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Past experimentation with marijuana won't make or break a recruit's chances of becoming a Metro cop under a recent policy change that department officials hope will boost the pool of applicants.
While a clean drug test, excellent scores on physical and written tests and no felony convictions are still required for new Metro police officers, officials say past drug use will now be viewed as a small part of the big picture so qualified candidates aren't excluded for what officials consider a relatively common mistake.
"In an ideal world, we would say that if you've used drugs, ran a red light or got a speeding ticket, you can't be considered," Deputy Chief Steve Anderson said. "But in today's society, we know that for use of marijuana, there are not the social stigmas there were 10 or 15 years ago."
In the past year, 44 applicants were ruled out on past drug use. At least a dozen of those excluded would be eligible under the new policy, department officials said.
The policy changes are subtle; instead of asking recruits to swear that they haven't used marijuana more than 10 times and not at all in the last three years, the new policy asks them only about the last two years and eliminates any question about number of uses.
Drug use will be reviewed in the context of the applicants' ages, how often they used marijuana and how long ago it was, according to the policy. The rules on harder drugs have stayed the same.
Illegal drugs other than marijuana must not have been used in the last seven years, and no more than five times total, according to the policy. Use of heroin, crack *******, *** or methamphetamine could disqualify a candidate. Any drug-related convictions or guilty pleas are also grounds for disqualification.
The hiring process is taking on more of a roundtable feel, where the department's experts — doctors, psychologists and administrators — can collaborate on the total candidate, Anderson said.
Officials say the change reflects a bigger problem: recruiting qualified new officers to fill the ranks. Since diversity is difficult to achieve in a police force, anything that widens the pool of potential recruits is a good thing for the city, said Lt. Michelle Donegan of Metro police's recruiting office.
"We want to push that the more applicants you have, the more ability you have to choose the cream of the crop," she said. "The more applicants we pull in, the more qualified we can be to represent the community … we may increase the numbers (with the police change) but we will not affect the quality."
The department uses urinalysis testing to detect any recent drug use, and prospective cops also have to pass a polygraph or computer voice stress analysis test. Current officers face the possibility of monthly random drug tests, and one-fourth of the force is randomly picked for a test each year, safety officer Lt. Gary Goodwin said.
Only one officer has tested positive for drugs in the last three years, and that test was given based on reasonable cause that the person was using drugs, Goodwin said.
The Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which sets rules and standards governing police officers and departments, does not specifically address past drug use. Instead, the rules simply state that a police recruit must not have been convicted of a felony and must pass a physical.
Anderson thinks the background checks the department gives along with lie detection tests are sufficient to weed out bad apples — past drug use or not.
"We know that kids go off to college and do things they might not have done at home and might not do now that they have more responsibilities," Anderson said. "We all make bad decisions, but if we think, viewing you as a whole, that you will make good decisions hereafter, we will consider you."
Experts say that recruiting qualified officers is a challenge nationwide. According to a recruiting study done last year by the Police Executive Research Forum, large police departments are having significant problems drawing enough qualified candidates, especially racial minorities and women.
Some larger agencies, like the Los Angeles Police Department and the New York Police Department, do not explicitly disqualify a candidate based on past drug use as long as recruits pass a drug test. Los Angeles recently began allowing recruits who experimented with hard drugs to join the force.
For some anti-drug activists, anything less than a zero-tolerance policy for the people who enforce the laws is unacceptable.
"The police department is obviously going to do what it's going to do, but if they hire people with illegal drug use in the past, I hope they don't use them as DARE officers," said Ralph Lochridge, spokesman for the national Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
The philosophy of the program, which is usually taught in elementary or middle schools, relies heavily on abstinence from drugs. DARE advocates believe that even experimentation among youth leads to a higher risk of substance abuse later in life, and that law enforcement professionals who have tried drugs can't honestly tell children that abstinence is the best option, Lochridge said.
