CITY, UNION FORM PACT ON TESTING COPS FOR DRUGS

After claiming the police department was targeting cops with drug tests,
the Police Patrolmen's Union inked an agreement with the city last week on
random drug testing.

"We can sit down and resolve these issues with the city, but we can't
resolve them with the chief," said Patrolmen Union President Jimmy Hyde on
Tuesday.

But Police Chief George McLean said there has never been an issue with the
police department's drug testing policy until the Patrolmen's Union new
executive board, including Hyde, was elected in the fall.

"We had administered 190 tests, and it hadn't been an issue until this
November," McLean said.

The union has been battling with McLean over the Police Department's random
drug testing policy because it says some police officers feel they have
been unfairly targeted with drug tests. The union filed several grievances
over the tests with the city and threatened to sue for punitive damages.

Although the union agreed to random drug testing in 1998, Hyde said the
tests were not supposed to be administered until the city, police chief and
the union established a written drug testing policy.

But Hyde said Chief McLean went ahead and implemented a drug testing policy
in 2001 without ever putting the policy in writing.

"The chief went on his own and implemented his plan," Hyde said. "Obviously
they didn't have the right to implement it on their own."

McLean said he had a verbal agreement with the Patrolmen's Union executive
board when the drug testing began.

"We didn't feel there was a need to put anything in writing," McLean said.

The police department signed a contract with Health Resources to conduct
the random drug tests, McLean said. But when the company picked the names,
Hyde said, the police department would often delay when an officer went to
take the drug test in Woburn. Because the tests were delayed, Hyde said
some officers felt the department was targeting them.

"We want a random drug test," Hyde said. "But the only way for it to be
effective is to be random. It is not random."

When the union asked to see copies of the police department's contract with
Health Resources, Hyde said the chief denied their request.

"We've asked for it," Hyde said. "He won't give it to us."

But McLean said when the police department received the names of the
officers picked to take the drug tests, scheduling conflicts, vacations and
sick time often delayed when the officers took the test. Sometimes the drug
tests would be delayed as much as two weeks.

McLean said the city's new agreement with the union seeks to diminish the
delays before an officer is tested.

"We're going to expedite the process as fast as we can to get the officers
tested quicker than we did in the past," McLean said.

Under the agreement with the union signed last Thursday, McLean said the
police department will also provide copies of the contract with Health
Resources to the union.

Mayor Joe Curtatone spokesman said the agreement the city's personnel
department worked out with the union and the police department will "clamp
down" on the time between when an officer's name is chosen for a drug test
and when the test is administered.

"Both parties agreed that there should be something in writing to avoid any
further grievances," Horan said.