Summary: The Pullman Police Department is considering
allowing its officers to recreationally use marijuana, while other departments
around the state are softening their applicant past-use marijuana restrictions.
I) Local Changes and Background
Pullman PD policy
· I-502 background
II) Issues with Change
·
Federal funding
·
Federal obligations
III) Changing Policies across the State
·
State Patrol exclusionary restrictions
·
Seattle Police exclusionary restrictions
IV) Going Forward
·
Seattle policy going forward
·
Pullman policy going forward
Sources:
Washington State Patrol Sergeant William Knudson
·
(360) 596-4014
Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission
Academy Commander David Bales
·
(206) 835-7289
Pullman Chief of Police Gary Jenkins
·
(509) 334-0802
Seattle Police Detective Drew Fowler
·
(206) 684-5520
Recreational marijuana use might not prevent someone from
serving in the Pullman Police Department in the near future.
Law enforcement agencies around the state of Washington are
softening their employee marijuana policies in the wake of a burgeoning state
marijuana marketplace.
Pullman Chief of Police Gary Jenkins said the department
will continue to drug test aspiring Pullman police officers for marijuana but
also said a positive result would not automatically prevent someone from
serving.
“It is definitely going to be different now that marijuana
is legal,” Jenkins said. “We wouldn’t necessarily exclude someone for legal
marijuana use.”
Initiative 502, passed in 2012, legalized marijuana for
recreational use and established a state-controlled system for production,
processing and sale of the drug. The initiative did not, however, require
public or private employers to stop exclusionary drug testing for marijuana.
“I think we’re going to be looking at it similarly to
alcohol,” Jenkins said, referring to officer recreational marijuana use. “That
it is not being abused, that they’re not under the influence [while on duty]
and that it iibused, that theirder the
influence [while on duty] and that its not impacting their work in any other
way..ed it in the last os not impacting their work in any other
way.”
Most police departments seem unwilling to make as much of a
change as Jenkins mentioned. Many municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies
receive federal funding, which would immediately be at risk if they allowed
their officers to use marijuana. Marijuana remains a Schedule I illegal drug at
the federal level.
“I’ve heard the vast majority of offices will continue to
support federal law,” said David Bales, the Washington State Criminal Justice
Training Commission Academy Commander.
However, federal funding is not the largest reason certain
departments continue banning marijuana.
“We are required to enforce and respect the laws, including
municipal, county, state and federal,” said Detective Drew Fowler, a
spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department.
Washington State Patrol Sergeant William Knudson echoed
Fowler’s sentiment, saying the State Patrol’s duty to enforce federal laws is
the most substantial reason to continue banning marijuana use among its
officers.
According to Knudson, however, the State Patrol did reduce
its applicant restrictions from banning anyone who used marijuana in last three
years to just banning anyone who used it in the last one. They also eliminated
their policy excluding any applicant who had used the drug more than 15 times.
The Seattle Police Department also softened their stance on
applicant past marijuana use after the passage of Initiative 502, Fowler said.
The department requires applicants to not have used the drug with 12 months of
taking the Police Officer Civil Service Exam.
Fowler indicated that
more changes to the department’s drug policy could be on the way in the future.
“Do I think that in time there will be changes?” Fowler
said. “Maybe.”
But Fowler prioritized following the current national
statute, saying that ignoring a federal law “is a dangerous road to go down.”
Change seems to be moving at a more rapid pace in Pullman.
When asked if in the next few months there could be recreational marijuana
users who are also Pullman police officers, Jenkins said yes.
