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Drink tests urged for Chicago cops firing guns
By Angela Rozas
The Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — On-duty Chicago police officers and any officers who shoot their weapons, on or off-duty, would be required to submit to random alcohol tests under a contract proposal sent to the union.
Police officers also would be forbidden to drink alcohol four hours before any shift.
A second proposal would renew a pilot program, which was tried three years ago, to put officers on 10-hour shifts -- a move the city says might improve officer productivity and morale.
The proposals were given to the union June 2, along with other ideas as part of protracted contract negotiations since the current agreement expired last June.
Officers are already tested randomly for drugs, and any supervisor who suspects an officer may be intoxicated can order the officer to undergo alcohol testing.
The new proposal would remove any discretion and make the tests mandatory any time an officer discharges a gun.
The proposal states that a .02 blood-alcohol level would constitute a "positive presence," the equivalent of about one beer in one hour of drinking for a 170-pound man.
The proposal cautions that officers who were drinking and use their weapons won't automatically be disciplined if they have followed departmental guidelines.
The second proposal would renew a trial program of 10-hour workdays that was tried in 2005 but abandoned.
Officers would work four days on, three days off in some districts that have not been determined.
Many police officers pushed recently for a change in their work schedules, which consist of traditional eight-hour days, or at least the flexibility to choose alternative schedules.
The city proposal could be a salve for a department battling low morale and drops in arrests and gun seizures.
"The goals of the pilot program are to boost employee productivity, reduce employee stress, reduce medical and ... absences, reduce automobile accidents, reduce citizen complaints and boost employee morale," the proposal states.
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Copyright 2008 The Chicago Tribune
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