Pubdate: Sun, 24 Sep 2006
Source: Press-Republican (NY)
Copyright: 2006 Plattsburgh Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.pressrepublican.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/639

KEEPING DRUGS OUT OF LOCAL PRISONS

When 16-year Correction Officer Michael D. Bradish was  arrested and 
charged with drug trafficking in Bare Hill  Correctional Facility 
last week, speculation  immediately roiled up as to whether officers 
entering  prisons for work ought routinely to be searched for 
contraband. As insulting as some officers might regard  the idea, it 
isn't a bad one at all.

Of the thousands of correction officers at work in the  one federal 
and 10 state correctional facilities in our  three-county area, only 
a rare few make news for  violating the trust the public has invested 
in them.  When one does stray, it does make news, of course:  Their 
professional charge is to enhance law and order;  when they do just 
the opposite, it is as newsworthy as  a doctor cheating Medicaid or a 
teacher abusing a  student.

But, occasionally, an officer does yield to temptation.  There is 
nothing to indicate that it happens with any  greater frequency than 
in the general population -- in  fact, maybe less. And we're 
certainly not convicting  Bradish here. But, if he does turn out to 
be guilty, he  will have delivered a severe wallop to his profession.

Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne has  suggested that 
heightened security measures should be  in force at the entrance to 
prisons -- at least, the  local ones. His office and the Office of 
the Inspector  General will be examining possibilities in this 
regard. Perhaps, for example, entering officers should be  obliged to 
empty their pockets to be sure they are not  carrying contraband in.

This prospect would probably be opposed by the union  and even by 
some officers. They would be inclined to  view it as an unwarranted 
intrusion into their rights.

But the security of the inmates and their colleagues is  the stake in 
this debate. Every responsible correction  officer should welcome the 
chance to head off another  embarrassment. Their dignity relies more 
on certainty  of a clean record than by free passage to the inside of 
the facility.

Being searched, clearly, is not the way any of us  dreams of 
beginning our work day, any more than we  would embrace the notion of 
providing a urine sample.  Yet, if that's what it takes to maintain 
our good name  and the reputation of our profession after a 
serious  compromise by an errant member, the price is not too  high.

More important, it would be a giant step in stopping  drugs from 
getting into the prisons, which would surely  be an even bigger step 
in the constant fight to retain  order on the inside.

For the sake of thousands of our friends and neighbors  working hard 
in an already-dangerous setting, we  endorse anything that makes 
their workplace a little  bit safer and protects their good name.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine