River City: The heat wave begins
"It's probably time that the department makes a conscious decision about whether it's acceptable for officers to take steroids."
---Former Chief Ken Harms, Miami Police Department
There was a debate on whether or not it was acceptable to allow law enforcement officers to take anabolic steroids in order to improve their work performance, according to this study released by a professor at the University of Texas, Austin in 2005.
When this study was released by John Hoberman, Ph.D., there was a discussion about steroid use and whether or not it should be legal taking place even on the floors of the U.S. Capitol due to the BALCO scandal that had hit the world of athletics from major league baseball to track and field. But, little discussion ever took place in any forum about the impact of steroids on police officers who opted to take them. According to many sources, the number of those choosing to do so is increasing across the country.
Should their use by law enforcement officers be tolerated or discouraged or banned? Many agencies screen for police officer candidates who have used drugs including steroids, but they have differing policies for how to handle past use of steroids and other drugs.
(excerpt)
Prohibiting police officers from using anabolic steroids would appear to be self-evident given what is known about how these drugs can produce hyper-aggressive behavior. But understanding the use of these drugs by police officers and other men whose professional roles involve physical strength and assertiveness requires us to examine the two opposing arguments that have been advanced to favor or oppose the use of steroids by law enforcement personnel. The functional argument holds that the physical and psychological effects of steroids promote the safety of the officer and, therefore, public safety, as well. The deviance argument holds that, on the contrary, both the physical and emotional effects of the drugs endanger the public and expose drug-taking officers to serious legal risks resulting from their dangerous drug-induced behaviors.
The idea that steroids might actually play a functional (and therefore legitimate) role in preparing police officers to do their jobs was not beyond the pale in 1987. For example, the Miami Herald exposé prompted a former Miami police chief, Ken Harms, to make the following comment: "It's probably time that the department makes a conscious decision about whether it's acceptable for officers to take steroids." (4) The sheer political incorrectness of this statement, when judged by today's standards, speaks volumes about how the social status of these drugs has changed in the interim. Although Chief Harms did not go on to parse the pros and cons of steroid-taking by police officers, it is not difficult to imagine what he might have said.
So the debate continues that has one side claiming that steroids are a quick-fix for police officers to become stronger, faster and more fierce. Others say that steroid use leads to more aggressive, perhaps violent behavior in those who use it.
(excerpt)
This case of allegedly steroid-fueled police violence comes from Texas. Over a period of seven years during the 1980s, a Houston police officer named Scott Tschirhart shot to death three black men in circumstances that led to protests and a grand jury investigation. Cleared by the grand jury, Tschirhart was eventually fired by Houston's black police chief shortly after the third killing in 1989. (19)
It was well known to his fellow officers that Tschirhart was a user of anabolic steroids, and they had watched the drugs transform him as a bodybuilder and as a policeman. "The bigger he got … the worse he got about strutting around and bragging," a veteran officer recalled. "You could really see him changing." (20) But the Houston Police Department had no policy against steroid use, so no one intervened until the third fatal shooting provoked the department to investigate this officer's unusually violent career.
An ABC News Report that same year documented other cases of what was referred to as "'roid rage" in police officers. The unstable emotional swings are blamed on how steroids impact the brain's dopamine receptors. When these receptors are damaged, it often leads to aggressive behavior, poor judgment and a lack of impulse control.
(excerpt)
James Batsel IV was a police officer in Riverdale, a suburb of Atlanta. In 1993, he joined a group of police officers who, in addition to bulking up on steroids, burglarized stores and nightclubs in the Atlanta area.
During one of those burglaries, Batsel shot and killed a nightclub owner. In his defense, Batsel blamed the murder on the steroids he was using.
Batsel, now serving a life sentence for murder at Hays State Prison in Georgia, refused an interview request from ABCNews.com. But his father, James Batsel III, said, "The police force that he was on was rampant with it."
Maj. Greg Barney of the Riverdale Police Department declined to offer comment on the 12-year-old incident.
Batsel also described the effect steroids had on his son's disposition, causing him to fly into a violent rage for no reason. This side effect of steroids is known as "'roid rage."
"He had a temper you would not believe," Batsel's father said. "He had a dog that he just loved -- and he took that dog out and shot it."
In 2006, The Boston Police Department began testing for steroid use after several of its officers abused and dealt in steroids, according to the Boston Herald.
(excerpt)
The suspected ringleader among the three officers charged with guarding massive shipments of cocaine, Roberto Pulido, is accused of trafficking in steroids, which he allegedly imported from a drug dealer in Greece. A regular customer for the steroids was a second officer, Carlos A. Pizarro, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in the case.
