Police Staffing Essay

When it comes to prior drug use by an applicant for the position of police officer many feel strongly that this disqualifies the applicant based on moral character. Any person who would do drugs must be compromised and therefore susceptible to future judgement errors in the capacity of a police man or woman. That is the logic many private citizens and many older people in law enforcement management. However today there are serious issues facing the police departments of this country, one of which is staffing. It is now becoming difficult to find applicants to fill the role of police officer in a society that views them in a very negative light as of late and a governmental system nationwide that has attacked the police benefits as a means to balance the books.

Staffing challenges have in many places reached a boiling point requiring some departments to lower standards as we have discussed in this class already. These reductions in standards come in several key areas, education and or military experience, criminal background, physical standards and yes even drug history disqualifiers. Our country is changing in how we view drug use, specifically marijuana with several states having different levels of legalization.
In 1970 Richard Nixon in an effort to gain public favor launched a war on drugs which included marijuana prohibited through the Controlled Substances Act (Martin, 2016).

Marijuana was placed into a category known as a schedule one narcotic meaning it had little if any medical benefits and would very likely be abused. This is also the point when marijuana became known by many as a gateway drug opening pandora's box exposing the user to a higher risk of using far harder illicit drugs in the future. WHat would follow is in my opinion the single largest domestic expenditure with no real “fruit” produced in 40+ years, the war on drugs. I am a law enforcement officer and even I believe the war on drugs to be a phenomenal failure that has wasted over one trillion of dollars fighting a battle that cannot be won simply because it is a battle against human nature, the desire to feel good, even if only temporary and no matter how artificial (Branson, 2012). Marijuana has continued to be a major factor in the amount of people in the US incarcerated, at the time of this essay totaling 154,456 so far this year or one person arrested for a marijuana related offense every 30 seconds in the US. (Drug War Clock,

2017).
Currently there has been a drastic change in the way marijuana is viewed and the laws that control its use in the United States. Currently twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have laws that legalize marijuana either outright or in part (medical use). Eight of those twenty-six and D.C. have legalized recreational use of marijuana (Robinson, 2017). With an estimated $20.2 billion dollars in sales by 2021 this industry looks to grow, --no pun intended-- into the future as more states, strapped for cash,begin to weigh the financial benefits of legal marijuana. With public opinion and legal opinion changing the question reasonably moves toward civil service, police and fire employees charged with protecting the lives and property of the citizens and marijuana use.
Marijuana use in the past is far different from marijuana use in the present when you speak of law enforcement. Yet many departments and agencies still use very strict standards when concerning drug use. Past drug use is seen as a weakness that could make an officer more susceptible to future drug violations as well as a character issue, having broken the law but then asking to uphold the same law. Many departments use a 10-5 disqualifier or some variation, where an applicant cannot have used “hard drugs” in the past 10 years or marijuana in the past 5 years. Many also require polygraph testing in an effort to ensure honesty from the applicants. Nonetheless some call for change when it comes to these rigid standards, such as Baltimore Police Commissioner Ken Davis and and Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay who believe that officers with a more lets say experienced past make better officers, who can relate to the citizens and show empathy (Collins, 2016). They would argue that the officer hired would be thankful for the opportunity despite their previous mistakes and be loyal servants to the community they serve. Not all agree though, such as Jeff Hynes, a former Phoenix officer who is chairman for public safety sciences at Glendale Community College who believes this is a huge mistake and will lead to a compromised police force.
I personally am a fan of the middle ground rules regarding drug use and criminal history. I think it is reasonable to require the officer to be drug free for a period of time, say 3-5 years prior to application. I think it is reasonable to allow for some mistakes, especially juvenile mistakes in the applicant's past as long as they were not violent felonies. I am also a supporter of oral review boards when hiring new police recruits, a person's history on paper does not always reflect the person they are today. I have gone through the application process with a Colorado police agency and know first hand regardless of local laws permitting marijuana use, officers are strictly prohibited from partaking in using the drug. These local police agencies also drug test at a much higher rate due to the increased availability and temptation to use in a legalized locale. I as a police officer have only been drug tested approximately six or seven times in nearly 10 years but the idea of failing a drug test is still there, these tests are random and have caught many in violation. Lowering standards is seen as a negative thing, but altering what the normative standards are for today is not unreasonable. Staffing issues will continue to be an issue in the future i fear but I never want my department or any other department to become so desperate they allow unfit officers into this profession that I love. High calibur applicants must be found and hired, there is too much at stake for both our local communities and our national confidence in law enforcement to fail.