug or
drugs on a list of controlled substances - but only once since age 21.
Current rules allow recruits to have used any particular illegal drug
up to three times each.

The current policy permits applicants who have used marijuana up to 20
times in their lifetimes as long as the last use was at least seven
years ago. A new provision would keep the limit of 20 but specify that
the recruit has used the drug only five times since age 21.

Departments would be required to administer polygraph tests to
recruits, something that most departments do.

The drug-use exemptions would apply only to applicants who were not
caught. Anyone with drug convictions would still be disqualified from
becoming a police officer.

"There are others who are more realistic and recognize that the
applicants that you get in today's society [are] from the '60s on up,
where there was a cultural and a social change and drugs were more
prevalent," said Carroll County Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning, a
commission member who supports the proposal. "You would be ruling out
so many applicants, good applicants that may have experimented in high
school and college. I think that is the main drive behind the proposal."

Patrick Bradley, the commission's executive director, said the
proposed guidelines could be viewed as being stricter because they
place a limit on combined uses of illegal drugs. "We're talking about
uses - not arrests, trafficking, trailer distribution," said Bradley,
who does not have a vote on the board.

He added: "Along comes the proverbial Boy Scout, college graduate,
president of his class, volunteer firefighter, military veteran -
everybody's hero but for the fact that 17 years ago, he experimented with a
zero-tolerance drug. Question: Should they be allowed to be a police officer?"

However, John A. "Rodney" Bartlett, president of the state Fraternal
Order of Police and a commission member, opposes the proposal.

"We had what we thought were acceptable guidelines several years ago,
and since then it's been watered down and watered down," said
Bartlett, who questions the board's decision to permit applicants who
experimented with cocaine. "These chiefs and sheriffs feel the
pressure to hire and hire and hire. "

Many departments follow the commission's standards, but some
departments impose stricter hiring standards, including Baltimore
County. A spokesman for the agency, however, refused to specify the
county's standards.

"Law enforcement should be held to a higher standard," said Gary
McLhinney, chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority police, which
employs stricter rules. "I can only control my agency, and I want to
be known as the agency that does not compromise standards. I don't
care if I only have one person apply."

Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm was unavailable to
comment on the proposal; the department's policy for prior drug use
was not immediately available, said spokesman Troy Harris.

The proposal comes at a time when departments are struggling to
recruit eligible candidates, especially in smaller
communities.

"Most every agency in the state is struggling," said Bradley, of the
commission.

In Harford County, the sheriff's office typically turns down half of
the applicants who initially apply for jobs because of previous drug
use. In Carroll County, the sheriff's office had two candidates for a
recent opening.

Drug-use standards for police vary across the country. Applicants to
the Nashville, Tenn., department cannot have used marijuana more than
10 times, or within the past three years; or used other illegal drugs
more than five times or within seven years.

The Washington State Patrol prohibits recruits who have used marijuana
more than 15 times, and at all within the past three years. It's
applicants are permitted to have used LSD, PCP and other hallucinogens
up to three times, but not within the previous 10 years. The same
limits apply to cocaine.

The FBI dropped its zero-tolerance policy and now permits applicants
who have smoked marijuana as long as they didn't do it more than 15
times and not at all in the past three years. The applicants are
permitted to have used other illegal drugs up to five times, but not
at all in the past 10 years.

Col. Thomas E. Hutchins, Maryland State Police superintendent, who
leads the police training commission, said he supports the proposal as
a way to "clarify" current hiring standards.

The panel "needs to keep current what they feel should be a minimum
operating standard for law enforcement agencies in Maryland," said
Hutchins.