Steroid Use Among Police, Firefighters

[Junkyard Dog]

Steroid Use Among Police, Firefighters

(CBS 5 NEWS) - A CBS 5 News investigation uncovers widespread steroid use among Valley firefighters and police officers.

Steroids are illegal and they can cause roid rages. Combine that with police officers and firefighters making life and death decisions and that could put you in danger. We call them in crisis. We call them heroes. Now some Valley firefighters and police officers are being called criminals, turning to steroids for an edge over dangers on the job.

"I think officers use it. They get away with it. There's no screening for it," says a former Valley police officer who asked to remain anonymous. “Whether it’s a family member of one of the officers or just someone on the street on a call that they respond to, someone is going to get hurt."

Doctor Allen Miles specializes in hormone treatment and says steroids abusers may lash out without warning.

CBS 5 News dug through records of police officers and firefighters suspected by colleagues of juicing on the job. We found write ups for excessive force and domestic violence. One Mesa firefighter was served with a protective order from his ex-wife. A police officer resigned six months ago and is ineligible for rehire after testing positive for and anabolic steroids.

"It actually changes the officers out on the street. They're more aggressive …not enough patience out there," says the former officer.

In the last few weeks two other Phoenix police officers have been placed on administrative leave and ordered tested for steroids. CBS 5 News has now learned they are the subjects of search warrants in a Valley wide investigation into abuse of the drug.

"We're not aware of a large problem involving steroids, but do we know that for sure? I don't think so," says Lauri Williams with Phoenix police.

Not only is steroid use perhaps more pervasive than thought, it's been overlooked.

”You walk a fine line of Valley someone’s civil rights. You can’t do that,” says Williams

Phoenix police say they've been operating under an unwritten rule. You can’t even ask employees about suspected use without proof. It wasn’t until we started asking questions four months ago that the department reviewed its policies and found supervisors only need reasonable suspicion to test for drugs, nothing more.

Some fire departments can’t even entertain the idea of random steroid screening. A Mesa fire captain fought the department’s random drug testing policy all the way to the State Supreme Court, and won.

"We're not allowed to do random drug testing," says a Mesa Fire representative.

The medical reviewer for Phoenix fire department advised against random testing.

"I don’t see where it’s going to impair the firefighters where it may impair the ability of the police officer,” says Dr. Patricia Treharme. She says whether they are using these drugs is irrelevant to their jobs even though it’s illegal. "What I’m interested in is can people can safely perform their jobs?"

We told you earlier that because of our investigation Phoenix is already taking action. This is just the tip of a major investigation. We came across more than a dozen other names and went to those agencies. Some departments had no reaction, but Mesa police take it very seriously. There detectives are in the middle of a valley wide investigation involving the abuse of illegal steroids.

CBS 5 couldn’t find a single department in the Valley that tests for steroid use.