A fourth officer implicated in the federal investigation was placed on administrative duty and had his gun confiscated last week after he was implicated in the distribution of steroids and suspected steroid use, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation has told the Globe. Because the department does not test officers for steroids, Edgardo Rodriguez probably would not have come to the attention of department officials if it weren't for the federal probe.
``The mayor supports steroids testing, and he will negotiate with the union regarding this matter," Menino spokeswoman Rebecca Frisch said. The mayor declined to be interviewed.
It's not known, certainly to the public whether the Riverside Police Department has ever grappled with the problem of steroids being used by any of its police officers. Hopefully, it has been spared from the problems faced by other law enforcement agencies.
However, in the 1997 incustody death of Hector Islas, there were some references to possible steroid use by former officer, Vernon Bryant. After Islas' death, Bryant avoided submitting a blood or urine sample for testing by the police department for hours. When one of the other officers involved in the death asked him to submit a sample, Bryant asked if it would test for ephedrine or steroids, according to a declaration submitted in the civil case.
Whether or not Bryant tested positive for either of these substances or not, was never known not even by former police chief, Ken Fortier because the Riverside Police Officers' Association went to Riverside County Superior Court to file an injunction against the release of the results of Bryant's toxicology test.
Whether or not there are problems with steroid use in this police department remains known only by those behind the blue curtain. Hopefully, the police officers in this agency are smarter than those elsewhere who have abused steroids, endangering their health and the well-being of themselves and others around them. Hopefully, if steroid abuse does take place, others who know about it don't keep the information to themselves and look the other way. That does nobody any favors least of all the individuals they think their silence protects.
Other resources:
Steroid use by law enforcement personnel(Drug Enforcement Agency, 2004)
Differential standards for abuse of steroids by police and fire fighters (KPHO, Phoenix, August 2007)
Abuse of Anabolic Steroids(by Charles Swanson, Ph.D., Larry Gaines, Ph.D. and Barbara Gore, M.S.)
(excerpt)
Measures to Take
Most police departments do not have a blanket policy of
anabolic steroid screening for recruits. Also, the extent of
anabolic steroid use by police officers is presently unclear.
However, departments should begin to train supervisors,
background investigators, and internal affairs personnel on how
to identify the physical and behavioral signs associated with
anabolic steroid abuse.
In addition to the physical and psychological symptoms
previously noted, other possible indicators to begin looking for
are sleep disorders, marked increases in irritability,
depression, unusual nervous tension, trouble in concentrating on
cognitive tasks, increased officer-to-officer conflicts, and
complaints from the officer about the department, its policies
and procedures, or working conditions. If members of police
departments are made aware of these symptoms, they will be more
readily equipped to confront a possible abuse situation.
Steroid Use Among Police(CBS-5 News, Phoenix, 2006)
Two items most found in Mesa Police Department personnel records of police officers suspected of steroid use were excessive force complaints and domestic violence.
Another heat wave has shook the city of Riverside with temperatures expected to top out at 107 degrees the rest of the week.
The Riverside Governmental Affairs Committee will be meeting today to discuss who the lucky people are who will receive grant funding from Charter to produce programming. It sure helps if you are a city employees, as Belinda Graham from the Development Department discovered when asking for the $6,000 needed to finance a documentary of the renovation of the Fox Theater downtown.
According to this report, she's one of two individuals who received recommendations from "staff" to receive a portion of the available funding which was $7,000 of the original $45,000 for this year. Half of the funding comes from the governmental account, the remainder from public service account. The allocation from the latter caused some head scratching among those who thought that community organizations and non-profit groups would be the ones to have access to it, not city employees. Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis said that the work needed to be done by "a professional" which means naturally, city employee preferably one who came to the city from a stint with Riverside County's Economic Development Agency.
Also, the two councilmen who attended, Frank Schiavone and Dom Betro, discussed the process of selection for boards and commissions. Tomorrow, the Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee will meet to screen applicants to fill a vacancy on the Community Police Review Commission that was left by the latest departing commissioner, Steve Simpson who resigned last week out of protest regarding the micromanagement of the CPRC by City Hall.
One of the councilmen, Betro, asked if they could just bypass the established process because they had just had conducted interviews recently. But apparently, neither he nor Schiavone had reviewed the updated list of applicants for the CPRC because there were new people added to the list. Consequently, the committee will at least go through the appearances of screening those and other applications for further consideration. However, the money's on the reality that a selection has already been made by the city council. Such is the point that the process of appointing commissioners to the CPRC has been politicized by City Hall. Look for another insider at City Hall to make the grade as a couple of them are in the running to join the latest round of politicized appointments on the CPRC.
