Sheriff: Police drug test policy 'under review' in wake of Scott case

At the moment he was shot by three Las Vegas police officers in front of a Costco store on a July afternoon, Erik Scott had potentially fatal levels of the painkiller morphine and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system.

Prosecutors during last week's inquest used that information, along with the testimony of Scott's doctors, to paint a picture of the West Point graduate as a prescription drug addict who battled chronic pain.

But when the three officers took the stand to testify at the inquest, they said they were never drug- or alcohol-tested after the shooting.

Nor was there a blood test for Detective Bryan Yant, the narcotics officer who fired into a darkened bathroom while serving a search warrant on 21-year-old Trevon Cole in June. Cole's blood test results -- positive for marijuana use -- came up in the inquest into his death.

Why the difference in treatment?

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, like most departments nationwide, does not test its officers after critical incidents unless there is a "reasonable suspicion" the officer is under the influence.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie was asked about the department's policy during a Wednesday news conference on the Scott inquest. He said the policy is "under review."

"That is a topic nationally that is being looked at in regards to policing: Is it appropriate to require that under those particular circumstances?" he said.

North Las Vegas and Henderson police do not test officers after shootings.

"At this point it's not a common practice," said Thomas Aveni, executive director of The Police Policy Studies Council, a New Hampshire-based training and consulting company.

Aveni said it is not common because there has not been an issue nationally over drugs or alcohol being linked to officer-involved shootings. The International Association of Chiefs of Police, which conducts research and makes recommendations for police departments, offers no guidance on testing officers after shootings.

"Where we're at right now I don't see it as a problem," Aveni said.

Neither does Allen Lichtenstein, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

"There doesn't seem to be an issue with drugs as the cause of these shootings," he said. Instead, he believes the focus should be on better training.

Not that police departments don't drug test officers at other times.

Incoming Las Vegas police officers must pass a urine test before being hired, and are tested while in training and randomly throughout their career. Supervisors can also request a blood draw if they believe an officer is under the influence while on duty.

Data provided by the department show drug use by its employees is low. In 2004, it started randomly testing all of its roughly 3,500 officers -- from patrol cops to the sheriff -- and about 400 of its civilian employees, said Linda Krueger, director of laboratory services for the department's crime lab.

Out of nearly 3,000 random tests last year and this year, one turned up positive.

Ten officers were tested under "reasonable suspicion" in that time, with half showing positive for substances ranging from sleeping pills to cocaine, Krueger said. It was not clear what sort of discipline, if any, the officers received.

Before 2004 random drug testing only applied to officers and civilian employees who handled drugs.

Krueger said the system is designed to be random and immune from influence.

A computer in the department's internal affairs section randomly selects squads to be tested, and a private contractor without warning collects samples from the squad, which typically consists of eight to 10 officers.

Samples are tested in the department's lab, where workers don't know who the samples belong to. Samples from lab workers are processed by a private contractor.

Results are sent to the medical review officer, the only person in the process who can match the test results with the officers' names, Krueger said.

The department tries to test about half of its officers each year, Krueger said, and the computer can randomly select squads more than once a year.

Any changes to the department's drug testing policy must be negotiated with its largest union, the Las Vegas Police Protective Association. Executive Director Chris Collins said the department hasn't raised the issue.

Collins said his biggest concern would be that officer test results would be divulged during inquests even if they show nothing illegal.

"I would not sign off on any contractual change that would allow legal prescription levels be given out to the public,'' Collins said. "That's just really nobody's business.''

Review-Journal reporter Brian Haynes contributed to this report. Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.

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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. MikeV Jan. 18, 2012 | 7:25 p.m. Report Abuse

   @Otto de Fay: probably ... having met the chubby cop on few occasions, I certainly believe it.

2. maukflauk Oct. 10, 2010 | 12:49 p.m. Report Abuse

   @Reality this is way late, I don't actually spend my days finding cop stories to blog about! The fact that you put lots of exclamation points, capital letters, and dashes does not make you right. I seem to remember on some postings about both Tre'Von and Erik, where people were asking about drug testing the officers, you emphatically stated that ALL officers are tested after an OIS. You did this by calling everyone idiots, and putting your over-zealous punctuation in your postings. WELL...YOU WERE WRONG THEN SO WHY SHOULD ANYONE THINK YOU ARE RIGHT NOW?????

3. suzzie Oct. 5, 2010 | 12:29 p.m. Report Abuse

   As long as i have been reading and posting about this particular shooting i have come to realize very quickly that it does not matter what the police do, guilty or not. RealityKingpin, Double Bogey and a few others will never admit to any wrong doing by Metro. It's as simple as that, and not worth the time or effort to try to have intelligent discussions.Some people have respect for human life and some do not.

4. bghs1986 Oct. 5, 2010 | 6:52 a.m. Report Abuse

   Reality has never tried the hide the fact that a something special happens at the police academy, All the cadets are rendered unable to break any law and suddenly become accountable to no one.

5. TankerUSMA1975 Oct. 5, 2010 | 4:35 a.m. Report Abuse

   @Reality. Then in your view, there is NEVER a case of police brutality or any police action that should lead to criminal charges against the officers. While wearing the badge, they get a free pass and can do anything they want.

6. RealityKingpin Oct. 4, 2010 | 10:03 p.m. Report Abuse

   Tank-You going way back to Rodney King-.....you need meto school you on that too??? King was in a very long veh pursuit....failed to pull over...he fought with officers.......The officers used absolutley reasonbable force...the PROBLEM with the King case was two fold...number one it wasone of the first to be video taped...Good people dontlike seeing someone hurt for ANY reason....which is normal....Number two, it was the WAY they did the Baton strikes that made it appear puntive.....had they used them better it would likely have been short lived...King continued to fight the officers and not SUBMIT the entire time...even after being shot with a old fashined taser.....NOT THE SAME KIND AS PRESENT.........I read once long ago that " there is NOniceway to arrest someone...."" In other words if a grown man doesnt want to be taken into custody , it will be violence that subdues him.....Unlike movies there is very few WRISTLOCKS, or SECRET moves that willhold down a grown healthy man if he doesnt want to.....In REAL life multiple officers or Officers that deliver very strong blows will stop a determined man.........While they used terrible tactics, and werent organized at all they were NOT criminal......KING was criminal.......I would have given the Officers REMEDIAL training. ...Now If you only know what CNN showed you then you will not understand my real life explanation.....Just the reality.

7. Otto de Fay Oct. 4, 2010 | 9:17 p.m. Report Abuse

   He was shot for complying with the command to DROP IT while confused by a tap on the shoulder and come-from-behind approach of the officers. Such confusion could be explained by factors other than prescription meds, in an identical circumstance with a different victim.

8. Double Bogey Oct. 4, 2010 | 9:07 p.m. Report Abuse

   otto...He was shot for grabbing his gun while at gunpoint.

9. Otto de Fay Oct. 4, 2010 | 8:45 p.m. Report Abuse

   Mosher testified he did not know if Erik Scott had prescription meds in his system. Lierley told 911 Scott was acting erratically, possibly drug-related. Had Scott been diabetic, been having a glucose-related episode or had he had MS, Would he have been shot by Mosher?

10. TankerUSMA1975 Oct. 4, 2010 | 8:29 p.m. Report Abuse

    @realitykingpin. Ok, are the cops in the Rodney King beating guilty of any crimes then, since you obviously think that as long as a cop is wearing a badge they can do no wrong.

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