Albuquerque police to undergo random steroid testing

It's a pretty short article, but it may have a huge impact. We've all seen video after video of cops losing their cool and threatening, injuring and even killing someone over something as minor as a traffic ticket and many believe it's because they are on steroids. Being over aggressive in a job that has you dealing with the public on a daily basis, sometimes in high stress situations, is a recipe for disaster and it's already happened far too many times to call it "rare" or blame it on "just a few bad apples". Hopefully, this will become standard for police departments all over the nation.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Planned reforms of the Albuquerque police department will include randomly testing officers for steroids.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://(link tracking not allowed)/1JyHhm7) that the city’s human resources department announced Friday that the city would accept comment on the proposed steroid testing for two weeks.

The city would start the testing 30 days after that.

Albuquerque officers currently undergo random testing for drugs such as marijuana, coc aine and opiates.

The city will add more than 50 types of steroids to the list of drugs to be screened as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department.

The city recently signed an agreement with the DOJ to overhaul the police force amid allegations of excessive force.

Police union representatives say they support testing for any illegal substances among officers.



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not good enough, it needs to be MANDATORY steroid, HGH and testosterone testing. I am certain a lot of the aggressiveness in police are tied to this.

originally posted by: damwel
not good enough, it needs to be MANDATORY steroid, HGH and testosterone testing. I am certain a lot of the aggressiveness in police are tied to this.

Agreed.
With that police force and their history... what's up with the random crap? Test them all.
Random would be acceptable for a police force that had no incidences of brutality or unjustified shootings.

It's an important topic but are steroids actually the problem here?

I ask for the following reasons:

1. I've seen fat as hell cops taser people to death ... these persons are not on steroids and can't run around a block effectively nevermind a suspect
2. I can see a correlation between violent police officers and steroids potentially, but that same correlation may likely apply to officers who watch violent sports and also happen to beat suspects down. Basically I suspect it's a culture thing.

Maybe I'm totally wrong! But I know a number of persons who take 'performance enhancing drugs' and really aren't that violent. It's a small sample group though, so I totally accept that I could be wrong. It just seems it's the same with MMA fighters too. It's rarely the accountant turned MMA fighter that ends up in the back of the cop car if you know what I mean and I imagine a lot of them take supplements.

They could weed out the bullies, too. But like bullies everywhere they threat everyone, including their fellow officers if they "tell". Much harder to control the spread of violence if fellow officers accept the status quo for fear of their job and safety.

They need aggressive people to do the job, fine line there between too little and too much when dangerous criminals need to be subdued.

Testing randomly for controlled substances isn't going to cure hostile intent.

a reply to: Pinke

The steroid issue is a problem in that one side effect of anabolic steroids is 'roid rage'.
steroid.com

Roid rage is a term associated with anabolic steroid use to infer violent aggressive behavior associated with the drugs. Generally this is observed as random outburst of anger far beyond what is deemed appropriate to a particular situation. Situations which although irritating to a non-anabolic steroid user will irritate one who uses anabolics to a far greater degree, resulting in loud outburst, hostility or violent behavior. With most cases of roid rage, after the violent outburst the individual will experience what we might call a “Crash” or quick revert to a more subdued persona.

Not a good thing to mix with cops... people that have a license to kill when the average citizen would be arrested if they did what cops do.

You could ask the question "why isn't this already a weekly, mandatory precautionary measure?"...

Although I'm willing to bet that most the cases we've seen are not because of roid rage...
But because of the power hungry.

Nothing changes overnight. Not a complete overhaul anyway. It's a step in the right direction which many on ats seem to ignore. Is it enough? No. But it has to start somewhere and at least something is being done. The stories about the department are mind boggling.

And yea, it is a few bad apples. Given the overwhelming number of LE in the U.S. that aren't running around beating people up and shooting with little or no reason to do so, claiming that that behavior is now "normal" doesn't wash. It's bad, and it makes the news, but it's not the majority of LE committing the acts. Except maybe on that department, since it seems to be pretty pervasive there.

Oh well. Flame on!

a reply to: Pinke

Of course that is true as well. Cops are prone to the same problems as anyone. Some are power mad, some have inferiority complexes that cause them to lash out. Some are just, "how dare you not comply with my orders". As Chris rock says,"if the police have to chase you, you can bet they are bringing a beating with them".

Steroid testing alone will not work.... they will just start taking designer steroids that defeat any tests..... at least it's a start on drug testing. What all cops need nowadays is better social skills training and psychological tests... + plus the drug testing!

a reply to: DAVID64

I may be the only one, but I cannot support this. I don't support random drug testing for anyone no matter how good the intentions. Cops have rights too -- including to not be judged guilty until they prove themselves innocent, the right to be secure in their person, the right not to be forced to provide evidence against themselves, the right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure. And probably more I'm just not thinking of right now.

