Officers want a better support system before drug testing can work

Ministers rejected the idea last year but Home Office minister Hazel Blears has told the BBC the Police Advisory Board will look at it again next month.

The move follows calls for random testing by the Superintendents Association.

At its annual conference next week, the president of the association, Chief Superintendent Kevin Morris, will renew its demand for all officers in England and Wales to be subject to the tests.

Support needed

The superintendents say it is an ethical issue and those who have to enforce the law on drugs should be seen to be rooting out misuse within their own ranks.

The Police Federation, representing the rank and file, was less keen when the subject first came up and the government chose not to act.

But vice-chairman Rod Dalley said this time around the Federation was not "dead set against" the proposals.

However, he said the current occupational health structure in the police force was not good enough to cope with the introduction of drug testing.

I think the majority of police officers will recognise the danger of working alongside colleagues who abuse drugs Police Federation vice chairman, Rod Dalley

"We need properly resourced, properly staffed occupational health units to offer support throughout this process - before, during and after," he told BBC News Online.

"This is not just a discipline matter. We must have the help and support people need if they are found to have a problem."

He said although he couldn't say there was no drug problems in the force, a testing programme at West Midlands Police only returned 44 positive tests out of 2000, over the last two years - 34 of which were medication related.

A Home Office-led working party, which includes the Federation, is already examining standards in occupational health.

Chief Superintendent Morris, who will call for testing at a conference next week, told BBC News 24 that it was not known whether there was a problem with drugs in the force, but with 130,000 officers in the UK it would be "naive to assume all of them are absolutely perfect".

Checks and balances

"But it's more than that. We have to look at looking after our staff."

He said people would lose confidence in the police force if stories about officers taking drugs hit the press.

"If the public, quite rightly, expect more from us than they do everybody else, then we've got to show that we are actually doing things correctly," he added.

The association points out that compulsory testing has been successful in other organisations - particularly the Army.

Mr Dalley added: "I think the majority of police officers will recognise the danger of working alongside colleagues who abuse drugs. But the programme has to have the proper support, checks and balances."

One academic, a criminologist who has been researching a book about drug-taking in the police, has asserted a number of the officers he has interviewed routinely flout the law.

Professor David Wilson went as far as to say some rogue officers would advise dealers what to do in the event of being caught.