HOW MUCH DRUG USE IS TOO MUCH? LAPD'S LOOSER HIRING POLICY CONCERNS SOME.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer

Two years after the Los Angeles Police Department loosened its ``zero tolerance'' drug policy as it struggled to boost its ranks, city officials say they've hired six officers who have used hard drugs such as cocaine.

Personnel officials are quick to note that's less than 1 percent of the 818 officers who have been hired, and although the officers experimented with hard drugs as teenagers they later showed the good judgment and strong character required in a police officer.

But the issue still has raised questions among some City Council members and police union leaders who worry the LAPD is on a slippery slope that could damage the caliber of the police force.

``This is a massive, major change in the way we assess a candidate,'' said Councilman Bernard Parks, who was an LAPD officer for 38 years and chief from 1997 to 2002. ``Hard drugs in the background indicate integrity and character issues that, in my judgment, shouldn't be allowed. If you don't protect the standards you won't have any.''

The LAPD defends its standards, citing its campaign to add 1,000 officers amid competition from sheriff's and police departments around the country all vying for the same pool of candidates willing to work long hours in dangerous conditions for a starting salary of roughly $50,000.

In that climate, the department must be willing to consider individuals who have experimented with drugs, said Los Angeles Police Commission President John Mack.

``The reality is young people who would be a candidate in their twenties and thirties, there's a high probability that they have had some drug use,'' he said.

While the Personnel Department, citing privacy concerns, declined to reveal the names of the six officers who have hard-drug use in their past, it said one took an amphetamine while in ninth grade, eight years ago. Another thought he might have been given cocaine but wasn't really sure because he didn't feel anything after taking it.

One officer was 15 when he tried cocaine, but said he was so scared by the experience he never tried it again. Another was 15 when he tried cocaine, 23 years ago.

``Someone 23 years ago tried cocaine. That's a lot of time. That doesn't condemn a person for the rest of his life from doing good things,'' said Margaret Whalen, general manager of the city's Personnel Department. ``It's very evident we're not talking about people who are risky.''

While the LAPD and the city's Personnel Department long had maintained a strict policy that barred candidates who had used cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and hallucinogens -- even once -- times have changed.

Drugs are more easily available and young adults more likely to have experimented. About 40 percent of adults ages 18 to 25 reported using illicit drugs other than marijuana at least once, according to a 2004 survey by U.S. Health and Human Services.

The City Civil Service Commission adjusted its police officer hiring policies in 2003 to reflect that reality, and to give the Personnel Department more freedom to weigh such experimental drug use against an applicant's other accomplishments such as community leadership, college or military service.

The ``whole person'' analysis, as it's known, is ``more modern because this generation you have more people who have tried drugs versus the old ways where we'd throw you out if you tried hard drugs,'' said LAPD Commander Kenneth O. Garner, who oversees hiring.

``We'd have bare academy classes if we did that.''

Garner said the screening and standards still are tough. Since 2001, the city has required polygraph tests for all candidates and those who admit to drug use are extensively questioned about the details.

The department has no exact limit on what constitutes acceptable previous drug use; there is no rule that says you can use cocaine twice, for example. Rather, screeners consider the applicant's age when they sampled drugs and how long or how many times drugs were used.

Accelerated hiring drives in the late 1960s and early 1970s were blamed for some of the department's most egregious examples of police corruption and brutality, including a 1983 case in which two officers were convicted of being contract killers.

Later, the Christopher Commission -- formed after the 1991 videotaped police beating of Rodney King -- recommended more rigorous background checks to screen out problem recruits.

In the mid-1990s the city's Personnel Department and LAPD considered allowing candidates to have some past, experimental use of hard drugs in order to expand the applicant pool, but political leaders balked.

But personnel and police screeners complained they couldn't fill new academy classes and said strong candidates were being sidelined for trying a hard drug back in their early teens, even as they certified mediocre candidates who had minor problems all over their applications that weren't technically significant enough to disqualify them.

That led to the ``whole person'' analysis adopted by the Civil Service Commission in 2003.

``We'd rather have someone with one big flaw that has gotten beyond that flaw, corrected it and had an exemplary life since then. Those are the kind of people we want to hire. The mediocre candidates we don't want to hire,'' Whalen said.

Los Angeles is not alone. An increasing number of police departments have changed their ``zero tolerance'' policies on hard drug use, said Elaine Deck, program manager with the International Association of Police Chiefs.

``The more we look at the people who are applying for these positions the more we recognize that a higher number of them have experimented with drugs, so we have to adjust our selection criteria to make reasonable choices.''

Nevertheless, Parks and Councilmen Dennis Zine and Greig Smith -- both reserve police officers -- want the Civil Service Commission to reconsider the hiring policy.

And Police Protective League President Bob Baker said rank-and-file officers are very concerned because drug use -- even if it's limited -- can be a sign of poor coping skills and bad judgment.

``When you go out on the streets you want to make sure you've got the best of the best that's riding alongside you. That's an obligation we have to the officers and the community,'' he said.

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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