Double standard in lack of on-the-job drug testing for NT Police

IT beggars belief that NT Police officers are not subject to random alcohol or drug testing and any plan to make this happen is still two years away.

There are clear double standards that are at play in the fact that Northern Territory police are not subject to random alcohol and drug testing.

• Drug and alcohol testing for NT cops at least two years away, as minister opts for hands-off approach

IT beggars belief that NT Police officers are not subject to random alcohol or drug testing and any regiment to make this happen is still two years away.

Putting in a policy where the people who are meant to uphold the law are bound to the same consequences that regular Joe Bloggs on the street is isn’t new, unique, or unheard of.

The fact that such a policy does not exist is in itself strange.

NSW Police has been subjecting its officers to random breath testing and random drug testing since 1997 and 2001 respectively.

It’s been far more recent for Tasmanian police but somehow in the NT any chance of this happening is in the future, if at all.

The NT News has been raising this issue since at least 2015.

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At the time Police Minister Peter Chandler said the government would hash out a policy paper before putting anything into legislation.

That was in 2016, before the CLP was unceremoniously booted out of parliament.

Now the NT Police Association and NT Police will be allowed to hash it out between themselves before coming to an agreement sometime in 2022.

It is difficult to get past the clear double standards that are at play in the fact that Northern Territory police are not subject to random alcohol and drug testing.

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Miners are subject to stringent alcohol and drug testing, as is anyone in a profession that handles heavy machinery, let alone those who have access to firearms.

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