American Samoa's Commissioner of Public Safety Save Liuato Tuitele intends to begin a drug testing programme for police officers.
American Samoa police headquarters Photo: Supplied
Commissioner Tuitele says there's been a lot of allegations that some officers are using drugs and this needs to be cleared.
He says he's drafting a drug testing policy for the Department of Public Safety, and has told the staff of his intention to begin drug tests.
"The whole idea is to make sure that the officers are not using illegal drugs, once the public is confident that we are not what some people have reported then I think that's the perceptions about the officers different, and it's something that needs to be done and if we identify those that are using drugs then we have to deal with them accordingly."
The Commissioner adds there's an inexpensive way of conducting the drug tests and he is eager to get the programme underway.
He says when he returns from overseas at the end of next month, he hopes to get the Governor's approval, and then have the Attorney General review the programme.