"We want to send the message that says, 'I stayed away from drugs, and it created a better, more successful life for me,' " Lochridge said.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister - 420 Magazine
Source: The Tennessean
Pubdate: 09/30/06
Author: KATE HOWARD
Copyright: 2006 tennessean.com
Contact: contact
Website: my.tennessean.com:
While a clean drug test, excellent scores on physical and written tests and no felony convictions are still required for new Metro police officers, officials say past drug use will now be viewed as a small part of the big picture so qualified candidates aren't excluded for what officials consider a relatively common mistake.
"In an ideal world, we would say that if you've used drugs, ran a red light or got a speeding ticket, you can't be considered," Deputy Chief Steve Anderson said. "But in today's society, we know that for use of marijuana, there are not the social stigmas there were 10 or 15 years ago."
In the past year, 44 applicants were ruled out on past drug use. At least a dozen of those excluded would be eligible under the new policy, department officials said.
The policy changes are subtle; instead of asking recruits to swear that they haven't used marijuana more than 10 times and not at all in the last three years, the new policy asks them only about the last two years and eliminates any question about number of uses.
Drug use will be reviewed in the context of the applicants' ages, how often they used marijuana and how long ago it was, according to the policy. The rules on harder drugs have stayed the same.
Illegal drugs other than marijuana must not have been used in the last seven years, and no more than five times total, according to the policy. Use of heroin, crack *******, *** or methamphetamine could disqualify a candidate. Any drug-related convictions or guilty pleas are also grounds for disqualification.
The hiring process is taking on more of a roundtable feel, where the department's experts — doctors, psychologists and administrators — can collaborate on the total candidate, Anderson said.
Officials say the change reflects a bigger problem: recruiting qualified new officers to fill the ranks. Since diversity is difficult to achieve in a police force, anything that widens the pool of potential recruits is a good thing for the city, said Lt. Michelle Donegan of Metro police's recruiting office.
"We want to push that the more applicants you have, the more ability you have to choose the cream of the crop," she said. "The more applicants we pull in, the more qualified we can be to represent the community … we may increase the numbers (with the police change) but we will not affect the quality."
The department uses urinalysis testing to detect any recent drug use, and prospective cops also have to pass a polygraph or computer voice stress analysis test. Current officers face the possibility of monthly random drug tests, and one-fourth of the force is randomly picked for a test each year, safety officer Lt. Gary Goodwin said.
Only one officer has tested positive for drugs in the last three years, and that test was given based on reasonable cause that the person was using drugs, Goodwin said.
The Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which sets rules and standards governing police officers and departments, does not specifically address past drug use. Instead, the rules simply state that a police recruit must not have been convicted of a felony and must pass a physical.
Anderson thinks the background checks the department gives along with lie detection tests are sufficient to weed out bad apples — past drug use or not.
"We know that kids go off to college and do things they might not have done at home and might not do now that they have more responsibilities," Anderson said. "We all make bad decisions, but if we think, viewing you as a whole, that you will make good decisions hereafter, we will consider you."
Experts say that recruiting qualified officers is a challenge nationwide. According to a recruiting study done last year by the Police Executive Research Forum, large police departments are having significant problems drawing enough qualified candidates, especially racial minorities and women.
Some larger agencies, like the Los Angeles Police Department and the New York Police Department, do not explicitly disqualify a candidate based on past drug use as long as recruits pass a drug test. Los Angeles recently began allowing recruits who experimented with hard drugs to join the force.
For some anti-drug activists, anything less than a zero-tolerance policy for the people who enforce the laws is unacceptable.
"The police department is obviously going to do what it's going to do, but if they hire people with illegal drug use in the past, I hope they don't use them as DARE officers," said Ralph Lochridge, spokesman for the national Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
The philosophy of the program, which is usually taught in elementary or middle schools, relies heavily on abstinence from drugs. DARE advocates believe that even experimentation among youth leads to a higher risk of substance abuse later in life, and that law enforcement professionals who have tried drugs can't honestly tell children that abstinence is the best option, Lochridge said.
"We want to send the message that says, 'I stayed away from drugs, and it created a better, more successful life for me,' " Lochridge said.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister - 420 Magazine
Source: The Tennessean
Pubdate: 09/30/06
Author: KATE HOWARD
Copyright: 2006 tennessean.com
Contact: contact
Website: my.tennessean.com:
