Louisville Metro Council is considering requiring that officers in "critical incidents," such as a police shooting, submit to a drug and alcohol test after the incident.
The proposed ordinance, filed Friday, would necessitate a change in police policy to require drug and alcohol testing be performed "as soon as practicable" after incidents that cause death or injury, and no later than the end of the officer's shift and before any interviews are done.
It calls for any violation to lead to disciplinary action.
Council President David James, D-6th District, who is co-sponsoring the legislation, along with Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith, D-4th, said Tuesday that during the conversation around the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, he realized "it wasn't taking place on the police department."
The change, he said, would add "credibility and legitimacy" to the police force and prevent it from being a question hanging over officers' heads: "No one could make an accusation against them if they took the test and came back clean," James said.
He said he had "no idea" if officers in the Taylor case submitted to such testing. Sexton Smith, too, said she did not know if they had been tested.
LMPD spokeswoman Jessie Halladay said in an email that she doesn't "have information on how often drug testing occurs in a case." She declined to comment specifically on the Taylor case, as it is under review by the state attorney general.
Halladay added that LMPD is looking at the language of the proposed legislation to determine "what, if any" suggestions are needed.
Critical incidents are defined in the ordinance as an action taken in the line of duty that results in — or could have resulted in — the death or serious physical injury of the officer or another person, as well as the use of deadly force in the line of duty.
News:How Louisville Metro Council wants to change LMPD, city budget amid calls to defund police
Louisville Metro Police's standard operating procedures lay out that officers may have to submit to random drug testing, in accordance with the union contract.
If "reasonable suspicion" exists that an officer may be impaired, a commanding officer can ask an officer to undergo drug or alcohol testing. Reasonable suspicion, per policy, includes:
- Sudden changes in performance
- Failure to follow instructions
- Violation of safety policies
- Substances found in an officer's possession or near their workplace
- Odor of alcohol
- Unexplained or frequent absences
- Personality changes or disorientation
- Arrest or conviction for related charges
- Information provided by "reliable and credible sources"
The department's collective bargaining agreement with the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter states Metro Government "may" require a member involved in a use of deadly force incident to take a drug and alcohol test.
James said he didn't know how frequently that takes place. And Sexton Smith said she asked an LMPD employee about whether it's normal procedure, and was told that it might be covered in the CBA but the person would have to check.
Sexton Smith said she's interested in requiring it explicitly "in light of the recent activities and violence that we've seen at the hands of some of our law enforcement officers throughout the nation."
Click for Full Text!
