Rule backed by Senate panel would bar new cops who’ve used marijuana in past year, down from 3 years

Prospective police officers in Idaho would be barred from certification if they’ve used marijuana in the past year, rather than in the last three years, under rules that won support from an Idaho Senate committee on Wednesday; you can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

“This is a minimum standard that agencies will not be able to drop below,” Victor McCraw, division administrator of Peace Officer Standards and Training for the Idaho State Police, told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This does not hold any agency hostage. You can still say, ‘You know what, you meet POST standards, but you don’t meet my standards, so I am personally making the decision not to hire you. … There are several agencies that will stick with the higher standard.”

The rules also would change the time limit to exclude an applicant for marijuana use on a “regular, confirmed basis” to within the last three years, rather than the current five years. McCraw said that’s easier both for applicants to remember and for investigators to confirm.