DRUG TESTING OF STATE TROOPERS WAS CUT BACK

Amid reports that two state troopers were allegedly abusing drugs when they
were arrested recently - one for allegedly putting a gun in his wife's
mouth, the other for allegedly robbing a pharmacy at gunpoint - State
Police officials acknowledged yesterday that they have drastically cut back
on drug testing in recent years.

Four years ago, the department was conducting at least 1,300 random and
scheduled biannual drug tests per year, testing every trooper, supervisor,
and commander at least once every two years, officials said.

But this year, to save money, the department will conduct no more than 200
random tests on 2,333 employees, representing just 6 to 8 percent of the
total work force, a department spokeswoman said.

That means that the average trooper has a statistical chance of being
tested just once every 12 to 16 years - a rate that is probably failing to
prevent troopers from falling into drug abuse, a national specialist in
workplace drug testing said yesterday.

"The police officers there have probably realized that the chances of being
subjected to a random test are very, very small," said Nancy N. Delogu,
counsel for the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace, a Washington, D.C.,
consortium of employers, trade organizations, and drug abuse researchers.
"This level of testing is not going to act as a deterrent."

Questions have been raised about the State Police drug-testing policy since
two troopers were charged with separate criminal acts allegedly fueled by
drug abuse in less than two weeks.

Trooper Christopher P. Shields, a 16-year veteran, was arrested at a
Worcester substance abuse treatment center Wednesday and charged with
walking into a CVS pharmacy in Natick on the day after Christmas, showing a
handgun, and handing the clerk a note that said, "I want all the
OxyContin." Shields, who had been on medical leave since October after
injuring his back in a fall at the Weston barracks, allegedly got away with
three partially filled bottles of the powerful painkiller. He was accused
of being the pharmacy robber after he was arrested on shoplifting charges
at a Sudbury market last week.

Also last week, State Police Sergeant Timothy White, a former department
spokesman and member of the State Police narcotics unit, was charged with
assault with intent to murder after allegedly putting a gun in his wife's
mouth during a domestic dispute that prosecutors said was fueled by cocaine
and marijuana use.

Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley and State Police Colonel Thomas
Foley, at a news conference announcing the charges against Shields, called
the arrests a coincidence and said they did not believe it was indicative
of a wider problem with drugs in the department.

A State Police spokeswoman, Lieutenant Marian McGovern, defended the State
Police drug testing program yesterday, saying it follows federal guidelines
and takes into account tight budgets that have been strained following the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

McGovern said the department has cut back in recent years on the number of
drug tests, which cost between $42 to $200 each to administer.

Under a contract signed with the troopers' union, the State Police
Association of Massachusetts, the department was allowed to begin testing
troopers in 1998, both at random and when there was a "reasonable
suspicion" that an officer was abusing drugs.

Until 2000, troopers were also tested for drug use at their mandatory,
bi-annual physical examination, McGovern said. All State Police sworn
personnel were subject to the same testing, she said.

Statistics on the number of random tests over the years were unavailable
yesterday, McGovern said. But McGovern, troopers' union president John
Coflesky, and several troopers who spoke on condition of anonymity all
agreed that the number has dropped from the time the program was instituted.

Delogu said State Police should not be faulted for dropping the scheduled
testing; since drug users know the test is coming, it is virtually useless,
she said. But many organizations that have dis continued scheduled tests
have shifted the money to random testing, which can trap drug users and
deter illegal drug use.

Delogu disputed the State Police assertion that its program meets federal
guidelines. The US Department of Transportation has set the national
standard for workplace drug testing at 50 percent.