Hair Tests Unfair, Black Officers Say August 25, 2005
News Summary
A group of black Boston police officers, fired after hair testing found traces of drugs, have sued, saying the tests are unfair, the Associated Press reported Aug. 25.The officers contend that they did not use drugs; moreover, they say, hair testing is unfair because it is more accurate in detecting drugs in people with dark hair than those with light hair because drug compounds bind better to hair with more melanin. That makes the test racially biased, they say.
"I was in complete and utter shock," said Officer Shawn Noel Harris. "I know that I never used drugs a day in my life." The officers said they may have come in contact with drugs in the environment, but never consumed illicit substances themselves.
The officers -- many of whom took follow-up tests that came back negative -- are asking for reinstatement in their jobs, back pay, and damages. But Boston police commissioner Kathleen O'Toole defended the hair tests. "To date, nobody has presented anything that's caused us to believe that we should abandon our current policy," she said.
Boston University School of Public Health 
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