Are Cops Drug Tested?
No, in most departments. We need to let our elected officials, like Mayors and State Lawmakers know.
While policies can vary from state to state and department to department, generally speaking, police officers are only drug tested when applying to the force. Some jurisdictions require testing in a handful of special circumstances, like after discharging a weapon or being involved in a vehicle crash, but even those are inconsistent across the board.
No in most departments.
Time to write your Mayors and State Law Makers.
https://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2016/08/are-cops-drug-tested.html
Highlighting the illogic in having comprehensive drug-testing regimes for athletes, including penalties based on positive tests for both illegal and performance-affecting drugs, and the lack of similar testing for law enforcement officers, Shaun King of the New York Daily News points out:
More than almost any non-athletic profession in America, policing, particularly in the field, requires a serious level of focus, acuity, agility, coordination and fitness. Unlike athletes, police officers are armed and deputized to use lethal force whenever they feel it is required to do their job safely. Unlike athletes, police also face a heavily armed society. Drug use -- be it cocaine, marijuana, steroids, HGH or even alcohol -- could seriously impact an officer's performance.
Although the reasons for drug testing cops are different than those for testing athletes, they are arguably more compelling. King also links the high rate of steroid use among officers and the high rate of domestic violence involving police officers -- the highest among any profession.
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