EP POLICE WELCOME RANDOM TESTING

Union Chief Says Officers Wonder Why Policy Wasn't Implemented Years Ago

EAST PEORIA - City police officers will not only welcome a new department
policy requiring they undergo random drug-testing, they wonder why the
policy wasn't installed years ago, their union president said Wednesday.

That attitude should ease the way for random testing to soon become a fact
of life within the 39-officer department, either through an addition to the
recently signed four-year contract with the union or simply as part of
"department protocol," said City Administrator Tom Brimberry.

"We haven't had any formal meetings on the issue," said union president
Shannon Swearingen, "but every officer I've talked to is all for it.

"We've talked about it for years. We're more than willing to open up the
contract or have a sidebar agreement" installing the test requirement.
"It's important for the citizens of the city to know" their police officers
are drug free, he said.

The issue arose in the wake of the arrests of former Officer Ron Beeney and
Julie Lynn Harris, a member of the department's auxiliary force, for
allegedly possessing more than 28 grams of cocaine and other drugs,
including methamphetamine, in their listed residence in the 100 block of
Ridge Lane. Beeney, an 11-year department veteran, and Harris face up to 15
years in prison if convicted.

Police Chief Ed Papis vowed Tuesday to "take measures long overdue ... to
make sure this never happens again" in the department he has overseen for
20 months. Among the area's larger police departments, only Peoria's and
Peoria County's now require their officers to submit to random testing.

The practice also is required among East Peoria Public Works Department
employees with commercial driver's licenses allowing them to operate heavy
trucks and other vehicles, Brimberry said. All city workers, however, can
be ordered to undergo drug testing "for cause," he said.

City attorney Dennis Triggs currently is reviewing whether Papis can
require random testing without the need to include the provision in the
police contract, Brimberry said.

Swearingen also lauded the City Council's decision Tuesday to add a 39th
officer's position to the department, which Mayor Charles Dobbelaire
acknowledged has been overworked recently.

"It validates the union's position in a lot of ways," said Swearingen, who
in August argued in an unusual public letter that both officers and the
public were "endangered" by inadequate police manpower. The union will seek
yet more hirings when city budget discussions begin next year, he said.