Pubdate: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO) Copyright: 2000 Denver Publishing Co. Contact: 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204 Website: http://www.denver-rmn.com/ Author: Gene Amole Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n273/a08.htm http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n285/a06.htm Bookmark: MAP's link to Colorado articles is: http://www.mapinc.org/states/co DRUG USE SHOULDN'T PRECLUDE JOB AS COP Inflexibility. I have been looking around the newsroom and wondering how many of my fellow newshounds are qualified to join the Denver Police Department. It's a rhetorical question, because I suspect not many of them want to be police officers. I'm sure there is a little cop in all of us. It's because of the power of the badge and the gun on the hip, that sort of thing. But most of us realize that the day-to-day work of a police officer is no picnic. There's the danger, of course, and then those gawdawful reports they have to write, the long hours waiting to testify in court, the anger some folks have toward all police departments, the horrible hours. But back to my original thought. I suspect not many of us are qualified for the DPD because of a past snort of cocaine or two, or three, or more, or even lying about it. Heck no, I have never used cocaine nor have I had a single puff of marijuana. My generation was comparatively innocent compared to recent years. Like drugs, sex was not something kids started engaging in at age 12. Holding hands was a big deal when I was young. But that was then. This is now. And now Mayor Wellington Webb has decreed that no police recruit who acknowledges the use of cocaine -- or who who lies about it -- will be accepted for training in the Police Academy. His decision followed acceptance in the Academy of Ellis Johnson, a recruit who admitted using cocaine 15 years ago. He had been turned down as a Glendale police officer. Safety Manager Fidel Montoya OK'd his Denver application, even though Webb opposed it. The controversy partly resulted in the resignation of Tom Sanchez as police chief. It will be tough going for Johnson. He still faces nine months of probation. If he survives that, the controversy will remain a cloud over his head. Attorneys who defend alleged criminals he arrests will always raise the issue of Johnson's previous use of cocaine and LSD. While no one suggests drug addicts should be police officers, Webb's dictate seems harsh. We are emerging from a time when experimentation with drugs was a rite of passage for young people. If President Bill Clinton can get away with puffing but not inhaling marijuana, and Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush avoids answering questions of alleged past cocaine use, can't we be a little more tolerant of a past snort or two of nose candy by Denver cops? There's a shortage of top police officers everywhere. Recruiters from Los Angeles have recently been in Denver looking for candidates for the LAPD. Will they be taking away men and women who might be top Denver officers but for a minor indiscretion or two? Police officers everywhere are taking a lot of heat because of incidents in New York, the Mena case in Denver and alleged police misconduct in Glendale, but most Denver area cops are decent people doing a good job. It would be a shame to lose quality officers because of the inflexibility of Mayor Webb's directive. - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst