An NYPD officer with nearly two decades on the force has lodged a federal complaint against the department, alleging that its marijuana testing policy discriminates against officers with dark hair, reported Gothamist. According to the complaint by Latino officer Frankie Palaguachi, he faced demotion from detective to officer after a hair sample tested positive for marijuana, a charge he denies, stating that other officers testing positive under similar circumstances were permitted to return to duty without formal charges.
The officer's federal complaint, filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), questions the NYPD's drug testing procedures, claiming they are inconsistent and subjected him to retaliation while others were excused, "I was reassigned to administrative duty while similarly situated officers… who also tested positive — were excused and returned to full duty without formal charges or trial," Palaguachi told Gothamist. His allegations are part of a larger complaint that suggests the NYPD’s policy perpetuates a long-standing system that shields favored officers and targets others.
In a parallel report by The Sanders Firm, P.C, detailed accusations were made against both the NYPD and the Psychemedics Corporation, indicating racial biases exist within the drug screening methodology, a process that Palaguachi's lawyer, Eric Sanders, describes as problematic, "What we see here is not mere oversight—it’s institutional insensitivity." The charge argues that the Radioimmunoassay of Hair (RIAH) testing method is skewed towards darker-haired individuals, potentially leading to a greater number of false positives for officers of color.
Despite the state's legalization of marijuana in 2021, the NYPD continues to test its officers for the substance, although, in 2022, the Law Department advised against such practices and subsequent research has questioned the fairness of hair sample drug tests, noted in Palaguachi’s complaint which includes negative results from independent tests he procured after initially testing positive under the NYPD’s program, "They're not fair about the testing,” Sanders told Gothamist, "It’s random standards. It's arbitrary."
Palaguachi's case also highlights claims that the department's testing policy is habitually used as a form of retaliation, while his attorneys argue for transparency in the NYPD's drug testing protocols, the NYPD selects officers for drug testing when they are suspected of drug use or through a random process determined by a database, according to the department's patrol guide, which stipulates that both hair and urine samples can be collected and officers have the right to obtain an independent test of samples already collected by the NYPD’s medical division, Palaguachi’s personal tests, which included a polygraph and a toenail drug test, were negative, his federal complaint is now triggering broader calls for accountability and an overhaul of drug testing procedures within the nation's largest police force.
