CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Pampanga Police Provincial Director Senior Superintendent Joel Consulta on Wednesday, September 13, ordered a surprise drug test for members of the different police units and stations in the province.

Urine samples from at least 250 Pampanga cops, 177 from station drug enforcement units, 21 chiefs of police from different towns and cities and 52 provincial police staff, were taken to test if they use illegal drugs, said Consulta.

He stressed that the activity is part of the internal cleansing of the Philippine National Police in an aim to weed out police scalawags.

“This is to determine if we have members who are using illegal drugs. This is very important because we want to make sure that no police is involved in illegal drugs, especially so that we are the ones implementing the operations against illegal drugs,” Consulta said.

He emphasized that he will not tolerate any member of the organization who violates the law or gets involved in illegal drugs, and those who will test positive in the drug test will be sanctioned.

“The worst they can get is dismissal from the service,” the police director said.

Consulta said police officers who will test positive will still undergo confirmatory tests to affirm the results of the test.

He added that random surprise drug tests will still be conducted at specific times to ensure that no police personnel are using prohibited drugs.

“We are aware that strains of illegal drugs cannot be detected after a few days of use that is why I will be ordering surprise drug tests for different personnel every time so that they cannot prepare,” Consulta said.

Results of the drug test are expected to be released in three days to one week, he added.