10 Scotland Yard officers test positive for drugs

Ten Scotland Yard officers were caught using illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin and cannabis over the past year.

Police in London can be subjected to substance and alcohol misuse testing at any time. Three of the officers proved positive for banned drugs during random tests by a team of officials. They took either cocaine, heroin or cannabis. Two resigned and the third was sacked after a misconduct hearing.

The positive tests were only a tiny proportion of the 815 random substance misuse tests that took place in the 12 months up to November. Officials tested a further 11 officers after colleagues became suspicious they may be using drugs during the same period. Of these tests, four people tested positive for cannabis and three for cocaine. Six officers resigned and one is waiting for the outcome of a disciplinary hearing. There were 346 random breath tests and no one recorded a positive result, and 231 pre-employment tests also proved negative. Senior officers introduced drug and alcohol testing in 2007 after a change in the law enabled random tests of officers in certain roles to take place.

The statistics were provided by the Metropolitan Police in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act.