EP POLICE DEPARTMENT MEMBERS VOLUNTEER FOR RANDOM DRUG TESTING

Chief Hopes To Bolster Public's Confidence After Arrest Of Officer

EAST PEORIA - Every officer and citizen employee of the city's police
department has volunteered for testing for illegal drugs in their
systems that will begin today, Police Chief Ed Papis said Tuesday.

"I'll try to be the first one" to submit to the test in an effort "to
show this community that what happened was an absolute anomaly" within
the department, Papis said.

He was referring to the arrest in September of Officer Ron Beeney, an
11-year department veteran, for allegedly possessing more than 28
grams of cocaine and other drugs.

Papis acknowledged Beeney's case has embarrassed the department he's
run for nearly two years. Beeney resigned immediately after his arrest.

The case ultimately could prove to bolster communities' confidence in
their police officers if other area departments also begin drug
testing, Papis said. He said he understood several departments are now
considering that.

Among the area's larger police departments, only Peoria's and Peoria
County's now require their officers to submit to random testing for
controlled substances.

East Peoria's city attorney will recommend a "memorandum of
understanding" be formally added to the city's new four-year contract
with the department's police union that will require drug testing in
the future, Papis said.

But all department employees in the meantime have volunteered to
undergo testing that will run through Thursday, he said. "It will be a
blanket sweep of the whole department."

Police union President Shannon Swearingen has said union members have
been willing to undergo testing as a regular job requirement for years.

Beeney and his girlfriend, Julie Lynn Harris, were arrested in late
September after a search of their listed residence in the 100 block of
Ridge Lane uncovered drugs including cocaine and methamphetamine. They
face up to 15 years in prison if convicted in the case.