Police, Fire Unions Back Drug Testing : Labor: Membership expected to approve contract that allows mandatory, random tests in both city departments.

Union representatives of city police and firefighters agreed Tuesday to mandatory drug testing for their combined membership of 2,700, making San Diego one of the few cities in the country in which both agencies have consented to the controversial practice.

The agreements must still be ratified by the unions’ general memberships, which will decide on final contracts within a week. But officials of both unions say they expect approval.

“We are willing to prove there’s not a problem with drugs in the San Diego Police Department,” said Harry O. Eastus, president of the Police Officers Assn. “So far, in the specialized units that have been tested, we have had no problems at all.”

Few departments in the country have allowed their officers to be tested at random, citing concerns about constitutional rights violations. The union representing the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, for example, allows testing only if supervisors have cause to suspect that someone is using drugs.

Recent court decisions, including one by the California Supreme Court, have made it illegal for either public or private employers to force workers to submit to random drug tests or to dismiss workers for refusing to take such tests.

More recently, however, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a New York state Appeals Court ruling that allowed random drug tests for New York City jail guards. That state court had ruled last year that the guards’ constitutional rights were not violated by random urine tests.

San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen praised the union’s leadership Tuesday.

“I’ve been talking to the (union) for some time and they have not been resistant to the concept as long as the testing was done in an equitable fashion that ensured accuracy,” he said. “We want the public to know, and the POA wants the public to know, that the department is free of drugs.”

While acknowledging that the San Diego Police Department is in “the minority of agencies doing mandatory drug testing,” Burgreen said more and more departments nationwide are moving toward the concept.

In September, the POA agreed to let administrators impose mandatory drug tests on about 140 officers who work in units that work closely with drug enforcement, such as criminal intelligence, gangs, internal affairs, the narcotics street team and the vice squad.

Burgreen, who said he has tested negative twice, said the only complaint he has heard so far is from officers who want to be tested but have not been included.

“They say: ‘I want to be tested, too. When am I going to be tested?’ ” Burgreen said.

San Diego police and fire union officials say officers, on the whole, are eager to prove they are not drug abusers. But several worry about an invasion of privacy.

“Our officers have mixed feelings about (mandatory drug tests) from what I’ve seen,” said Sgt. Willie P. Smith, a board member of the POA, which represents the department’s 1,850 officers through the rank of captain.

“None of our officers fear a test,” Smith said. “They have nothing to hide. Those who object don’t like the idea of someone testing them when they have no reason to believe they are using drugs.”

Overriding almost all concerns, Smith said, is the view of many officers that in order to effectively fight drugs, they must “prove to the public” that their department is drug-free.

Under the new agreement, every police officer would be tested twice within an 18-month period. Each officer is to be notified of the test four hours before his or her shift begins. Lab technicians will take two samples: one for the officer and one for the department, which will send its sample to a nationally recognized testing lab.

If the officer tests positive for drugs, he or she can have the other sample tested on his or her own to challenge the department’s findings.

An officer who abuses prescription drugs faces possible disciplinary action. An officer who abuses an illegal drug could be fired, department policy says.

The POA’s general membership is scheduled to vote on the two-year agreement Friday. The firefighters union, Local 145, representing 850 officers, is scheduled to vote on the contract May 21 and May 22.

Official concurrence with drug testing is part of an overall two-year contract that city officials reached with union officials over two months of negotiations.

The two unions agreed to a 9% pay hike and other increased benefits over two years beginning July 1, including higher tuition reimbursements.

On Tuesday, the City Council also announced contract agreements with the 4,500-member Municipal Employees Assn., approving an 8% increase over two years that includes the city’s so-called “white-collar” workers, and the 2,100-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, which represents the city’s so-called “blue-collar” workers.