Big Pipe says he's pushing to drug-test police
KOIN-TV reported last night that Portland commissioner Dan Saltzman is calling for drug testing of the city's police in the current negotiations with the police union on a new contract. But it's not clear from this first report exactly how much testing he's asking for. According to KOIN --
In current police union negotiations, Saltzman is pushing to make mandatory drug testing part of the hiring policy. He says the prospect of steroid abuse by officers is part of the reason.Note: The testing would be "part of the hiring policy." Does this mean just one test, before someone is hired? Or that only new hires would be subjected to drug tests -- the existing force would be exempt from testing? It remains to be seen whether Saltzman's contract demands are meaningful, or just more flimsy window dressing at City Hall. But any drug testing is better than nothing, I suppose."I think here are a lot of people like myself who are concerned, particularly when there are significant events like officer-involved shootings, and things like that, that we have no policies around drug testing," Saltzman said.
| Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (13)
"just more flimsy window dressing at City Hall!"
Posted by dman | May 5, 2010 10:57 AM
Election coming! Quick, I gotta have one action to point to!
Posted by Snards | May 5, 2010 11:07 AM
Good thing we have our sharpest, most intelligent and toughest minded council member to handle the negotiations with the police union. We can only thank God that Westerman took himself out of the equation. Maybe the new union boss will feel sympathy for the people of Portland and not stick it to us in exchange for a little drug testing. And maybe it will be sunny every day here for the rest of the year...
Posted by cbb | May 5, 2010 11:23 AM
What? There's no drug testing for pollice? Drug testing is required for the lowliest laborer on all construction projects. It is standard operating procedure for all mid size to big companies. Anyone packing guns, tasers and the like should be tested and frequently.
Posted by Dean | May 5, 2010 11:44 AM
And we all pay for staff here to attempt a quick PR fix - and overnight yet - so transparent.
Posted by clinamen | May 5, 2010 11:55 AM
Mandatory drug testing to get hired means very little without a regular random testing policy for employees. One without the other is meaningless.
Every company I've ever worked for has mandatory testing to get hired and a policy to test again if you get hurt. That means so long as you don't get injured on the job you are safe from getting tested. Lets just say that I've been fairly certain that various co-workers have needed testing but not had any proof. Without the threat of randomly being tested they don't worry about using.
The one place I worked (USN) that had regular followups had very few drug users in it. The ones that did used drugs that wouldn't show up in a bottle anyway since at that time hair testing wasn't dont. Not sure if they do now or not.
Posted by Darrin | May 5, 2010 12:29 PM
This means the drug-testing place has cute single girl Saltzman likes?
Posted by Steve | May 5, 2010 12:54 PM
They should have manditory drug testing for the city council too.
Posted by John Benton | May 5, 2010 3:13 PM
Maybe Dan can get the former girl friend to run the drug testing for the cops...she can make sure the police are 'entertained' while they wait for their turn to pee in the cup.
Posted by portland native | May 5, 2010 4:03 PM
Does Mary have a position on drug testing?
Posted by pdxjim | May 5, 2010 4:48 PM
Manditory? Faboulis!
Posted by Jennifer | May 5, 2010 6:23 PM
Did Mary stop reading your blog Jack?
Posted by pdxjim | May 6, 2010 9:49 AM
I'm really surprised drug testing isn't currently required.
Saltzman challenger Martha Perez doesn't just want drug testing, but also "mental health/steroid testing" of police. (see LWVPDX.org (PDF))
Posted by Norm! | May 6, 2010 2:17 PM