State Trooper's head shaved in drug test.

[AX10]

http://kipesquire.blogspot.com/2004/11/hair-shaving-and-fourth-amendment.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Sounds more like...

A quite juvenile hazing ritual to me. I have known some members of the NJSP and juvenile behavior was hardly out of the question for them. And hazing.

[AX10]

5. Would the NJSP ever do this to a private citizen?

[Horse with no Name]

2. Unbelievable.

This was seizure.
What if this trooper was a woman? Most people will justify a man with a shaved head as being somewhat trendy, but if this were a woman, that's when you would see outrage.
Unfairly so.

[CrispyQ]

3. I thought they needed a strand with the follicle intact.

A friend had to do a hair strand drug test for a job & they simply pulled a few strands of her hair out. They made it clear that simply clipping the hair was not good enough.

Do these people know what they are doing?

[Pepperbelly]

4. you don't need the follicle intact for drug analysis ...

but you do for a forensic exam for identification purposes.

[Vuem]

6. This would never happen in CA. My fire-breathing union rep

would have his metaphorical fist up any Sgt.'s metaphorical ass so quickly the clippers would have time to warm up.

Besides the fact that every Sgt. I've ever met would know better than to use a confidential source/informant as a basis for a drug-test.

No funky behavior or direct evidence, no test.

[AX10]

8. Are you an officer?

Glad to hear that you oppose these stupid tests.

[Nikia]

7. I have wondered about hair testing

As have a couple of other people of I know. Aside from being able to detect drug use from a much longer time than relevent, myself and others are concerned about applying for drug tests involving hair out of concern for our hair. I would not appreciate any of my hair being cut significantly nor having a significant number of hairs individually removed. Some of us value having long, full heads of hair.
Personally, I think all drug testing is bad because it invades ones privacy. Hair testing is worse if it results in the loss of something that people value, their hair.