BOISE, Idaho — The
Peace Officer Standards and Training Council is proposing to change the
rules for law enforcement applicants and past marijuana use. Its
recommendation has passed through committees in the House and Senate.
“The position that the POST Council has is that the pending rule change is not a reduction in the standards for peace officers in the state of Idaho," said Victor McCraw, POST Division Administrator.
The changes introduced to the Idaho Legislature are as follows:
Proposed: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has smoked marijuana within the past year.
Current rule: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has smoked marijuana within the past three years.
"And as long as that usage is not habitual and it's not recent within that one year they still could be considered for certification as a peace officer in the state of Idaho," McCraw said.
There is a second change making its way through the statehouse:
Proposed: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has been a habitual user of marijuana within the past three years.
Current rule: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has been a habitual user of marijuana within the past five years.
These proposals aren’t sitting well with everyone in law enforcement agencies.
"Our take is it should stay the way it is, when you start lowering the standards, that has never helped out any police agency in this country. I think you can go throughout the country and see which agencies are under consent decrees and you can see where they have lowered standards in one area like drug use, and then they lower standards in another area like criminal history. Things like that, I think that you start going down this slippery slope," said Tracy Basterrechea, Deputy Chief of the Meridian Police Department.
Idaho State Police and the Ada County Sheriff’s Office also say they will not change their hiring policies if state lawmakers vote to change the marijuana minimum standards for law enforcement candidates.
“The position that the POST Council has is that the pending rule change is not a reduction in the standards for peace officers in the state of Idaho," said Victor McCraw, POST Division Administrator.
The changes introduced to the Idaho Legislature are as follows:
Proposed: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has smoked marijuana within the past year.
Current rule: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has smoked marijuana within the past three years.
"And as long as that usage is not habitual and it's not recent within that one year they still could be considered for certification as a peace officer in the state of Idaho," McCraw said.
There is a second change making its way through the statehouse:
Proposed: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has been a habitual user of marijuana within the past three years.
Current rule: An applicant will be rejected if he/she has been a habitual user of marijuana within the past five years.
These proposals aren’t sitting well with everyone in law enforcement agencies.
"Our take is it should stay the way it is, when you start lowering the standards, that has never helped out any police agency in this country. I think you can go throughout the country and see which agencies are under consent decrees and you can see where they have lowered standards in one area like drug use, and then they lower standards in another area like criminal history. Things like that, I think that you start going down this slippery slope," said Tracy Basterrechea, Deputy Chief of the Meridian Police Department.
Idaho State Police and the Ada County Sheriff’s Office also say they will not change their hiring policies if state lawmakers vote to change the marijuana minimum standards for law enforcement candidates.
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