DRUG TESTS IN STORE FOR POLICE

Officer's Marijuana Arrest May Result In Testing Of Entire Lincoln Force

LINCOLN - The arrest Thursday of Lincoln Police Cpl. Diana Short on felony
charges of marijuana distribution will force an unknown number of Lincoln
police officers - if not all of them - to provide urine specimens.

"It'll be soon," Lincoln Police Chief Bob Rawlins said, referring to the
upcoming drug screenings. "But how soon, I can't tell you."

Rawlins said the contract between the department's union and the city
allows random drug testing of the officers. Their Social Security numbers
are drawn out of a hat to ensure impartiality.

The random drug-testing policy has been in place for the past six years, he
said.

"During that time frame, nobody's come back positive," he said.

Logan County State's Attorney Tim Huyett said Diana and John provided urine
samples to police, and both tests were positive for marijuana use.

A deputy arrested Short, 45, and her husband, John T. Short, 41, at 9:35
p.m. Thursday at the Logan County Safety Complex on two Class III felony
charges of unlawful manufacture of marijuana and the unlawful manufacture
of marijuana with the intent to deliver. Each also faces a Class IV felony
charge of unlawful manufacture of marijuana plants.

Diana Short additionally is charged with a Class III felony charge of
official misconduct.

An Illinois State Police drug task force searched the Shorts' house at 501
N. McLean St. Wednesday morning, discovering 15 four-foot-tall marijuana
plants growing in the basement. Several weapons were found in the house as
well.

Huyett said the discovery of the guns could also lead to additional charges
being filed against the Shorts, because neither has a valid Firearm Owners
Identification card as required by state law.

Friday afternoon, Diana Short sat in the gallery and saw Circuit Judge
David Coogan arraign her husband on three felony charges for growing and
distributing marijuana.

John Short was returned to the Logan County Safety Complex and held on
$25,000 bond.

Diana Short may have lied about her age when she applied for her driver's
license as a teen so she could get a license at a younger age.

If she lied to the Secretary of State's office by providing a false birth
date when she was 15 - and continued until now to use that fraudulent date
- she could be charged with a Class III felony for filing a fraudulent
affidavit for each time she renewed her driver's license.

The discrepancy arose when Short gave deputies a birth date that differed
from the one on her driver's license as deputies were arresting her Thursday.