I can and do favor mandatory drug testing for cops who assault and/or kill anyone in the course of their job, because at that point, there is probable cause for further search and seizure. If the LE supervisors are doing their job, then they would see and know which cops are using excessive force or acting out of bounds -- without drug testing.

a reply to: DAVID64

the first mistake: announcing it and haven't long, drawn out turnaround times. The better solution: a quiet policy change that allows for testing of illicit substances as a broad categorization. Then roll out testing without announcement.

a reply to: Boadicea

I don't support random drug testing for anyone no matter how good the intentions.

How about airline pilots, train engineers and brain surgeons?

I am libertarian, I think everyone should be free to do whatever they wish with their bodies, but I also think that an employer can have drug testing as a condition for employment. If a person doesn't want the tests, find a different line of work.

a reply to: DAVID64

I appreciate the attempt to "do something" but, if our security personnel are on berserker drugs it only confirms the known problem which requires the known solution, the gradual standing down of most law enforcement.

If enough baby sitters abuse babies, does testing baby sitters for some substance correct the problem? I would answer no, it would not solve that problem. We would have to readjust ourselves to the idea that only our family and friends would be allowed to babysit. The industry of babysitting would disappear as soon as alternative solutions became viable.

It is fundamentally against the nature of babysitting to murder babies and if the organized association representing the unionized babysitter force seemed not only to not understand that basic point but, actually argued that babysitters need stronger arms with which to snap necks, I think we could reasonably require their dissolution.

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: Boadicea

I don't support random drug testing for anyone no matter how good the intentions.

How about airline pilots, train engineers and brain surgeons?

I am libertarian, I think everyone should be free to do whatever they wish with their bodies, but I also think that an employer can have drug testing as a condition for employment. If a person doesn't want the tests, find a different line of work.

Pretty much anyone and everyone can cause harm to others in one way or another. How about anyone and everyone who drives? How about every chef with access to knives? How about every mechanic with various tools that could cause harm? How about hairdressers with their scissors?

How about we just confine everyone to their homes unless and until they pee in a cup every morning and are declared "clean" by Big Brother?

originally posted by: Boadicea

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: Boadicea

I don't support random drug testing for anyone no matter how good the intentions.

How about airline pilots, train engineers and brain surgeons?

I am libertarian, I think everyone should be free to do whatever they wish with their bodies, but I also think that an employer can have drug testing as a condition for employment. If a person doesn't want the tests, find a different line of work.

Pretty much anyone and everyone can cause harm to others in one way or another. How about anyone and everyone who drives? How about every chef with access to knives? How about every mechanic with various tools that could cause harm? How about hairdressers with their scissors?

How about we just confine everyone to their homes unless and until they pee in a cup every morning and are declared "clean" by Big Brother?

Airline pilots and train engineers can have hundreds of lives in their hands.
I can't pick which police officer I deal with. They are public servants and I shouldn't have to worry that the one that I encounter has a roid rage episode.

One of the remarkable anomalies of the anti-steroid campaign of the past two decades is that it has virtually ignored the many reports of steroid use by police officers in the United States and in other countries. Unknown but clearly significant numbers of policemen have imported, smuggled, sold, and used anabolic steroids over this time period. According to an article that appeared in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin in 1991: “Anabolic steroid abuse by police officers is a serious problem that merits greater awareness by departments across the country.” In 2003 another expert offered a similar assessment. Little research has been done on the use of steroids by police, said Larry Gaines, former executive director of the Kentucky Chiefs of Police Association. “But I think it’s a larger problem than people think.”

thinksteroids.com
The FBI thinks it is a problem.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

If it requires a change in contract with officers, I don't think they can quietly roll it out as a big surprise for everybody. I have no idea what their contract currently is or what the new program would require so I'm just spitballing.

originally posted by: butcherguy

The FBI thinks it is a problem.

I think it's a problem too, but not universal. Obviously not every cop is taking steroids. But every cop has rights, and if we're not willing to stand up for their rights, then we have no reason to expect them to stand up for ours.

Right now, bad cops get away with far too much under color of the law. The bad cops know this and act with perceived impunity. The answer isn't to further violate inalienable rights. Part of the answer is to put them on notice that if/when they cross the line, there will be consequences. Those consequences can and should include mandatory drug testing for steroids, etc... but only AFTER they cross that line.

a reply to: Boadicea
We shall have to agree to disagree on this one. I understand where you are coming from and respect your opinion, even if I don't agree.

Albuquerque officers currently undergo random testing for drugs such as marijuana, coc aine and opiates.

So they are already randomly tested, they're just adding steroids to the list. I wonder how the testing is handled. If they do a urinalysis, it's woefully inadequate and very, very easy to get around, unless they have someone literally watching you pee directly into the cup, being able to actually see your working parts.

Fake urine is quite easy to obtain and use, for those that may be unaware. They even come with warming pads to heat it up to the right temperature. Some places started testing for uric acid and urea because of the synthetic urine, but most of them come with that now, too.

This is just one of many products: www.quickfixurine.com...