Pubdate: Sun, 30 May 2004
Source: State, The (SC)
Copyright: 2004 The State
Contact:  http://www.thestate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/426
Author: J.R. Gonzales

POLICE ALLOW FOR SOME DRINKING ON THE JOB

State Undercover Officers Working A Case Can Consume Alcohol, But Under 
Strict Conditions

By J.R. GONZALES

Staff Writer

For uniformed police officers, drinking alcohol on duty is strictly prohibited.

For undercover officers, the same rules apply. Mostly.

It presents police with a conundrum: How do undercover cops handle 
situations in which they might have to drink on the job without 
compromising their safety or the investigation?

Local law enforcement policies include few absolutes and describe 
conditions when on-the-job drinking is permitted.

The Richland County Sheriff's Department amended its policy after Richland 
County narcotics officer Donnie Washington was killed in a single-car crash 
last year.

Washington had a blood alcohol level of .18 percent, more than twice the 
state's guideline for impaired driving, The State newspaper reported this 
month after obtaining results of a Highway Patrol investigation.

Sheriff Leon Lott said Washington, who was working alone, used bad judgment 
by drinking that much and driving. But Lott is not convinced drinking 
caused the wreck.

Even so, undercover narcotics officers now must be monitored by a partner 
or by electronic surveillance when possible, Lott said.

According to written policy, the department allows undercover officers to 
drink limited quantities "while on duty when necessary to accomplish the 
mission."

"What do people do in a bar?" said Geoff Alpert, head of criminology at the 
University of South Carolina. "You've got to fit into the environment."

Other local and state departments have similar policies.

Columbia undercover police officers may drink alcohol on duty as long as 
their supervisors know about it and know the officer's location, police 
spokesman Skot Garrick said.

Generally, State Law Enforcement Division agents are not allowed to drink 
alcohol while on duty. But exceptions might be made if Chief Robert Stewart 
deems it "essential to the continuation of a pre-approved undercover 
assignment."

Stewart would not explain how that determination is made, fearing it would 
alert criminals to law enforcement techniques.

Undercover agents cannot work alone, Stewart said. It would be rare for an 
agent to work one-on-one with a contact. "It would be an unplanned event," 
Stewart said.

Lexington County is more restrictive. Deputies, including undercover 
narcotics officers, cannot consume alcohol while on duty, spokesman John 
Allard said.

"We don't allow it under any circumstances," he said.

And employees cannot frequent businesses that profit primarily from the 
sale of alcohol. It keeps employees from being in situations in which they 
might be intoxicated in public, Allard said.

Deputies also are prohibited from driving a county-owned vehicle after 
drinking, according to policy.

Elsewhere in the state, the Horry County Police Department has set a 
two-drink maximum for its undercover officers.

The difference in policies presents a particular issue when it comes to 
undercover operations.

"There isn't any hard, fast standard of care out there that says an 
undercover officer can have one ounce of alcohol every hour and a half," 
said Michael Lyman, a professor of criminal justice at Columbia College in 
Missouri.

If an officer thinks he or she might be in a situation in which drinking is 
required, the officer should discuss it with a supervisor or arrange to 
avoid that situation, Lyman said.

Safety, detection and blurred reactions all come into play when undercover 
officers drink alcohol to fit in, Alpert said.

"An officer who is impaired on alcohol has a diminished capacity to 
remember things," Lyman said.

"Excessive drinking is never permissible unless you're under a kind of 
threat or something."
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