If Logan County Detention Center employees wish to partake of alcohol on their time off, they had better not do it within 12 hours of going to work says jailer Bill Jenkins, who asked fiscal court to change the jail policy and procedure.

The way the policy and procedure read before Tuesday’s fiscal court meeting, any employee at the jail is prohibited from consuming alcoholic beverages within six hours of reporting for scheduled duty. Now, it has been extended to 12 hours and approved by the fiscal court.

Employees, of course, are not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages while on duty, and cannot appear for duty or be on duty while under the influence of intoxicants to any degree whatsoever, and cannot have the odor of intoxicants on their breath or person; however, now they are being told they cannot drink on their time off up to 12 hours before coming into work.

Jenkins said the main reason for the change he requested was because employees at the jail work 12 hour shifts and if they drink alcohol in between shifts and come into work, they could have a high enough blood alcohol content to be against the law. By restricting the consumption of alcohol beverages for 12 hours before coming to work will keep this from happening.

“Consumption of alcohol should probably only occur on their days off,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins used an example of the Fourth of July holiday. Jenkins said the Fourth of July this year fell on a Wednesday and theoretically someone could have been at a cookout all day on the Fourth and then come in on the midnight shift and their blood alcohol could be way too high to be working in law enforcement.

“If there were a physical altercation in the jail or if we had to drive someone this would be a liability for us if an employee had been drinking hours before. It takes a long time for alcohol to leave the blood system,” said Jenkins. “This is just good policy to have in this line of work.”