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County Policemen Drug Testing
Sangamon County Sheriff Neil Williamson and a team of deputies negotiating a new contract do not appear to be far apart on the issue of drug testing.
Both sides said last week they favor random testing for illegal drugs, including steroids, to demonstrate that Sangamon County deputies are drug free.
"This is an issue I feel is important," Williamson said. "We're not doing it because there is any problem ... I want people to know that the sheriff's office is clean."
Lt. Patrick Davlin, chairman of the deputies' negotiating team, expressed a similar view when interviewed by phone a few days before his retirement Friday.
"The union understands the importance of drug testing," Davlin said.
"We are proud to wear the brown (uniform), and don't want anybody reducing the respect it deserves by being on drugs of any type."
While the two sides appear to close on drug testing, other issues could be a different story. Contract talks between the deputies and county have been going on for about a year, and no agreement has been reached. If nothing changes, the two sides could be headed for arbitration in June.
"Negotiations have sort of stalled," said Justin Reichert, a lawyer representing the county. "The talks aren't contentious, the two sides just haven't agreed. We're not there yet, but there is still an opportunity to do that before arbitration."
The main outstanding issue is wages, but Reichert declined to elaborate while negotiations continue.(continues below...)
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When it comes to drug testing, negotiators for the deputies appear to be open to tougher testing than the testing envisioned by the sheriff.
Williamson is not directly involved in the negotiations. He said he is willing to include himself in random drug testing.
Davlin said the county proposed that 25 percent of deputies be subject to random testing each year, while he suggested that 25 percent of the deputies should be subject to testing during each three-month period."We said 25 percent a quarter - that sounds good," Davlin said.
"As long as we are testing everybody for the whole gamut of drugs, illicit drugs including steroids. And that we test everyone, deputy through sheriff."
Under Davlin's suggestion, 25 percent of the deputies would be randomly tested four times a year. Theoretically, each deputy could be tested once a year. But since each batch of test subjects are chosen randomly, one person could be tested four times in a year, while another deputy would not be tested at all.
Williamson said he didn't plan on testing so many deputies each year and questioned the cost of such a plan. However, he said he had no immediate objections to Davlin's proposal.
The union also supported a drug testing section that is in the deputies' expired contract. That section allows the sheriff or someone designated by the sheriff to order testing of employees suspected of using drugs, Davlin said.
Davlin said the sheriff has never ordered anyone to undergo drug testing, and Williamson also said he does not remember ordering any tests.
The scheduling of deputies is another issue in the negotiations.
Currently, deputies work five days on and three days off. Williamson suggested that deputies could work five days on, three days off, and then work five days on and two days off. The next week, the cycle would begin again.
"By doing that, it would allow me to add about one additional deputy per shift without hiring anybody new," the sheriff said.
The union opposes the plan. Davlin said a similar plan tried with jail personnel resulted in higher overtime costs.
Deputies have been working under the terms of a contract that expired Nov. 30, 2004, while negotiations continue.
Source: SJ-R.com
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