POLICE ALLOW FOR SOME DRINKING ON THE JOB

State Undercover Officers Working A Case Can Consume Alcohol, But Under
Strict Conditions

By J.R. GONZALES

Staff Writer

For uniformed police officers, drinking alcohol on duty is strictly prohibited.

For undercover officers, the same rules apply. Mostly.

It presents police with a conundrum: How do undercover cops handle
situations in which they might have to drink on the job without
compromising their safety or the investigation?

Local law enforcement policies include few absolutes and describe
conditions when on-the-job drinking is permitted.

The Richland County Sheriff's Department amended its policy after Richland
County narcotics officer Donnie Washington was killed in a single-car crash
last year.

Washington had a blood alcohol level of .18 percent, more than twice the
state's guideline for impaired driving, The State newspaper reported this
month after obtaining results of a Highway Patrol investigation.

Sheriff Leon Lott said Washington, who was working alone, used bad judgment
by drinking that much and driving. But Lott is not convinced drinking
caused the wreck.

Even so, undercover narcotics officers now must be monitored by a partner
or by electronic surveillance when possible, Lott said.

According to written policy, the department allows undercover officers to
drink limited quantities "while on duty when necessary to accomplish the
mission."

"What do people do in a bar?" said Geoff Alpert, head of criminology at the
University of South Carolina. "You've got to fit into the environment."

Other local and state departments have similar policies.

Columbia undercover police officers may drink alcohol on duty as long as
their supervisors know about it and know the officer's location, police
spokesman Skot Garrick said.

Generally, State Law Enforcement Division agents are not allowed to drink
alcohol while on duty. But exceptions might be made if Chief Robert Stewart
deems it "essential to the continuation of a pre-approved undercover
assignment."

Stewart would not explain how that determination is made, fearing it would
alert criminals to law enforcement techniques.

Undercover agents cannot work alone, Stewart said. It would be rare for an
agent to work one-on-one with a contact. "It would be an unplanned event,"
Stewart said.

Lexington County is more restrictive. Deputies, including undercover
narcotics officers, cannot consume alcohol while on duty, spokesman John
Allard said.

"We don't allow it under any circumstances," he said.

And employees cannot frequent businesses that profit primarily from the
sale of alcohol. It keeps employees from being in situations in which they
might be intoxicated in public, Allard said.

Deputies also are prohibited from driving a county-owned vehicle after
drinking, according to policy.

Elsewhere in the state, the Horry County Police Department has set a
two-drink maximum for its undercover officers.

The difference in policies presents a particular issue when it comes to
undercover operations.

"There isn't any hard, fast standard of care out there that says an
undercover officer can have one ounce of alcohol every hour and a half,"
said Michael Lyman, a professor of criminal justice at Columbia College in
Missouri.

If an officer thinks he or she might be in a situation in which drinking is
required, the officer should discuss it with a supervisor or arrange to
avoid that situation, Lyman said.

Safety, detection and blurred reactions all come into play when undercover
officers drink alcohol to fit in, Alpert said.

"An officer who is impaired on alcohol has a diminished capacity to
remember things," Lyman said.

"Excessive drinking is never permissible unless you're under a kind of
threat or something."