Conn. cop retires after failing drug test twice |
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Conn. cop retires after failing drug test twice
By Noelle Frampton
Connecticut Post Online
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — About four months after acting Police Chief Joseph Gaudett revealed that officers were being randomly screened for illegal drug use, one officer has failed the test.
Twice.
Before Gaudett could make good on his pledge to fire him, Officer Vernon Woods retired -- half a year shy of his 25-year mark with the department.
The pre-emptive retirement, announced at the Board of Police Commissioners last week, means Woods will begin receiving his pension at 48 percent of his base pay on May 20, 2010, the 25-year anniversary of his hire date, Gaudett said.
The base pay for a top-tier patrol officer is $55,608, according to the chief's office.
If he had been able to retire six months later, Woods would have received his pension at 50 percent. Members of the department who stay on longer than 25 years incrementally increase their pension percentages, per union contract.
Gaudett said the drug testing has been progressing at a rate of about 40 officers monthly since it went departmentwide July 8.
Officers who fail the test once are given the chance to seek help through the department's employee-assistance program and get clean. A second failure means termination, plain and simple, the chief said previously.
The goal behind the testing was to "walk the walk," so to speak, by cleaning up public perception of the department and any dirty cops inside, Gaudett said in July.
The drug-testing program had been approved in a deal with the union roughly a decade ago, but never implemented before Gaudett took the helm.
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Copyright 2009 Connecticut Post Online
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