Register Fires or Disciplines 50 Over Drugs : Substance abuse: The newspaper releases no names and refuses to say which departments are affected. No workers are arrested as a result of the private investigation.

After a five-month internal investigation of alleged drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace, the Orange County Register has fired or “otherwise disciplined” more than 50 employees, the newspaper announced Tuesday.

“This investigation was conducted as a last resort in an effort to remove drug and alcohol abuse from our workplace,” said Publisher R. David Threshie. “We believed we had exhausted all other options available to us.”

In its written statement, the Register--with about 2,800 workers, one of the county’s most prominent employers--did not identify the workers involved and did not specify how many had been fired. None have been arrested, and no criminal charges are pending. A spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department said Tuesday that police knew about the Register investigation and had given technical advice and cooperation last summer.

But Santa Ana Police Lt. Bob Helton said the department has not been given any results of the investigation, which was coordinated for the Register by a private consulting firm, Confidential Management Services, based in San Dimas.

“We don’t know the details of the investigation; we really don’t know what level (of drug activity) was taking place,” Helton said.

The newspaper said it launched the inquiry “after a number of employees and spouses of employees told Register managers of a serious problem of drug and alcohol sale, purchase and use at Register facilities.”

The Register said the 50 or so employees “were in a variety of departments within the newspaper.” Peggy Castellano, vice president of human resources at the Register, said the newspaper is not releasing the names of departments involved nor the number of employees in each department.

She said employees were questioned about their alleged involvement with drugs and alcohol, but that none of the questioning sessions caused trouble. “No one was detained against their will,” she said.

Police Lt. Helton said members of his department met twice with representatives of the consulting firm and the Register to offer advice on how to conduct such an investigation.

The police were not involved beyond that, Helton said.

“We did not at any time participate in any of the investigations that were conducted involving Register employees,” Helton said. “Our involvement was limited . . . and we are not privy to any of the findings.”

Helton said that if the investigation had uncovered serious violations, the department would have been notified by the Register. He said the Police Department would have then made a decision whether to conduct its own inquiry.

“I can assure you that if there were major violations we would have been contacted and would have been involved,” Helton said. “That apparently did not materialize in this case.”

Helton said private companies often come to the police for advice on such matters. The police usually offer expertise and stay out of the investigation, unless serious violations are revealed.

“If any company were to come across an employee or employees who are engaged in the transportation, sales or distribution of large quantities of narcotics, they would contact us,” Helton said. “This is not the situation we have here.”

Since 1988 the Register has had a policy against drug and alcohol abuse. The policy includes pre-employment testing for drug and alcohol use, as well as rehabilitative help for employees who seek aid in combatting drug or alcohol abuse.

Threshie said the newspaper, before launching an internal investigation, reminded employees of the anti-drug policy and urged employees with drug or alcohol problems to seek help. Some voluntarily came forward, Threshie said. “Others, unfortunately, ignored the policy, thereby jeopardizing their safety and that of others and, of course, their own employment.”

Julie Holt, executive director of Drug Use Is Life Abuse, an Orange County-based educational organization, said Tuesday that many companies in the county have employee drug-abuse problems.

“The Register is not alone,” she said. “This is fairly common.”

On Jan. 31, 1989, The Times Orange County announced in Costa Mesa that 20 of its production employees had been arrested on charges of selling drugs to other employees. The arrests were made by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and culminated a five-month investigation, which the newspaper had requested.