New Jersey Mayor Wants Radom Drug Testing For Firefighters

In the wake of an off-duty Bayonne fire lieutenant's arrest on a charge of drug possession, Mayor Joseph V. Doria Jr. is calling for random drug testing of fire personnel, which would make the city just the fourth municipality in the state to require such tests for firefighters.

Before a plan can be put in place, it would have to be approved by the firefighters union. Billy Urbanski, president of Firemen's Mutual Benevolent Association Local 11, said he's open to working out a plan.

Random drug testing has been administered to the Bayonne Police Department since December 1999 in accordance with state guidelines. The state guidelines don't apply to firefighters because their duties don't include carrying guns, said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

In New Jersey, only three municipalities - Trenton, East Orange and Plainfield have instituted a random drug-testing policy for firefighters, said Bob Brower, vice president of the New Jersey Fireman's Mutual Benevolent Association, an organization that claims to represent 5,000 of the 6,000 career firefighters in the state.

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