Cops On Steroids
These men are using enough steroids to rival professional IBF bodybuilders, capable of crushing other men like "wet cardboard."
by Bob Cesca
WASHINGTON, DC – The following is an updated edition of a piece I wrote for The Daily Banter in 2016 about steroid abuse among police officers.
It kind of makes sense, in a twisted sort of way. If your life were on the line every time you stepped foot into your office, and if there was a regimen of drugs you could take to intimidate or perhaps overpower those who were trying to kill you, wouldn't you be tempted to take those drugs?
I'd probably have to think about it for a second before quitting the job altogether. Either way, this appears to be the rationale behind a troubling upswing in the use of anabolic steroids in American police departments.
Unlike professional sports and bodybuilding where steroids are commonly used to enhance performance in pursuit of more entertainment-oriented endeavors, police officers have been turning to testosterone, human growth hormone, and other androgenic substances in order to appear more physically imposing, and perhaps to have a better shot at subduing a suspect.
Back in 2008, Police Chief Magazine, published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, wrote:
Although the traditional reason for the use of AASs [anabolic-androgenic steroids] is to improve athletic performance, AASs also appeal to officers wanting a tactical edge or an intimidating appearance. Unlike with other forms of drug abuse, steroid users do not take their drug recreationally; on the contrary, some state they need these drugs in order to do their job effectively or improve their “job performance.” From street officers who consider themselves vulnerable to bigger, more aggressive criminals to special-assignment officers who are regularly tested for their physical abilities, officers are turning to performance-enhancing drugs such as AASs and HGH as a shortcut to improved performance.
Of course, there are significant problems with this, beginning with the fact that steroids are controlled substances and, since the passage of the Steroid Control Act of 1990, the possession of such drugs is a felony. That's probably the most clearly defined downside to illegal steroid possession -- the law itself. While there are legitimate and beneficial medical uses for testosterone replacement and steroids, they're notoriously acquired and abused in order to enhance physical strength far beyond mortal men.
What's not so clear, however, are the effects the drugs have on men in high-stress careers where life and death are on the line.
When Lance Armstrong reportedly experienced "roid rage" as a side-effect of apparent testosterone supplementation he was said to have marched up and down his team bus, punching the seats and shouting obscenities (this allegedly happened during the 2003 Tour de France following the harrowing climb to Luz Ardiden). When a police officer, on the other hand, experiences roid rage, the consequences are far more serious.
To be absolutely clear: there's no evidence whatsoever that the police officers involved with the recent police executions of Tyre Nichols and Anthony Lowe, were using steroids but imagine for a moment if they had been. With the possible addition of steroids into the toxic perfect storm of profiling and the militarization of the police, there's no telling how many of these excessive force situations occurred.
There's no way to adequately distinguish whether a particularly intense bust had anything to do with "roid rage" or simple adrenaline combined with solid physical training and personal intensity. Is any particular case of excessive force due to bad police work and bad police work alone, or is it the "roid rage?"
There are, in fact, steroid users who claim to not experience the heightened sense of aggression and short-fuses that are common side-effects of off-the-scale, artificially enhanced testosterone levels. The only way to weed out the roid rage is to vigorously screen for steroids and T-levels concurrent with other narcotics and alcohol testing, and then to employ the law of averages.
In other words, if an officer is drunk, then slams his patrol car into a family of five crossing the street, then it's safe to assume it was the liquor. It doesn't require a huge leap to conclude that where there are roids, there is rage. We'll circle back to this.
So, where are the roids?
Back in 2014, a man was arrested in Augusta, GA and admitted to investigators that he had supplied steroids to perhaps dozens of law enforcement officers dating back to 2004.
The case against Brandon Paquette, who insinuated that deputies were illegally juicing up, is progressing in the courts. Paquette, 32, was indicted Dec. 17 on felony counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Paquette, the brother of a Richmond County reserve deputy, implicated deputies after narcotics investigators issued a search warrant at his Pennsylvania Avenue home in late October and discovered 46 vials of anabolic steroids.
That same year, an investigation uncovered officers in Dallas, TX using anabolic steroids:
A Dallas ISD investigation into alleged illegal steroid use in its police department has implicated five employees of wrongdoing or not coming forward with information.
A police officer and a security officer resigned after the investigation, according to a district email Wednesday.
Two other police officers were recommended for termination and another for a three-day suspension.
In May of 2022, a Pennsylvania state trooper was busted for steroids:
Trooper Joseph W. Czachorowski is suspended without pay pending the resolution of the charges, state police announced.
