The arrest of a California police officer on suspicion of steroid trafficking has prompted an internal investigation of potential anabolic steroid use by officers in the Stockton Police Department. “Darrin Fa.” was arrested last month after his own department ordered surveillance on his activities and busted him in possession of significant quantities of anabolic steroids in an undercover sting operation.
The numerous headlines about steroid use among law enforcement around the country has led to Police Chief Blair Ulring conducting a department-wide investigation even though there no evidence has been reported suggesting involvement by additional officers.
Most journalists reporting on the problem of cops and steroids usually focus on the alleged association between anabolic steroids and aggression in popular culture even though the scientific evidence for such a connection is tenuous. However, Christian Burkin of The Record addresses the issues related to cops and steroids that the public should be concerned about (“Officer’s steroid charge spurs probe,” February 5).
The danger is not limited to the side effects of steroid use but also slipping into deeper moral and ethical compromise.
“People try and leverage their access to keep them involved, threatening to report them, threatening to turn them in, threatening to set them up,” Ulring said, adding that there is no evidence of that in the case of Fagundes, who has not been proved guilty.
Steroid use by law enforcement is a serious problem because the illegal status of anabolic steroids makes law enforcement vulnerable to corruption. When steroid-using cops obtain steroids via black market sources, they become vulnerable to blackmail and corruption and participation in the illicit bodybuilding steroid subculture.
The real problem with cops using steroids does not involve roid rage and/or health concerns. It involves the potential corruption involving law enforcement participation in illegal steroid distribution networks.
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