LEO Drug Testing

[safewaysecurity]

How often are LEOs drug tested? How are the tests performed? Are they testing only for psychoactive compounds or anything that's not supposed to be in your body?

[BlueVue]

There's no such thing as a "Drug Test". There are tests for specific chemicals, and each chemical you test for raises the price of doing the test. Which means they probably only test for the drugs they care about; meth, coke, pot, LSD, etc... a cop caught taking steroids is far less of a PR/liability problem than one on meth (and also probably much less likely).

[Ron-Solo]

My former Department ran a very wide screen, and steroid use was part of the screen.

[constable]

My former Department ran a very wide screen, and steroid use was part of the screen.

They usually cover this, but will it catch the various forms of human growth hormone.... etc. Most likely not.

[CBR_rider]

You know what they say about assuming...

I know my agency uses a pretty wide net as well for drug screening but the number of screens performs varies on assignment/other factors.

[SVT-40]

Every agency will have different rules when testing can occur. Some have "random" testing where others will have "good cause" testing. "Good cause" is where a supervisor has reasonable suspicion based on articulable facts that the officer is under the influence.

[constable]

You know what they say about assuming...

I know my agency uses a pretty wide net as well for drug screening but the number of screens performs varies on assignment/other factors.

True about assuming and all. I am by no means, advocating someone try HGH or any other form of steroid; especially if you are a part of the law enforcement community.

[safewaysecurity]

I've heard that you can't test HGH through piss tests. How ofte are they performed usually?

[esy]

I've heard that you can't test HGH through piss tests. How ofte are they performed usually?

Correct. hGH is detected through blood testing. At the same time though, hGH can easily be cycled on and off if done properly. The argument that the Mayweather camp has against Pacquiao since much of sports, PEDs testing is a joke.

[Falconis]

soo why the question? thinking of joining a department then going hog wild or you just waiting on someone to get in trouble?

[Ron-Solo]

Well, my guess is that LASD tests for HGH since we fire a few guys a year for using it.

I served papers on two guys that worked my division that were terminated for steroids.

In addition to random testing, they can test for cause.

[tyrist]

Randomly tested 3 times a year plus more if it's directed testing for something specific. The new hires can be randomly tested 6 times till they make probation. It's all urine testing and two samples are taken with one used and one stored. The screening is for the big stuff like opiates, meth, cocaine, LSD, etc. The steroid testing is directed and not done on the random tests is my understanding.

[safewaysecurity]

soo why the question? thinking of joining a department then going hog wild or you just waiting on someone to get in trouble?

Just curious mostly. I've always wondered this because of this Ronnie Coleman video mostly. His Department obviously knows he's illegally taking steroids as many of the steroids he's taking are not even prescribed by doctors and are for use in livestock. It seems they don't care that he's on tons of juice. I personally would think that police departments would want their deputies especially those that are in rough neighborhoods where they have to deal with arresting big dudes, on the juice.

[Ron-Solo]

Due to the "roid rage" associated with steroid use, I can't think of any department sanctioning their use.

I work a lot of tough areas in my career. Being "big" is often more of a hindrance than a help. I had a partner who was 6'9" and in excellent physical shape. I got in more fights because of him. He attracted every 5'2" drunk with a little mans complex who wanted to fight him.

[Pryde]

From my experiences in the military and seeing what my command was doing to try to catch steroid users, it is extremely hard to do so.
From what I know the steroid test is expensive and its hard to catch people unless you do it within a day or two of injection.

The frustrating thing about juicers is that it is pretty obvious who is doing it, but proving it is hard.