Czachorowski came under suspicion after a U.S. postal inspector intercepted a parcel addressed to him and got a federal search warrant for it, police said. Along with a state police investigator, the inspector discovered 30 Oxymetholone pills and two vials of Trenbolone acetate, both steroids and Schedule III controlled substances.
And in November 2021:
Sacramento officer Matthew Thompson and another officer are accused of possessing two bodybuilding steroids that require a prescription. The other officer was previously arrested on domestic violence charges.
Maurice Lemelin, 33, who is an officer with the New York City Police Department, has been charged with possessing and sale of a controlled substance. On two occasions, the defendant allegedly sold anabolic steroids to an undercover detective in both October and November of this year.
One more. This time from 2019:
Scott County Deputy Joe Baker, 39, is facing drug charges after being arrested on Thanksgiving Day for allegedly dealing illegal steroids.
I think you get the idea.
But perhaps the most breathtaking cops-on-steroids ring was uncovered in New Jersey in 2010. Three years earlier, a doctor named Joseph Colao was found dead of a heart attack at his home in Jersey City. Following Coloa's death, an investigative report by The Star-Ledger revealed that Colao was supplying hundreds of police officers and firefighters throughout New Jersey with HGH and steroids. 248 officers from 53 departments to be precise.
And what about roid rage?
Six of those patients — four police officers and two corrections officers — were named in lawsuits alleging excessive force or civil rights violations around the time they received drugs from him or shortly afterward.
A separate story out of Trenton, NJ showed that some officers had been billing the state government for the drugs, costing taxpayers upwards of $1,100 per month per officer, totaling in the millions. Likewise:
Joseph Santiago, a former police director in Trenton, N.J., told The Star-Ledger that Trenton had a "significant amount" of excessive force complaints.
"When you looked at these records, you start to see where there might be a correlation," Santiago told the newspaper. "Is it absolutely clear? No. Would a complaint have been there regardless of steroids? Those are issues that need to be addressed."
Men's Health magazine detailed the following uses of steroid-enabled force in an article titled "Cops on Steroids":
Officer Jimmy (not his real name) knew his steroid use was paying off when, one day, the Ohio policeman needed to wrestle a suspect to the ground--and the guy crumpled like a piece of wet cardboard. "It took no effort at all," Jimmy marvels. For Kevin, a military policeman, his steroid epiphany came as he was throwing a rowdy patron out of a Southern California bar: Kevin grabbed the guy by his belt and yanked him right out of his chair. "He landed about 2 feet behind me," he remembers.
The article goes on to quote one anonymous officer who said that 20-25 percent of the officers he knew were taking steroids. "Most of the police officers I've known who have used these drugs consider them a tool of the trade," Charles Yesalis, Sc.D., told the magazine.
Perhaps these and so many other officers are outliers who can miraculously handle the emotional impact of high levels of testosterone and other "gear," while most mortals on steroids can barely resist ramming their fists through someone’s face over an internet troll. But the odds are very, very slim, especially when these men are using enough steroids to rival professional IBF bodybuilders, capable of crushing other men like "wet cardboard." That requires a lot of gear.
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The question then remains whether it's safe for these officers to do what they're doing, not only in terms of their own safety due to the harsh effects on the liver, kidneys, and heart, but more importantly the safety of the public. It's the same question that comes up when debating the aforementioned militarization of the police: is there an accompanying temptation to use excessive force just because they can? And if so, is this really benefiting the public, or does the danger far outweigh the benefits of officers who sincerely believe that steroids make them more capable of protecting and serving? Does the potential for excessive force negate any benefit the officers might experience in terms of satisfying their duty to the public?
Yes, absolutely.
Steroid abuse by cops is a recipe for disaster -- and we've seen too many disasters in the news lately to disagree. Police officers should have sufficient latitude to protect themselves and us, but not to the point of an almost nuclear capacity to kill the people they're sanctioned to protect.
There's nothing wrong with stronger cops, or better-trained cops. But this escalation has to end at your windpipe or your neighbor’s chest. Accordingly, as public servants, the more cops who lose their badge over illegal steroid use, the safer you'll be.
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Cops committing drug felonies so they can . . . . umm. . . intimidate and rage on civilians? Like the cops padded bullet proof gear, guns and clubs aren't enough? Sounds like governments who supply their militaries with Methamphetamine so they lose their inhibitions to kill innocent civilians...
I work out at the local YMCA. Yes I do see police officers who work out in there and they openly talk about steroids. They act just like they are on the stage of the Mr. Olympia contest as the pose in front of the mirror...and then there are those tattoos that they have...