When you put on the blue, you take an oath to protect the public. You also agree to follow all assigned policies and procedures. Almost all modern police forces have a random drug testing program. In swearing your oath to both the police force and to the public, you have granted consent to follow this policy. If you do not want to consent to this policy, then the law enforcement agency has the right to deny you employment for failure to comply with their rules and regulations. Just as true, you have the ability to choose a different place of employment.
As a defender of public safety, you are charged with one of the highest and most noble responsibilities known to humanity. You are a hero to many, and the antithesis of the crime on the streets that we dread. You are a role model to our children and a protector of our families when we can not be there. You are the physical embodiment of law and justice to me, the everyday man on the street.
But you are also human. You are made out of flesh and blood, and thus you also have the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities as everyone else. Yet you cannot show this weakness; just as you cannot show the fear you face when you enter a darkened building where shots have been reported. You are only human and sometimes you can be tempted.
A friend of mine is a former police officer. He served the community honorably as a member of the police narcotics unit for several years. Unfortunately, he became tempted by the mountains of “evidence” that he had access to and became a drug addict. This happened before drug testing was common ithroughout law enforcement and thus, he had no fear of discovery. After a year of escalating cocaine addiction, he nearly got himself killed. Thankfully, his close experience with death brought to light his addiction and he was fired and sent to prison.
I never knew him as a police officer. I only know him for who he is now. He made a mistake that ruined his career and his family. He now has started a new family and is once again in an excellent career field. His experiences have changed him into a better man.
Fear of a random drug test would have helped prevent him from becoming an addict.
Random drug testing is not only constitutional for the men in blue, it can be what saves them from giving in to temptation, and may even save their lives. But statistics will never be able to tell you that.