Outgoing Councilman Ed Adkison was a no show at the meeting. There was no explanation provided why he failed to appear. Schiavone and Betro did mention that FRED is dead, though most political watchdogs have known that for quite some time. At City Hall, just like high school, some friendships fade awfully fast to be replaced by others. One BBF replacing another, so to speak. Such is the nature of the political arena and high schools.
Press Enterprise Columnist Cassie MacDuff put in her opinion on what's up in Redlands with the city manager dictating what information will be given to city council candidates who submit questions. She relates her own experiences trying to get information out of Redlands City Hall which gave her some idea of what was to come for aspiring politicians.
(excerpt)
Requiring Redlands council candidates to submit their questions in writing to the city manager rather than get answers straight from city staff is wrong in so many ways.
First, barring candidates from meeting with city staff gives the two incumbents an additional advantage, since they already have regular contact with staff.
Second, the policy of providing the answers to all seven candidates undermines the initiative of the candidates who ask the questions, and rewards the passivity of those who sit on the sidelines.
Enterprising candidates do the heavy lifting; the rest can coast on cruise control and reap the benefits of others' work.
But what worries me most is the role of City Manager N. Enrique Martinez. In my experience, Martinez is worse than a bottleneck when it comes to the flow of city information. He's a brick wall.
Surprise, surprise asthma rates have increased for emergency workers who responded to the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, according to the New York Daily News.
(excerpt)
The data show 3.6 percent of the 25,000 rescue and recovery workers in the registry reported developing asthma after working at the site - more than 12 times the expected figure for adults over a similar time period.
"The risk was significantly elevated for fire and rescue workers, medical workers, and police and military personnel compared to volunteers," according to the study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Firefighters, police officers, construction workers and volunteers swarmed to the site immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. While most of them were from New York, hundreds or more came from across the country to help in the moment of national crisis.
Overall, workers who arrived at the disaster site on the day of the attacks and stayed more than 90 days reported the highest rate of new asthma - 7 percent. Volunteers accounted for almost one-third of those responding to the survey; firefighters accounted for about 14 percent.
Workers who reported wearing protective respirators on Sept. 11 and 12, when the contamination was at its worst, had lower risk of developing adult-onset asthma, the study found.
"These findings reflect the critical importance of getting appropriate respiratory protection to all workers as quickly as possible during a disaster, and making every effort to make sure workers wear them at all times," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the city's health commissioner.
---Former Chief Ken Harms, Miami Police Department
There was a debate on whether or not it was acceptable to allow law enforcement officers to take anabolic steroids in order to improve their work performance, according to this study released by a professor at the University of Texas, Austin in 2005.
When this study was released by John Hoberman, Ph.D., there was a discussion about steroid use and whether or not it should be legal taking place even on the floors of the U.S. Capitol due to the BALCO scandal that had hit the world of athletics from major league baseball to track and field. But, little discussion ever took place in any forum about the impact of steroids on police officers who opted to take them. According to many sources, the number of those choosing to do so is increasing across the country.
Should their use by law enforcement officers be tolerated or discouraged or banned? Many agencies screen for police officer candidates who have used drugs including steroids, but they have differing policies for how to handle past use of steroids and other drugs.
(excerpt)
Prohibiting police officers from using anabolic steroids would appear to be self-evident given what is known about how these drugs can produce hyper-aggressive behavior. But understanding the use of these drugs by police officers and other men whose professional roles involve physical strength and assertiveness requires us to examine the two opposing arguments that have been advanced to favor or oppose the use of steroids by law enforcement personnel. The functional argument holds that the physical and psychological effects of steroids promote the safety of the officer and, therefore, public safety, as well. The deviance argument holds that, on the contrary, both the physical and emotional effects of the drugs endanger the public and expose drug-taking officers to serious legal risks resulting from their dangerous drug-induced behaviors.
The idea that steroids might actually play a functional (and therefore legitimate) role in preparing police officers to do their jobs was not beyond the pale in 1987. For example, the Miami Herald exposé prompted a former Miami police chief, Ken Harms, to make the following comment: "It's probably time that the department makes a conscious decision about whether it's acceptable for officers to take steroids." (4) The sheer political incorrectness of this statement, when judged by today's standards, speaks volumes about how the social status of these drugs has changed in the interim. Although Chief Harms did not go on to parse the pros and cons of steroid-taking by police officers, it is not difficult to imagine what he might have said.
So the debate continues that has one side claiming that steroids are a quick-fix for police officers to become stronger, faster and more fierce. Others say that steroid use leads to more aggressive, perhaps violent behavior in those who use it.
