By Fran Spielman
Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — Chicago Police lieutenants and captains would face random alcohol testing at any time, mandatory drug and alcohol testing whenever they fire their weapons and be prohibited from drinking four hours before duty, under contracts ratified Monday by a joint City Council committee.
Some aldermen expressed concern that City Hall may be overreacting to high-profile incidents involving officers and alcohol.
“If the guy’s at work and he’s been drinking, it does not necessarily mean that the guy’s a dipsomaniac. He just had a drink. So, how do you deal with that?” asked Ald. Ed Smith (28th).
Jim Franczek, the city’s chief labor negotiator, said there would be a sliding scale of disciplinary actions for those who test positive in random tests.
Lieutenants and captains whose random Breathalyzer tests range from .02 to .04 will be taken off duty that day, re-tested the following day and randomly tested for the next six months. If they stay straight throughout that probationary period, their records will be wiped clean, Franczek said.
If they test positive again, they’ll be subject to disciplinary action by the Internal Affairs Division.
Lieutenants and captains whose first random alcohol test is over .04 will also be referred to IAD, Franczek said, “But they will have the option of inviting the officer to go into a rehab program.”
“We tried to balance this so that we get what we want but don’t get what we don’t want,” Franczek said, acknowledging the possibility of “unfairness.”
Donald O’Neill, director of management and labor affairs for the Chicago Police Department, said the same reasonable approach would apply to officers tested after firing their weapons on- or off-duty.
“If you’re having a glass of wine with your wife at home and a bad guy breaks in the front door, you go for your weapon and kill the bad guy, we’re not gonna discipline the officer for defending his family or doing what he legally has a right to do just because he had a drink,” O’Neill said.
“But there’s other cases where there’s something wrong with the use of force. Then, we will take discipline based on anything that was done wrong with the weapon discharge incident.”
The five-year contracts also include changes in disciplinary procedures, at the request of both IAD and the Independent Police Review Authority.
Chicago Police officers are arrested for DUI at a far lower rate than drivers as a whole, but a number of high-profile incidents have put the issue on the political front-burner.
In 2006, drunken off-duty officer Anthony Abbate was caught on videotape beating a female bartender. He was convicted in the attack, sentenced to probation and fired.
Other off-duty officers were charged in a highly publicized brawl at a West Loop bar that happened weeks after the Abbate incident. Those officers were acquitted and reinstated to their jobs.
Last year, two off-duty Chicago Police officers who had been drinking were involved in fatal accidents.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Sun-Times