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Sandy • Three years ago, Jason Gardiner was a brand-new police officer having trouble adjusting to a night shift schedule, so he did something he knew he shouldn't do: He took half an Ambien from a co-worker to see if it would help him sleep.

"My intent was, ironically, to test the prescription before I got a prescription in my home that I didn't understand," he told Police Officer Standards and Training Council on Monday. "My intent was not to abuse the drug or feel any sort of high. I did not understand the severity [of taking another's prescription] and did not think too much about it."

But when Gardiner applied for a different policing job, he disclosed taking the drug — and POST began investigating.

"I did not know I would end up in front of POST council," said Gardiner, who later obtained his own prescription for Ambien. "But I don't regret being honest."

Gardiner wasn't the only lawman who came before the POST board Monday facing discipline for taking a prescription that wasn't his. It's a problem that is occurring with such increasing frequency that on Monday the council established a subcommittee to study the issue and consider whether the sanctions typically recommended in such cases are too harsh when for officers who take a family member's prescription just once or twice.

"It is against the law, let's be clear on that," Utah County Sheriff and POST chairman James Tracy said after the hearing. "But the issue that comes up is the knowledge base and how important of a law that it is if you violate it ... Within the matrix of where it exists now as far as sanctions, they go all the way up to four years for some of these uses."

Tracy said there has been some division among the POST board on whether the sanctions should be lessened for prescription drug violations, which is why he wanted a subcommittee formed. He said he hopes to meet with the new subcommittee and have a proposal ready to present to the entire board at their next meeting in January.

POST investigators had recommended a three-month suspension for Gardiner, who currently works at the Salt Lake City police department. The board deemed the suspension too harsh on Monday, and opted instead to give him a letter of caution.

The board delayed taking action in the case of Bowdy Nielson, of the Utah County Sheriff's Office, who is facing a three-year suspension for taking his wife's prescription cough medicine, two doses of his father's Lidocaine patches and two doses of his mother's testosterone gel over a several year period.

"I do realize now that is that big of a deal," he told the council. "It won't happen again."

Nielson's case will be heard next month in order to allow Tracy to write and submit a letter of support.

Seven other law enforcement officers were disciplined on Monday.

• Joseph Cote, with Sevier County Sheriff's Office, was given a 9-month suspension for falsifying information to obtain certification.

• Jennifer Fitzgerald, formerly with the Utah Department of Corrections, was given a one-year suspension for shoplifting.

• Trevor Pierson, formerly with the Utah Highway Patrol, was given a 6-month suspension for using the Bureau of Criminal Investigation database while off-duty.

• Austin Shepherd was given a one-year suspension for falsifying his POST application, by failing to disclose that he gave his 18-year-old girlfriend alcohol.

• Michael Smith, formerly with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, was suspended for 2 1/2 years for two driving under the influence episodes.

Two other officers were given letters of caution for disorderly conduct.

jmiller@sltrib.com Twitter: @jm_miller