(excerpt)
This case of allegedly steroid-fueled police violence comes from Texas. Over a period of seven years during the 1980s, a Houston police officer named Scott Tschirhart shot to death three black men in circumstances that led to protests and a grand jury investigation. Cleared by the grand jury, Tschirhart was eventually fired by Houston's black police chief shortly after the third killing in 1989. (19)
It was well known to his fellow officers that Tschirhart was a user of anabolic steroids, and they had watched the drugs transform him as a bodybuilder and as a policeman. "The bigger he got … the worse he got about strutting around and bragging," a veteran officer recalled. "You could really see him changing." (20) But the Houston Police Department had no policy against steroid use, so no one intervened until the third fatal shooting provoked the department to investigate this officer's unusually violent career.
An ABC News Report that same year documented other cases of what was referred to as "'roid rage" in police officers. The unstable emotional swings are blamed on how steroids impact the brain's dopamine receptors. When these receptors are damaged, it often leads to aggressive behavior, poor judgment and a lack of impulse control.
(excerpt)
James Batsel IV was a police officer in Riverdale, a suburb of Atlanta. In 1993, he joined a group of police officers who, in addition to bulking up on steroids, burglarized stores and nightclubs in the Atlanta area.
During one of those burglaries, Batsel shot and killed a nightclub owner. In his defense, Batsel blamed the murder on the steroids he was using.
Batsel, now serving a life sentence for murder at Hays State Prison in Georgia, refused an interview request from ABCNews.com. But his father, James Batsel III, said, "The police force that he was on was rampant with it."
Maj. Greg Barney of the Riverdale Police Department declined to offer comment on the 12-year-old incident.
Batsel also described the effect steroids had on his son's disposition, causing him to fly into a violent rage for no reason. This side effect of steroids is known as "'roid rage."
"He had a temper you would not believe," Batsel's father said. "He had a dog that he just loved -- and he took that dog out and shot it."
In 2006, The Boston Police Department began testing for steroid use after several of its officers abused and dealt in steroids, according to the Boston Herald.
(excerpt)
The suspected ringleader among the three officers charged with guarding massive shipments of cocaine, Roberto Pulido, is accused of trafficking in steroids, which he allegedly imported from a drug dealer in Greece. A regular customer for the steroids was a second officer, Carlos A. Pizarro, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in the case.
A fourth officer implicated in the federal investigation was placed on administrative duty and had his gun confiscated last week after he was implicated in the distribution of steroids and suspected steroid use, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation has told the Globe. Because the department does not test officers for steroids, Edgardo Rodriguez probably would not have come to the attention of department officials if it weren't for the federal probe.
``The mayor supports steroids testing, and he will negotiate with the union regarding this matter," Menino spokeswoman Rebecca Frisch said. The mayor declined to be interviewed.
It's not known, certainly to the public whether the Riverside Police Department has ever grappled with the problem of steroids being used by any of its police officers. Hopefully, it has been spared from the problems faced by other law enforcement agencies.
However, in the 1997 incustody death of Hector Islas, there were some references to possible steroid use by former officer, Vernon Bryant. After Islas' death, Bryant avoided submitting a blood or urine sample for testing by the police department for hours. When one of the other officers involved in the death asked him to submit a sample, Bryant asked if it would test for ephedrine or steroids, according to a declaration submitted in the civil case.
Whether or not Bryant tested positive for either of these substances or not, was never known not even by former police chief, Ken Fortier because the Riverside Police Officers' Association went to Riverside County Superior Court to file an injunction against the release of the results of Bryant's toxicology test.
Whether or not there are problems with steroid use in this police department remains known only by those behind the blue curtain. Hopefully, the police officers in this agency are smarter than those elsewhere who have abused steroids, endangering their health and the well-being of themselves and others around them. Hopefully, if steroid abuse does take place, others who know about it don't keep the information to themselves and look the other way. That does nobody any favors least of all the individuals they think their silence protects.
Other resources:
Steroid use by law enforcement personnel(Drug Enforcement Agency, 2004)
Differential standards for abuse of steroids by police and fire fighters (KPHO, Phoenix, August 2007)
Abuse of Anabolic Steroids(by Charles Swanson, Ph.D., Larry Gaines, Ph.D. and Barbara Gore, M.S.)
(excerpt)
Measures to Take
Most police departments do not have a blanket policy of
anabolic steroid screening for recruits. Also, the extent of
anabolic steroid use by police officers is presently unclear.
However, departments should begin to train supervisors,
background investigators, and internal affairs personnel on how
to identify the physical and behavioral signs associated with
anabolic steroid abuse.
