Mar 20 2009
BSO Sued After 9 BSO Employees Prove Negative for Steroids Use
Nine deputies of the sixteen Broward Sherrif’s Office employees who have been suspected of using illegal anabolic steroids were finally cleared after proving negative in results of steroid testing. The seven remaining employees, including six deputies, are still under investigation. Jim Leljedal, spokesman for BSO, said that the nine officers were cleared after the tests revealed that they were steroid-free and are now allowed to return to work after they have been temporarily suspended for the allegations.
When asked, Leljedal chose not to discuss the test results of the seven remaining employees since they were still under investigation by the internal affairs division. The Broward Sheriff’s Office is now facing a lawsuit filed by a Broward County police union in the name of the falsely accused deputies.
Attorney of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association, Rhea Grossman, said that the lawsuit, which was filed in the Broward Circuit Court, was a way of saying that the manner and method that the BSO went about doing its investigations was improper or illegal. Sheriff Al Lamberti from the BSO had a prepared statement in response to the PBA lawsuit saying that everyone who works in the BSO knows that they are subject to drug testing. Employees of BSO are not allowed to use illicit drugs or even take prescription drugs without a prescription, he added.
Dr. Richard S. Weisman, Associate dean of the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, said that anabolic steroids are synthetic drugs that are made to act in a manner that boosts testosterone to super levels. People take them illicitly to increase strength and muscle mass, or what is called “bulking up.” He also added that steroids come with a list of serious side effects including the shrinking of male reproductive organs, liver damage, and increased levels of aggression, popularized by the media as “roid rage.” Because of the nature of police work, increased aggression can pose real threats and serious implications. Dr. Weisman, who is also the director of the Florida Poison Center, said that anabolic steroids tend to make a person very aggressive and have a short fuse. These are traits that you definitely do not want to see in a police officer.
BSO and the U.S. law in general prohibit the use of steroids unless it is obtained through a legitimate prescription and a genuine physician-patient relationship. Prescription drugs are sometimes abused, Leljedal commented, but at the same time BSO employees are entitled to the same therapies and remedies as the general public. The BSO policy also prohibits substances that are used as masking agents to hide the use of steroids or the presence of steroids in the system. Weisman said that anabolic steroids are rarely needed by most people, and that medically, it is generally used in extremely rare situations, such as in treating a muscle-wasting disease. In the 25 years that he has been a clinical pharmacist, Weisman can count on one hand where anabolic steroids would have been used.
[...] Currently a private investigator, former officer Hommel is adamant in making a strong argument and making his experience an example for what is wrong with Plantation’s internal investigations. While some officers who have recently been suspected and later cleared of steroid abuse may be able to relate to Hommel’s story, the implications go beyond his guilt or innocence and provides a peek into the steroid underworld of South Florida, as well as crucial background information on the ongoing Broward Sheriff’s Office steroid scandal. [...]