Random drug testing to begin on Youngstown police officers

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Youngstown Police Capt. Kenneth Centorame

YOUNGSTOWN — The mayor, law and finance directors are subject to the random drug and alcohol testing that will begin this quarter for police.

Capt. Kenneth Centorame, Youngstown Police Ranking Officers president, said the provision for random testing has been in union contracts for about 20 years, established when Patrick J. Ungaro was mayor, but hasn’t been used.

Until now, tests have only been done when there was a reasonable suspicion of drug or alcohol use, he said.

Centorame said he’s “absolutely” confident all officers will pass.

“We agreed to testing and support it,” the captain said, noting the police unions expanded on the testing by having more drugs included and lowering the detectable amount. A Breathalyzer is used for alcohol tests and urine is used for drug tests.

Union contracts allow, on an annual basis, testing of up to 20 percent of officers for drugs and up to 5 percent for alcohol. Random selection is done by computer, he said.

Centorame said there are 66 officers in YPRO. The Youngstown Police Association has 118 patrol officers.

The union contracts include Mayor Jay Williams, Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello and Finance Director Dave Bozanich in the random selection process.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on vindy.com