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Do you think your police department has a zero-tolerance policy for alcohol?
Think again.
Many suburban Chicago departments actually have clauses in their union contracts which prevent any kind of discipline for officers with substantial amounts of alcohol in their systems -- even those nearing the state definition of legally drunk, an investigation by the Better Government Association and NBC Chicago reveals.
Read original story, watch video on NBCChicago.com
"I worry about it every day," said Sam Pulia, the mayor of west suburban Westchester, Ill.
Pulia, himself a former Westchester police officer, tried unsuccessfully to stop ratification of his department’s union contract which only allows discipline against officers when they hit an alcohol level of .05.
"I could argue that you are half-drunk," Pulia said. "I still believe that police officers are held to a higher standard."
Pulia argues that no one with alcohol in their systems should be driving a squad car or carrying a gun. And he thinks it sends the wrong message to officers to set a number which could be perceived as an allowable limit.
Westchester is not alone. Other Illinois police officers in Forest Park, Glendale Heights, and South Barrington also have a limit of .05. In Elmwood Park and Oak Park, the limit is the state definition of legally drunk: .08 or higher.
NBCChicago.com
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"I think it places the city at great risk," said Walter Zalisko, a retired police chief who now runs Police Management Consultants International in Fort Myers, Fla. "Zero would be the wise choice, that you can’t have any alcohol."
But how much alcohol really is too much? Although the Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff have set their limits at zero, many police departments say they believe some low limits must be built in to allow for incidentals such as a glass of wine at dinner before the overnight shift or even a shot of cough medicine.
"People who are more used to drinking will have less impairment," said Dr. David Zich of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "However, we still believe in subtle testing, that there really is no safe level at which no impairment occurs."
Indeed, Zich says scores of studies have indicated that even at lower blood alcohol levels, some kind of impairment occurs -- especially regarding drowsiness, tasks requiring divided attention, or "tracking" activities, which would include driving a car.
"There have literally been hundreds of studies since the 1950s," Zich said. "Even at low levels, you cannot reliably perform without impairment."
James Fell agrees. Fell is a senior research scientist for the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md., and he says "impairment, and especially impairment for driving, starts at the first drink."
Fell’s organization conducted a study which found drivers 21 and older, with a blood alcohol level of .02 to .049, were three to four times more likely to be involved in a fatal single-vehicle crash.
Even the state’s own definition of "legally drunk" seems to be in the minority, when compared to other nations around the world. Among countries responding to a World Health Organization study, 28 percent set their blood alcohol content (BAC) limit at zero to .03. Another 39 percent set limits between .04 and .06. Only 26 percent of the nations surveyed have adopted higher limits.
While Pulia expressed outrage at his community’s standard, his police chief insisted that even if she can’t discipline an officer for blood alcohol levels below .05, she won’t let them get in a squad car.
"We’ve never had a problem," said chief April Padalik. "We would follow policy and procedure, and that employee would be removed from duty."
Padalik indicated the officer would be sent home. Pulia said he found that idea encouraging, but that he still believed such officers should be disciplined.
"Paying someone a salary for being sent home for consuming alcohol certainly does not sit well with me or the public who ultimately bear the costs," he said. "Alcohol/drugs and cops don’t mix."
Officials in Oak Park and Elmwood Park, where the limit was set at .08, insist they likewise would not tolerate an officer with lower levels of alcohol, even if they can’t discipline him for showing up at work in an impaired condition.
"If those test results come in in anything greater than zero, we are not going to put that officer on the street," said Paul Volpe, the Elmwood Park Village Manager. "We have a zero tolerance policy."
Volpe said the officer would likely be put on desk duty.
The Chicago Police Department sets its blood alcohol limit at .02. This week, the City of Chicago agreed to a $4.1 million settlement, payable to the family of a man shot by a police officer who reportedly had been drinking prior to his shift.
NBCChicago.com
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Leave a Comment:
I got to agree with the cops here - .05 isn't enough to seriously impair anyone. I'm sure when I wake up in the morning my blood alcohol rating is higher and I drive to work.
now now people. for being liberal you're not exemplifying forward thinking. home of BO, city of Emanuel and Durbin. These are the enlightened people. So please...be tolerant and understanding for they are always right. Now turn in your guns.
All I can say is that I CAN'T WAIT for ANOTHER Chris Dorner ....Cops in amedrica are out of control and the only ones that can teach them a lesson are COPS.
We obviously have resigned ourselves to just being SHEEP and mumbling on forums about this crap. DON'T WHINE when a cop can put you in jail for looking at him the wrong way. YOU POEPLE NORMALIZED this crap with comments like Ahhh this is chicago ... It's really the people's fault for letting cops get out of control.
You morons deserve what you want .
True that everyday we lose a little more freedom in this once great county. To the point we forget what it was like 50 years ago to grow up here, sad.
These brave men and women took an oath to serve and protect. I don't think it is asking too much that they be sober when doing so. Sad fact is the majority of these men and women perform their job correctly and now they are tarnished by the few idiots that don't.
Nah most cops I know are mental case big time ego problems, chasing women and drinking more than the guys they throw in jail. They would be behind bars if not for the badge. Never read an article on one that ever prevented a crime, they are always last on the scene. Just like their brothers and sisters in the teachers union, who do anything but teach.
