Alcohol, Guns, the NYPD: Probably Not The Best Way To Ensure Public Safety

Starting in September, the New York Police Department will administer Breathalyzer tests like those used in drunken-driving stops on any on- or off-duty officers who kill or wound someone, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Monday.

The breath tests were one of 19 recommendations made by police brass assigned to study the NYPD's undercover operations amid community outrage over the 50-shot killing of Sean Bell. Other steps include more stringent psychological screening for undercover candidates, improving scenario-based training with the help of professional actors and installing lights and sirens in unmarked cars.
After Sean Bell slaying, NYPD eyes sobriety tests for undercovers

If I had a choice, I would have chosen the psychological screening (for undercovers) because it seems like the people attracted to that kind of work are the commando-type. However, the only recommendation Commissioner Kelly has accepted thus far is the one about the Breathalyzer.

I would like to think that he's at least considering the other recommendations, but I'm not hopeful. His actions following the Sean Bell shooting, and others, imply that he's more interested in protecting the police from the public than making sure the police protect the public.

Anyone that is being paid by the taxpayers should be screened for drug and alcohol on a random basis & Also psychological testing and all results made public record. This should be absolutely mandatory to restore public confidence in those that have sworn to "protect and serve."

It never hurts to beef up training.

The real problem, however, is the rampant crime that characterizes too many cities in the US.

Drug and alcohol testing protects both the police and the public, but the real answer is to reduce crime through measures other than reactive policing.

whaaa, the likelihood that those records will ever be made public is so low that I can't even come up with a good metaphor.

Grady, the problem in question is not that of crime, which has existed in every human population since the beginning of time. The problem in question is that of well-armed men with authority, impaired by alcohol or whatever else they have to "do" to blend in, including, I'm sure, illegal narcotics.