FOI 1031-2024/25 Random Drug Testing

Request
For each calendar year, 2022; 2023; 2024:

Q1. How many full-time serving police officers and members of staff were subject to random drug testing?

Q2. How many positive results were returned from random drug tests?

Q3. How many positive results of each drug type (Class A, B, C) were returned by random drugs tests? (Please specify drug if information available)

Q4. How many full-time serving police officers or members of staff were caught under the influence or possession of drugs (outside of random drug testing)?

Q5. How many full-time serving police officers or members of staff were caught under the influence of alcohol while on-duty or before their shift?

Q6. How many full-time serving police officers had their employment terminated following a positive drug test or found to be under the influence of alcohol?

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police.

Decision
I have today decided to disclose the following information to you.

Q1. Please see the table below showing the number of full-time serving police officers and members of staff subject to random drug testing.

*There was a decrease in figures in 2024 due to a change in Substance Misuse Officer/CCU Prevent Officer role).

Q2. Please see the table below showing the number of positive results which were returned from random drug tests.

Q3. Please see the table below showing the number of positive results of each drug type (Class A, B, C) returned by random drugs tests, together with drug type.

Q4. Misconduct outcomes are publicly available on North Yorkshire Police’s website using the below link:
Misconduct Hearing Outcomes 2016 - 2024 | North Yorkshire Police

As such, I am exempting this information from disclosure pursuant to Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) on the basis that it is available to the applicant by other means. Please see the below exemption explanation.

Q5. Please see the table below showing the number of full-time serving police officers or members of staff caught under the influence of alcohol while on-duty or before their shift.

Q6. Please see the table below showing the number of full-time serving police officers who had their employment terminated following a positive drug test or found to be under the influence of alcohol.

Exemption Explanation 

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 21 – Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means
Section 21 is an absolute class based exemption and I am not required to consider the harm or public interest when applying this exemption.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.