We have enough trouble with those that are sober and carry a weapon. I can only imagine the gun-pointing, leg-breaking, back-slapping, pocket-filling, whore/little boy-providing shenanigans that went on to cut this deal! Chicago has been and always will be a toilet that over flows with enough human waste (aka politicians and union officials) to make a carnival cruise liner smell like a flower shop.
Kudos to the 'zero tolerance' departments. Now if Illinois could ever get over embracing the Al Capone lifestyle and start working in this century, their citizens might be a lot safer.
This is what happens when you allow the greed and corrpution of the alcohol industry to ruin citites. I've been cautioning against the amount of money spent of the anheiser and coors poission that you idiots continually drink galloons upon galoons of for decades now and still idiots continue to drink it in the hopes of scoring some girl that they'll never actually be with. This is such a shame to see entire cities destroyed by this liquid-plague but it was inevitablly the only outcome once these morons plledged theirselves to the alcohol-daemons which now control their soulls. i hope that the survivors are able to make it out of this pyshcological-trap and find their way to new lands which embrace clean and sincere forms of living.
It's Obama home town.....what do you expect?
Jeremy/ Oh so people just began to drink alcohol? Really
jeremy, here's your totally predictable cheap shot award.
Congratulations on your participation and irrelevance in this matter. The post is not important to thinking people...
I bet the founding fathers drank while writing the constitution. All the Brits drink at lunch.
Actually I believe .08 is too low, it should be .10. As for the .05 in this article, I also agree with it unless it becomes a habit
Yep those unions sure are great. Sounds about typical of the whole corrupt state.
Hope you think the corruptness is just in Chicago. Chi-town is just in the spotlight right now.
City of Cleveland is pretty corrupt as well, last Democrat bastion here in NE Ohio.
Do they really need alcohol THAT badly? They cant wait until they go home? They cant have a coke, water, juice, sports drink, vitamin water, milk, or any other numerous non alcoholic beverages available?
How can the law for not driving with alcohol in our systems enforced when the police have the right to go to work with blood levels showing they have been drinking? This just doesn't make sense. When a officer comes into work each day, is breathe analyzed? Then what, the officer just laughs and goes about his daily chore? I don't think the citizens of Illinois are aware of this crazy idea, hopefully they will read the article and stand up and it the unions to change it, for the betterment of the state of Illinois.
It's unbelievable that drinkung alcohol while on duty is a negotiable labor issue. I blame the Governments (Management) for not forcing a strike issue over getting blitzed on the job. What a great PR nightmare for the FOP: we're not serving or protecting our citizens we're on strike for boozing on the job. I lot of times the Unions are blamed for stuff like this, but I also blame the Management organizations for not standing firm on rediculous rules like this.
That graph with truck drivers is wrong. US DOT levels for CDL drivers is .02. No wonder Chicago has so much crime. Cops are too drunk to give a $h!t.
I don't see what the problem is. They're only half-drunk. They have standards.
Why are there no comments from the 3 Chicago skanks? You know, Feisty, Seeking Insanity and Sista Beverly. Oh silly me. No one mentioned George Bush.
Where are they????? Drinking with the cops.
Don't forget about Pigotry
riverman why, do they condone that behavior?
And to all you who said it is a union and Chicago. You forgot another point all good Dumbocrat voters and supporter with your cash the taxpayers, that they skim a portion off and send it over. I would bet plenty of Dumbocrat blue state unions have this, want to be the vilest and most corrupt of them all the teacher also have the same type of escape clause? When one of you poor teachers get home from another 4 hour "work" day, before you start correcting papers, LOL, can you let me know. I would bet NYC is one. Thanks
Where is the Feisty Redhead and Pigotry on this one? Most likely drinking with the cops!
Notice how the bus driver has the lowest standard, it isn't the kids, its the job status. Warehouse Hi-low drivers are usually zero tolerance, too.
I don't think it is the the union either, for a blue collar worker, a union job is high status. And a suburban city manager wouldn't even be sent home if he had a drink with lunch.
I think it is part of our British heritage...
So where's Feisty, Pigotry and all the other left wing nuts?? Funny how whenever Chicago is in the news they all run and hide.
It doesn't fit their lib-tard agenda. It's surprising that lib-central even ran the story. At least they were smart enough to keep their employees (Fisty, Pig, etc) from posting.
I think that anyone that is injured, shot, arrested or have any issue with an officer in that city should sue (and win) against the union and their leadership. BTW, I would think that all convictions could now be challenged on the grounds that the arresting officer could have been under the influence and still allowed to work. Impaired thinking affects the policemen too, not just the rest of us.
This proves the value of unions.
WTF
And these are the same drunks who are giving us DUIs at .05. Aren't unions wonderful? We should all belong to unions. Then we wouldn't have to do anything but sit around drunk playing video games. These are King Hussein's constituents. Stoopid libtard sheep. Obaa-baa-ma.
.05 is equal to taking 3 sips of beer. It's a rediculously low number, but fat, stupid and drunk. Isn't that a cop's moto? It's so sad how cops start out as young healthy gung ho boys and turn into fat lazy good-for-nothings. I have family members as cops so I see it from the inside and, over the years, have watched and studdied their progression. I've seen them transform.
Does this really surprise anyone, thugs with guns have done this forever and alcohol is not the only thing they do. Confiscated drugs are a big issue with these thugs.