In Chihuahua, Mexico, a surprise drug testing program of police officials was conducted on over 200 officers in September. The most recent wave of testing cost $40,000 pesos ($5,333) according to Arturo Chavez Chavez, lawyer for the State Justice Department, since each individual test costs 200 pesos ($27). Officers with positive results were to be dismissed and their names given to different corporations to prevent them from getting hired.
The testing was done in the presence of Internal Affairs and a lawyer for the Department of Public Prosecutor, who certified the procedures. Both urine and blood samples were requested from the officers. The Chief of Legal Medicine Department, Julio Cesar del Hierro, said the test would be done in a legal lab in the capital, and those who were positive would be retested to prevent unfair treatment of the investigated officers.
Eight police officers were ultimately dismissed in this most recent series of testing, which was undertaken in the northern zone in Chihuahua, including Ciudad Juarez. The fired officers had tested positive for narcotics, principally cocaine. Testing done in the western zone, including the municipio of Cuauhtemoc, resulted in no positive tests and no officers were dismissed. The names of the eight officers from the northern zone were not released.
According to Subdirector of the State's Expert Services, Dr. Juan Antonio Villalba, over the past four years under Governor Francisco Barrio Terrazas' administration, there have been 600 officials dismissed for positive results on drug testing. "This is a permanent campaign which is practiced all over the Chihuahua state. It is one of the strategies carried out by the State Government to prevent drug using officials from putting the public safety at risk," Villalba stated.
Sources: Diario de Juarez, El Norte