Health, vehicle resale value given as reasons
By Ian Demsky, The Tennessean
Metro Nashville, Tenn. police officers will be banned from smoking or using other tobacco products in police vehicles under a new policy, police said yesterday.
The proposed revisions to the department’s smoking policy are meant to protect the health of nonsmoking officers who may share cars and the civilians who ride in them, police spokesman Don Aaron said.
It also will increase the resale and auction values of the cars, he said. The changes to the policy are expected to be finalized later this month.
Ed Mason, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the officers on work-related issues, said most of the calls he’s received on the issue have been negative.
However, “it’s hard to judge the general feeling of the officers. A lot people have quit or don’t smoke,” he said.
After 11 months of rapid-fire changes since Chief Ronal Serpas took over — including the reorganization of many areas of the department and changing policies such as the discipline policy — some officers feel there has been too much change all at once, Mason said.
Under the current policy, officers who are working alone in cars may smoke, but if there are two officers in a car and one does not smoke, smoking is prohibited; when transporting another person, smoking is prohibited; also, smoking must not interfere with work duties.
The revisions to the policy would not go into effect until March 1.
“That will give officers who smoke time to quit or enroll in a program to help them in quitting,” Aaron said.
Officers who receive new cars before March 1, however, will not be allowed to smoke in them. They can ask for a different car, Aaron said.
Chewing tobacco and snuff also will be forbidden.
“Not to be gross,” Aaron said, “but there have been instances where the container in which an officer has spit (tobacco juice) has overturned, or from time to time missed the container and the byproduct has gotten on the seat or carpet.”
The changes were recommended to Serpas by a group reviewing rules about police deportment, which previously had been part of the disciplinary policy, Aaron said.
Officers also will be prohibited from using tobacco products during any official police interactions, such as taking reports or talking to civilians, he said.
The deportment policy was last updated in 1995.
“We’re bringing it up to 2004,” Aaron said.