Review of police drug test policies urged

THE region’s police forces have been urged to review their internal drug-testing policies after spending nearly £450,000 on a screening programme that has only snared two officers in four years.

A West Yorkshire Police officer was sacked after testing positive for cocaine, but a constable at South Yorkshire Police kept their job and escaped with a fine after testing positive for cannabis in a random test in 2008 – a sanction that can no longer be applied due to a change in police conduct regulations which came into force later that year.

The officer received the then maximum fine of 13 days’ pay and was also cautioned for possession of cannabis.

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Humberside Police declined to say whether any of its employees had failed drugs tests, saying it was “under no obligation to record test results”, but the force does not have an entirely clean bill of health. Former detective Adam Watts was jailed for 15 months last year after he was caught taking cocaine.

The only force with an unblemished drugs record was North Yorkshire Police, where none of the 1,341 officers tested since screening began in 2007 was found to have taken illegal substances.

The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, have nonetheless prompted calls for a review of the screening programmes given their cost and the increasing pressure on police budgets.

Hull councillor Colin Inglis, a member of force watchdog Humberside Police Authority, who has signalled his intention to stand as a candidate for the newly created role of police and crime commissioner next year, said he would like to call a halt to the testing programme.

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“I don’t agree with mandatory drug testing,” he said. “There has to be some level of trust between employers and police officers. I wouldn’t support drug testing, I would have thought that was a waste of money.”

The biggest spenders on drug testing were South Yorkshire Police, which has spent £121,535 since testing began, followed by West Yorkshire Police (£115,346), Humberside Police (£103,158), and North Yorkshire Police (£94,396.50).

Home Office guidelines enable forces to carry out pre-employment screening, testing during recruits’ probationary period, testing “with cause”, and screening in specialist and “safety critical” posts. A review of these guidelines is due to be held in November.

All four Yorkshire forces routinely test officers as a pre-entry requirement, but civilian staff at West Yorkshire Police can join without taking a test. Some staff at the three other forces do face pre-entry testing depending on their role.

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However, the policy on random testing, where most of the money is spent, is more contentious and also varies force to force.

Humberside, which is facing cuts of £22m over the next four years, has already bitten the bullet by deciding to scrap the random testing of officers and staff. Tests were stopped last year as a result of “austerity cuts”, the force said yesterday.

The three other forces continue to carry out random tests on officers, but only West Yorkshire Police carries out random tests of staff, in safety critical roles.

South Yorkshire Police is shortly to introduce random testing for staff in safety critical or “vulnerable” roles.

The force said the officer who tested positive for cannabis was “fined rather than receiving a more severe punishment because of mitigating circumstances due to health problems”.