Drug testing of Detroit's 5,000-member police force was ordered stopped, at least temporarily, by a federal judge who said he's not convinced the department has a widespread drug problem. U.S. District Judge Horace Gilmore ordered Friday that the testing be halted until a hearing can be held to determine the merits of the practice. The ruling came after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of 70 city employees seeking to stop the testing, which has been conducted on about 1,000 officers since it began May 26. ``It's ironic that out of the first 1,000 officers tested, the department said none tested positive for drugs,'' said William Werthheimer Jr., an attorney for the ACLU. ``That's not consistent with a departmentwide problem.'' The judge said his decision was based on a federal appeals court ruling last month in a case from Chattanooga, Tenn. The appeals court said that unless there is evidence of a widespread drug problem in a police department, mass testing violates Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches. Detroit Police Department spokesman Fred Zaharoff said the department would abide by the decision, but declined further comment. The injunction granted by Gilmore prohibits the testing until 5 p.m. Tuesday, by which time the parties expect to hold a hearing on the merits of the tests. The Detroit police department has been rocked recently by suspensions of 14 officers for drug use and reports that an additional 100 officers are under investigation for crack cocaine use or other crack-related crimes. Under Detroit's drug testing program, police officers who test positive for cocaine or heroin would be subject to firing after a four-step retesting process. Officers testing positive for marijuana could remain on the force after a suspension and education program.
