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LAPD may ease drug rules to expand recruiting pool
Chief says he'll work to change practice of automatically rejecting candidates who experimented.
By David Zahniser
Copley News Service
Hoping to boost recruitment at the Los Angeles Police Department, Police Chief William Bratton said Thursday he will work to revamp his department's screening process for its job applicants -- including the current ban on job candidates who have used drugs.
Bratton said the LAPD's screening standards may be "artificially high," causing the department to turn away qualified candidates who then get hired by other police agencies.
To reverse that trend, Bratton called for less stringent requirements regarding a job candidate's prior drug use or financial problems.
"In the past, we've pretty much rejected anybody who admitted they had ever tried drugs of any kind," Bratton said. "The reality is, kids today, by the time they hit 21 ... they may have in fact tried, sampled drugs at some time in their life.
"Should that be an automatic disqualifier? I don't believe so," the chief added.
The LAPD typically must review 800 candidates to obtain 60 recruits for the Police Academy, a costly process that can take several months. Bratton said he will make a presentation in the next few weeks to council members and the Police Commission on changes to the recruitment process, including a possible shift to federal standards for a candidate's prior drug history.
The FBI states that any job candidate cannot have smoked marijuana more than 15 times in his or her lifetime -- and not at all in the three years before applying for a job. FBI rules also state that a job candidate cannot have used any other drug, including steroids, more than five times -- and not at all in the 10 years before seeking a position, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
Officials in the city's personnel department would not describe the standards it uses to disqualify potential LAPD recruits, saying the release of such information would help candidates craft their responses in city job applications.
Still, the personnel officials said the city tries to establish an LAPD candidate's maturity and honesty.
"If you've had someone who's had one problem and one problem only, we're not going to disqualify a person for that," said Margaret Whelan, general manager of the personnel department. "We're looking at trends."
Councilman Dennis Zine, a former police officer himself, voiced fears that any relaxation of the LAPD's recruitment standards could result in problems like the Rampart scandal, which involved rogue officers who were drug dealers themselves.
"We need to maintain high standards so we don't have corruption," he said.
The chief's comments come as the department is searching for ways to attract more officers and accelerate recruitment, in part by doubling the number of recruits that can be trained in a given month.
The LAPD hopes to hire 370 additional officers by the end of June. Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also hope to add more than 1,000 additional officers in the coming years.
Bratton said he is also looking at the department's reluctance to hire candidates who have had problems paying their bills. If a job candidate making $20,000 annually is having money problems, those problems might disappear with an LAPD annual salary that exceeds $50,000, he said.
"What we're attempting to do is ensure that we get the best candidates, but make sure we're not losing candidates who would make great police officers," he said.
Opinions
LAPD may ease drug rules to expand recruiting pool
Chief says he'll work to change practice of automatically rejecting candidates who experimented.
By David Zahniser
Copley News Service
Hoping to boost recruitment at the Los Angeles Police Department, Police Chief William Bratton said Thursday he will work to revamp his department's screening process for its job applicants -- including the current ban on job candidates who have used drugs.
Bratton said the LAPD's screening standards may be "artificially high," causing the department to turn away qualified candidates who then get hired by other police agencies.
To reverse that trend, Bratton called for less stringent requirements regarding a job candidate's prior drug use or financial problems.
"In the past, we've pretty much rejected anybody who admitted they had ever tried drugs of any kind," Bratton said. "The reality is, kids today, by the time they hit 21 ... they may have in fact tried, sampled drugs at some time in their life.
"Should that be an automatic disqualifier? I don't believe so," the chief added.
The LAPD typically must review 800 candidates to obtain 60 recruits for the Police Academy, a costly process that can take several months. Bratton said he will make a presentation in the next few weeks to council members and the Police Commission on changes to the recruitment process, including a possible shift to federal standards for a candidate's prior drug history.
The FBI states that any job candidate cannot have smoked marijuana more than 15 times in his or her lifetime -- and not at all in the three years before applying for a job. FBI rules also state that a job candidate cannot have used any other drug, including steroids, more than five times -- and not at all in the 10 years before seeking a position, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
Officials in the city's personnel department would not describe the standards it uses to disqualify potential LAPD recruits, saying the release of such information would help candidates craft their responses in city job applications.
Still, the personnel officials said the city tries to establish an LAPD candidate's maturity and honesty.
"If you've had someone who's had one problem and one problem only, we're not going to disqualify a person for that," said Margaret Whelan, general manager of the personnel department. "We're looking at trends."
Councilman Dennis Zine, a former police officer himself, voiced fears that any relaxation of the LAPD's recruitment standards could result in problems like the Rampart scandal, which involved rogue officers who were drug dealers themselves.
"We need to maintain high standards so we don't have corruption," he said.
The chief's comments come as the department is searching for ways to attract more officers and accelerate recruitment, in part by doubling the number of recruits that can be trained in a given month.
The LAPD hopes to hire 370 additional officers by the end of June. Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also hope to add more than 1,000 additional officers in the coming years.
Bratton said he is also looking at the department's reluctance to hire candidates who have had problems paying their bills. If a job candidate making $20,000 annually is having money problems, those problems might disappear with an LAPD annual salary that exceeds $50,000, he said.
"What we're attempting to do is ensure that we get the best candidates, but make sure we're not losing candidates who would make great police officers," he said.
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