Capt. Zannelli: New policy in line with state mandates.
Police commissioners unanimously signed off on a new alcohol and drug policy that adds anabolic steroids to its list of prohibited substances, and that maintains a departmental ban on marijuana use — even though the state has newly legalized recreational cannabis.
That was the outcome of Tuesday night’s latest monthly meeting of the city’s Board of Police Commissioners. The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom.
The police commissioners voted unanimously in support of adopting a new, revised version of New Haven Police Department General Order 2.05: Alcohol And Drug Policy.
Once signed into place by Interim Police Chief Renee Dominguez, the newly approved 15-page version will replace the three-page policy that the local police department first adopted in 2015.
Click here to read the new policy in full, and here to read the previous version.
Police Commissioner Meares at Tuesday's virtual meeting.
NHPD Capt. David Zannelli and Police Commissioner Tracey Meares explained Tuesday night that the new revised general order brings the city policy in line with several new statewide requirements included in the police accountability bill that the state legislature passed in 2020.
For example, New Haven’s new order now includes “anabolic steroids” on the list of police-officer-prohibited substances.
The updated version of Section 2.05.02 of the policy reads: “Employees of the Department shall not consume alcohol and/or intoxicants in any manner while on-duty or in uniform. When off-duty, employees of the Department shall not drink intoxicating beverages to an extent that it will render one unfit when reporting to duty. Employees of the Department are strictly prohibited from using any narcotics, exhilarants, hypnotics, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids, toxic drugs or controlled substances that are unlawfully administered.”
That’s in comparison to the previous version of that same section, which read: “Employees of the Department shall not drink intoxicating beverages or use intoxicants in any manner while on duty or in uniform. When off duty, employees of the Department shall not drink intoxicating beverages to an extent that it render one unfit when reporting to duty. Employees of the Department shall not use or render himself or herself unfit for duty through the use of narcotics, exhilarants, hypnotics, hallucinogens, or other toxic drugs unlawfully administered.”
The revised policy also includes significantly updated or entirely new sections on random drug and alcohol testing procedures, “reasonable suspicion” testing, recertification testing, return to duty testing, and the parameters of voluntary disclosure and employee assistance.
And it maintains the department’s prohibition on marijuana use. Even though the state legislature recently legalized adult-use recreational cannabis.
The NHPD’s prohibition on marijuana use comes in the policy’s definition of “controlled substances.” The policy defines that term as: “Any drug included in Schedules I through V, as defined by Section 802(6) of Title 21 of the United States Code (21 USC 802(6)), the possession of which is unlawful under Chapter 13 of that title, or any drug included within the definition of “Controlled substance” in Title 21A, Chapter 420B of the Connecticut General Statutes (for example, including, but not limited to: cocaine, marijuana, barbiturates, amphetamines, morphine.) The term does not include the use of prescribed drugs which have been legally obtained and are being used for the purpose for which they were prescribed.”
Meares emphasized on Tuesday that the local policy distinguishes between drugs that are federally prohibited and controlled substances, those that are prescription drugs, and those like alcohol, which are legal for people above a certain age but can be abused.
“Although it is now not illegal to possess cannabis in the state,” Meares said, “it is not consistent with New Haven Police Department policy for officers to use that substance under this policy, and I just think it’s important to highlight that.”
The drug-policy update comes roughly four months after Mears and Zannelli took the lead in comprehensively rewriting, and the police commissioners voted to approve, a new version of the department’s use-of-force policy.
See below for the first five pages of the new drug policy. Click here to read the 15-page document in full.
How is this legal? The cops are off duty. Even criminals can use drugs and drink off the "job"