26 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: AUGUST 2017 Secret Service loosens policies on weed A re you one of those police re- cruiters that’s struggling to find qualified applicants for the academy? Hey – it could be worse. In fact, it’s become so difficult for the U.S. Secret Service to find recruits that have not experimented with marijuana that the agency is revising its hiring standards. Secret Service Director Randolph Alles recently announced that the agency has relaxed the drug policy for potential new hires. Mr. Alles said the new rules would be more flexible. For instance, applicants younger than 24 will only be required to prove that they haven’t used mari- juana for a period of 12 months prior to applying. But if you’re applying for the Secert Service and you’re older than 28 you’ll have to show that you haven’t used cannabis for at least five years. The polygraphs and the back- ground checks are staying in place. “We need more people. The mission has changed,” Alles said. “It’s more dy- namic and way more dan- gerous than it has been in years past.” A Secret Service Agent stands near the North Portico of the White House recently. (Photo by Cheriss May) (Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images) I t’s not like anyone should be shocked. When it comes to a choice between raising pay for law enforcement officers or radically lower- ing standards for recruits in order to get more bod- ies, the more popular option is lowering stan- dards. The real question is “how low do we go?” City officials say they need 1,000 more cops in Chicago. Phoenix needs 300 and Detroit needs 200 more officers depending on whom you ask. And when you combine the sheer number of offi- cers needed and mandates to have more diverse po- lice forces, you quickly realize that something’s got to give. In New Orleans officials say they have more than 400 openings. But because of low pay and lack of interest they aren’t seeing enough applicants. So now the New Or- leans Police Dept. will no longer automatically disqualify candidates that have injected heroin or smoked crack. And in Aurora, Colo- rado they’ve dumped the “running test” and will now only be checking “how quickly candidates can get out ohf a squad car.” John Lozoya, a senior commander with the St. Paul Police Department, said law enforcement is just doing whatever it takes to get people through the door. “In the past, recruitment has been based on a 1950s model: six feet tall, right out of the military,” he said. “But as we’ve evolved as a society, we realize we’re not like that. We had to look at our hiring prac- tices. We had to adapt.” It’s certainly not every agency that’s reducing hiring standards. If you want to work with the LAPD even things like a late car or credit card payment or failure to pay child support are enough to keep someone out. Some agencies seem to have a hodgepodge ap- proach. Police candidates in Nashville are asked to list their neighbors and a decade’s worth of boy- friends or girlfriends. “Are you now or have you ever been a member of any Communist orga- nization anywhere?” the application even asks. Chuck Canterbury, president of the National Fraternal Order of Po- lice, says there are some concerns any time stan- dards are lowered for new hires. “People are talking about it, but there is such a recruiting and retention problem — they’re search- ing for ways to bring bod- ies in,” Canterbury told reporters with the Times. “But I’m not sure reducing standards is the best way to do that.” We don’t care about much – but are you a Communist?