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Ruling Overturns Random Drug Tests For Firefighters
Arizona Capitol Reports Staff//February 13, 2004//[read_meter]
Ruling Overturns Random Drug Tests For Firefighters
Arizona Capitol Reports Staff//February 13, 2004//[read_meter]
The Arizona Supreme Court on Jan. 27 overturned Mesa’s policy of randomly drug testing firefighters, ruling that the firefighters’ privacy rights trumped the city’s desire to deter and detect substance abuse.
The Supreme Court’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Mesa firefighter Craig W. Petersen. He challenged the department’s policy of requiring testing without any suspicion aimed at individual firefighters.
The unanimous ruling overturned a split ruling by a Court of Appeals panel and upheld one by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge.
Mesa’s “generalized and unsubstantiated interest” in deterring and detecting substance abuse among firefighters does not outweigh a firefighter’s U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment rights, the Supreme Court said.
The Court of Appeals 2-1 ruling last February said the compelling need of cities to protect public safety outweighed firefighters’ privacy rights.
The case is Petersen vs. Mesa, CV-03-0100-PR. —
