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Title: Should cops who shoot someone be tested for drugs and alcohol? Metro Council may demand it
Source:
Louisville Courier-Journal
URL Source: https://www.courier-journal.com/sto ... r-police-shootings/3243628001/
Published: Jun 23, 2020
Author: Darcy Costello
Post Date: 2020-07-05 16:51:40 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 803
Comments: 7
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: 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."
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
Good idea. What's good for the goose is good for the gander...or something like that.
Reasonable enough.
Why WOULDN'T they be automatically tested for alcohol or OTHER drug use after ANY action that resulted in a death? If they weren't drunk or high,the results would help protect them from lawsuits. If they DID test positive,let them suffer the consequences.
In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
No they shouldn't be tested. Today's police need all the mind-numbing help they can get.
Liberals are like Slinkys. They're good for nothing, but somehow they bring a smile to your face as you shove them down the stairs.
You're wrong here, Holmes.
A little 'tongue-in-cheek' there Freddie. But then you knew it all the time.
Liberals are like Slinkys. They're good for nothing, but somehow they bring a smile to your face as you shove them down the stairs.
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. Excellent idea, wouldn't you say?
Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen.
#2. To: Fred Mertz (#1)
Good idea.
#3. To: Deckard (#0)
#4. To: Deckard (#0)
#5. To: IbJensen (#4)
No they shouldn't be tested.
#6. To: Fred Mertz (#5)
#7. To: Gatlin (#6)
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 essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
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