WTOL.com, Toledo's News Leader, News 11 | Two Toledo officers fail first random drug test
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Posted by Lisa Strawbridge - email
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTOL) - Random drug testing on Toledo police officers was done for the first time on a department-wide basis Thursday. Two tested positive for marijuana.
The police chief relieved the officers of their duties without pay after he received their positive drug tests. Now the chief says suspension or termination are possibilities for the two officers and that charges against them will likely come next week.
"I think the public demands the best of its police officers," said Chief Navarre. "These are individuals who are given a gun and a badge and a lot of authority."
Chief Navarre said he fought 20 years for random drug testing to make sure his officers are obeying the law. It wasn't until the new police contract signed in July of this year that the union allowed random testing.
"We have had officers who have been tested for reason of suspicion, officers whose names have come up as part of a criminal drug investigation," said Navarre.
The fight to implement random drug testing
The issue of random drug testing came to the forefront during contract negotiations in 1988. The Toledo Police Patrolman's union kept turning down the request.
In 1995, D. Michael Collins was the president of the patrolman's union. He says they did begin random drug testing based upon assignment. The union agreed officers assigned to the property room, directed patrol and vice narcotics should be tested on an annual basis.
"In my opinion, it should be a self-regulated responsibility," Collins said.
As for the two officers who tested positive Thursday, Collins says it should not reflect negatively on the department as a whole.
The chief says he hopes the testing and the consequences send a message.
"We face our problems head on. We do them publicly. We don't sweep them under a rug."
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