Union to File Suit Against Drug Testing : Privacy: Detective is challenging constitutionality of Police Department rule. Agreement last year allowed mandatory tests in exchange for extra vacation days.

After earlier embracing a new mandatory drug testing policy for all Police Department officers, the Los Angeles Police Protective League has directed its legal staff to file a lawsuit on behalf of a former league director who wants to challenge the policy as unconstitutional.

George Aliano, league president, said the union’s board of directors voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to have league attorney Michael Stone file the suit in state court on behalf of Detective Thomas Dawson.

Aliano said that the legal action is not a reversal of the union’s agreement late last year with Police Department management to permit drug testing in return for extra vacation days for tenured officers.

“It was always understood from the beginning between the league and the department” that a legal challenge might be filed, Aliano said Friday. “It’s written in the language of our agreement that we do not waive any constitutional or legal argument.”

Aliano added that he had expected some police officers to individually object to the testing, which began Jan. 7. He said that when Dawson objected, the league was bound to provide the detective with legal services because Dawson views the drug testing as an invasion of his privacy at the workplace.

Dawson, who served as a league director last year and now works as a police defense representative, said he was unhappy that all rank-and-file officers were being tested for drug use even though there has been no widespread use of illicit drugs.

“I would be the last person to say we should have a Police Department that has people on it who use narcotics illegally,” the detective said. “But my position on drug testing is that there has not been a demonstrated need for the members of the Los Angeles Police Department to be tested for substance abuse.”

The drug testing agreement reached in December with the league came after months of negotiations. Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and other high-ranking commanders wanted mandatory testing for the 8,400 sworn officers in order to assure the public that the department is drug free.

Cmdr. William Booth, the department’s chief spokesman, said he was surprised that a lawsuit was being planned.

“We’ll deal with it when we’re sued,” he said. “But this agreement was not only embraced by the league, it was signed. It’s a good program, and I am numbered among the vast majority of personnel in the LAPD who want to keep it.”

Aliano acknowledged that the agreement for the extra vacation days in return for mandatory drug testing was met enthusiastically by the majority of officers. He noted that 77% of the league membership ratified the agreement.

He also said that all league members such as Dawson have a right to league-sponsored legal services if they object to the policy.

He added that even if the lawsuit is unsuccessful, the drug testing will probably end when the public realizes that few, if any, officers abuse drugs.

“It’s a fad,” he said of drug testing for police officers. “It’s something that’s just happening to be coming around now. But in the future, continuing to drug test regular employees will not be seen to justify the cost.”