The New York Police Department may join the ranks of pro sports and give cops random tests for anabolic steroids, reports the New York Daily News. Performance-enhancing drugs would be added to the list of banned substances the department tries to ferret out in its drug tests. The proposal comes after 27 officers cropped up on the client lists of a Brooklyn pharmacy and three doctors linked to a pro sports steroid ring. Only six of the cops were found to have bought steroids and tested positive for the substance.
NYPD began randomly testing cops for illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana in 1989. The potential impact of steroids on police performance surfaced in the 1999 trial of Justin Volpe for the torture of Abner Louima in a bathroom of a stationhouse. A Volpe family confidant said cop made a mistake in not claiming temporary “Roid Rage” insanity based on his rumored steroid use.
Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/12/07/2007-12-07_nypd_mulls_steroid_tests_for_cops-1.html