In addition to the physical and psychological symptoms
previously noted, other possible indicators to begin looking for
are sleep disorders, marked increases in irritability,
depression, unusual nervous tension, trouble in concentrating on
cognitive tasks, increased officer-to-officer conflicts, and
complaints from the officer about the department, its policies
and procedures, or working conditions. If members of police
departments are made aware of these symptoms, they will be more
readily equipped to confront a possible abuse situation.
Steroid Use Among Police(CBS-5 News, Phoenix, 2006)
Two items most found in Mesa Police Department personnel records of police officers suspected of steroid use were excessive force complaints and domestic violence.
Another heat wave has shook the city of Riverside with temperatures expected to top out at 107 degrees the rest of the week.
The Riverside Governmental Affairs Committee will be meeting today to discuss who the lucky people are who will receive grant funding from Charter to produce programming. It sure helps if you are a city employees, as Belinda Graham from the Development Department discovered when asking for the $6,000 needed to finance a documentary of the renovation of the Fox Theater downtown.
According to this report, she's one of two individuals who received recommendations from "staff" to receive a portion of the available funding which was $7,000 of the original $45,000 for this year. Half of the funding comes from the governmental account, the remainder from public service account. The allocation from the latter caused some head scratching among those who thought that community organizations and non-profit groups would be the ones to have access to it, not city employees. Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis said that the work needed to be done by "a professional" which means naturally, city employee preferably one who came to the city from a stint with Riverside County's Economic Development Agency.
Also, the two councilmen who attended, Frank Schiavone and Dom Betro, discussed the process of selection for boards and commissions. Tomorrow, the Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee will meet to screen applicants to fill a vacancy on the Community Police Review Commission that was left by the latest departing commissioner, Steve Simpson who resigned last week out of protest regarding the micromanagement of the CPRC by City Hall.
One of the councilmen, Betro, asked if they could just bypass the established process because they had just had conducted interviews recently. But apparently, neither he nor Schiavone had reviewed the updated list of applicants for the CPRC because there were new people added to the list. Consequently, the committee will at least go through the appearances of screening those and other applications for further consideration. However, the money's on the reality that a selection has already been made by the city council. Such is the point that the process of appointing commissioners to the CPRC has been politicized by City Hall. Look for another insider at City Hall to make the grade as a couple of them are in the running to join the latest round of politicized appointments on the CPRC.
Outgoing Councilman Ed Adkison was a no show at the meeting. There was no explanation provided why he failed to appear. Schiavone and Betro did mention that FRED is dead, though most political watchdogs have known that for quite some time. At City Hall, just like high school, some friendships fade awfully fast to be replaced by others. One BBF replacing another, so to speak. Such is the nature of the political arena and high schools.
Press Enterprise Columnist Cassie MacDuff put in her opinion on what's up in Redlands with the city manager dictating what information will be given to city council candidates who submit questions. She relates her own experiences trying to get information out of Redlands City Hall which gave her some idea of what was to come for aspiring politicians.
(excerpt)
Requiring Redlands council candidates to submit their questions in writing to the city manager rather than get answers straight from city staff is wrong in so many ways.
First, barring candidates from meeting with city staff gives the two incumbents an additional advantage, since they already have regular contact with staff.
Second, the policy of providing the answers to all seven candidates undermines the initiative of the candidates who ask the questions, and rewards the passivity of those who sit on the sidelines.
Enterprising candidates do the heavy lifting; the rest can coast on cruise control and reap the benefits of others' work.
But what worries me most is the role of City Manager N. Enrique Martinez. In my experience, Martinez is worse than a bottleneck when it comes to the flow of city information. He's a brick wall.
Surprise, surprise asthma rates have increased for emergency workers who responded to the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, according to the New York Daily News.
(excerpt)
The data show 3.6 percent of the 25,000 rescue and recovery workers in the registry reported developing asthma after working at the site - more than 12 times the expected figure for adults over a similar time period.
"The risk was significantly elevated for fire and rescue workers, medical workers, and police and military personnel compared to volunteers," according to the study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Firefighters, police officers, construction workers and volunteers swarmed to the site immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. While most of them were from New York, hundreds or more came from across the country to help in the moment of national crisis.
Overall, workers who arrived at the disaster site on the day of the attacks and stayed more than 90 days reported the highest rate of new asthma - 7 percent. Volunteers accounted for almost one-third of those responding to the survey; firefighters accounted for about 14 percent.
Workers who reported wearing protective respirators on Sept. 11 and 12, when the contamination was at its worst, had lower risk of developing adult-onset asthma, the study found.
"These findings reflect the critical importance of getting appropriate respiratory protection to all workers as quickly as possible during a disaster, and making every effort to make sure workers wear them at all times," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the city's health commissioner.
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