DRUG PAST OF POLICE RECRUITS DEBATED

As Md. Panel Considers Easing Rules to Shore Up Ranks, Some Up In
Arms

A state panel that sets standards for police hiring and training
throughout Maryland is considering a proposal that would allow
recruits to become police officers even if they had experimented with
heroin, LSD and PCP - a move aimed at increasing the pool of
applicants for short-staffed departments.

The plan, however, is drawing stiff opposition from a broad range of
police commanders and union leaders who contend that hiring officers
who have used those substances sends the wrong message about the
acceptability of criminal behavior.

The critics are concerned that a history of prior drug use could harm
an officer's credibility in court and reveals serious character flaws.
A decision by the board last year to permit applicants who have
experimented with cocaine is also being questioned.

"These are people who have committed crimes even though they haven't
been arrested," said Gary McLhinney, chief of the Maryland
Transportation Authority Police. "These people made poor choices in
their lives and don't deserve to become police officers. ... We're
giving people a lot of authority, a weapon and, under certain
circumstances, the ability to take someone's life."

Having been convicted of a serious drug offense eliminates a potential
recruit. However, agencies screen applicants for past drug use, even
if it did not result in a conviction, in interviews and polygraph
examinations.

Members of the Maryland Police Training Commission, which is lead by
the state police superintendent and includes police chiefs, sheriffs
and union officials on its 14-member board, will meet in April to
consider the proposal that would allow recruits to have experimented
with heroin, PCP and LSD and still be considered for jobs.

The board has discussed that proposal since November and is
considering a January draft of regulations, commission staff members
said.

The new guidelines would allow recruits to have used those three drugs
- - and all other illegal substances - up to five times in their lives
but only once since the age of 21.

Currently, candidates are barred from consideration if they have ever
used heroin, PCP and LSD. Not including marijuana, recruits must have
abstained from using all other illegal drugs for two years before
applying for a police job and may not have used the drug more than a
total of three times. The standards for marijuana are far more lax.

Already, the board has loosened guidelines concerning cocaine and
marijuana use. In October, it voted unanimously to remove a
prohibition on hiring candidates who had tried cocaine. That change
took effect in November and has been criticized by police chiefs and
union members who were recently notified about it.

Although the commission's guidelines set minimum standards, local
police agencies can set higher thresholds for recruits and officers.

'Thorny Issue'

Board members and staff workers said the commission was seeking to
lower restrictions to boost the number of recruits eligible to be
police officers, especially in smaller departments that are struggling
to fill their ranks and have difficulty competing with larger agencies.

"The challenge is to effectively balance the need to maintain the
highest standards for police recruits while maintaining a
satisfactorily large enough pool of candidates," said Raymond A.
Franklin, assistant director of the commission, which was established
to set state-wide thresholds for the selection and training of
officers in the 1960s. "It's a thorny issue."

The commission made the change regarding prior cocaine use because
departments were increasingly seeking waivers to allow candidates to
join their agencies even though they had dabbled with cocaine,
Franklin said.

'Fair Shot'

Annapolis Police Chief Joseph S. Johnson, who is a member of the
commission, supported removing the cocaine restriction.

"You have to look at the whole set of circumstances," Johnson said.
"You have to give a candidate a fair shot."

Many departments - such as the state police and those in Annapolis and
Howard County - generally follow the commission's drug guidelines. But
others, such as the Maryland Transportation Authority and Baltimore
police departments, set higher standards for prior drug use and will
not consider those who have tried cocaine.

"We're going to stay with our standard that you cannot use or have any
cocaine in your background," said Lt. Col. Kathleen Patek, who
oversees the city department's police academy. "If you take someone
who has drug use in their background, it says a lot about their moral
character, their integrity. They have had dealings with the criminal
element."

Baltimore County police said they continue to bar applicants who used
cocaine but are studying the November changes before making a final
decision.

"We're not sure which way we're going to go with it," said Police
Chief Terrence B. Sheridan.

Acting State Police Superintendent Col. Thomas E. "Tim" Hutchins, who
leads the commission but was not a member when it passed the cocaine
regulation in October, declined to comment yesterday because he has
not reviewed the regulations or proposals, said his spokesman, Maj.
Greg Shipley.

Approval

Commission officials said minutes of the October meeting - which were
obtained by The Sun - showed the board voted unanimously to approve
the loosening of the cocaine restrictions and to relax the standards
for prior marijuana use. The November regulation allows recruits to
have used marijuana an unlimited number of times, if it occurred more
than seven years before applying - and no more than 20 times within
seven to two years of applying.

Patek, who attended the October meeting in the place of City Police
Commissioner Kevin P. Clark, a commission member, contended she voted
against the measure.

Howard County Police Chief Wayne Livesay, who is a member of the
training commission because he is president of the Maryland Chiefs of
Police Association, also said he voted against the cocaine provision.

"I would never have voted for that," Livesay said. "I think we're
going down the wrong road for the wrong reasons. I don't think we have
to hire people with past drug histories to be cops."

'It's Addictive'

John A. Bartlett Jr., president of the Maryland Fraternal Order of
Police, said the commission needs to reconsider the cocaine regulation
and should throw out the proposal to allow recruits to join a
department if they have used heroin, LSD and PCP.

"You don't use crack cocaine one time," Bartlett said. "It's
addictive, just as heroin is."

The commission has been grappling with how to handle the issue of
prior drug use by recruits since 1997, when the state legislature
directed it to take action.

In 2000, it's board passed the regulation preventing use of cocaine,
heroin, PCP and LSD.