Dopers in Uniform: The Hidden World of Police on Steroids

317 Pages·2017·5.09 MB·English

by  John Hoberman

DOPERS IN UNIFORM
Also by John Hoberman
Age of Globalization (2014)
Black and Blue: The Origins and Consequences
of Medical Racism (2012)
Testosterone Dreams: Rejuvenation, Aphrodisia,
Doping (2005)
Doping and Public Policy, coeditor (2004)
Darwin’s Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black
America and Preserved the Myth of Race (1997)
Mortal Engines: The Science of Performance and
Dehumanization of Sport (1992)
The Olympic Crisis: Sport, Politics, and the Moral
Order (1986)
Sport and Political Ideology (1984)
TERRY AND JAN TODD SERIES ON
PHYSICAL CULTURE AND SPORTS
Also in the Todd Series
Mr. America: The Tragic History of a Bodybuilding
Icon by John D. Fair (2015)
Drug Games: The International Olympic Committee
and the Politics of Doping, 1960–2008 by Thomas
Hunt (2011)
D O P E R S I N
U N I F O R M
THE HIDDEN WORLD OF
POLICE ON STEROIDS
———
JOHN HOBERMAN
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, AUSTIN
Copyright © 2017 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2017
Requests for permission to reproduce material
from this work should be sent to:
Permissions
University of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819
Austin, TX 78713-7819
utpress.utexas.edu/rp-form
The paper used in this book meets the minimum
requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging Data
Names: Hoberman, John M. (John Milton), 1944- author.
Title: Dopers in uniform : the hidden world of police on
steroids / John Hoberman.
Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas
Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016058736
ISBN 978-0-292-75948-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4773-1397-8 (library e-book)
ISBN 978-1-4773-1398-5 (non-library e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Police—Drug use—United States. |
Police—Drug testing—United States. | Steroid abuse.
Classification: LCC HV7936.D78 H63 2017 | DDC
362.29/9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016058736
doi:10.7560/759480
We cannot have a grown-up conversation about race in
America until we acknowledge the violent conditions
engendered by government policy and police practice.
— Reverend Dr. William Barber II,
president of the North Carolina NAACP
The physical dangers of police work are grossly overrated
but the emotional dangers make it the most hazardous
job on earth.
—J oseph Wambaugh,
The Choirboys
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CONTENTS
ix Preface
1 Introduction
15 Chapter One: What We Know about Cops on Steroids
71 Chapter Two: Police Chiefs and the Steroid Dilemma
123 Chapter Three: Police Unions and Steroids
153 Chapter Four: The Gym Culture, Where Muscular Cops Meet
211 Chapter Five: Steroids in the Military
239 Conclusion
243 Acknowledgments
245 Appendix: An Iraq War Army Veteran on Steroid Use in
Combat, by Shawn Fogarty
251 Notes
293 Index
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PREFACE
Dopers in Uniform is the first comprehensive account of the police
steroid culture in the United States. Most people are surprised to
learn that many police officers use anabolic steroids, given the
notoriety of these drugs and their widespread illegal use. But we
should not be surprised. Most police officers come from a young
male population in which anabolic steroid use has been expand-
ing for decades. Many police officers lift weights to build muscle,
and steroids can promote dramatic muscle growth. Some police
departments have sponsored bodybuilding contests. What is more,
some cops believe that conspicuous muscularity gives them a tacti-
cal advantage in confrontations with physically powerful criminals,
especially ones who have built rippling torsos by lifting weights
in prison. One big-city police chief told me that he wants to put
“smart” officers on the street, and that muscle mass counts for very
little. Suffice it to say that many cops do not share this view.
Dopers in Uniform cannot be a definitive account of cops on ste-
roids for two reasons. First, an illicit drug culture is an underground
culture whose members do not welcome inquiries or respond to
questionnaires. “Very little is known about the prevalence of drug
use among police officers,” one expert wrote in 2015.1 Furthermore,
the code of silence that imposes an iron discipline within police