[PLUG-TALK] Drug testing for cops (way off topic)

[Keith Lofstrom]

Watched the video of the Bridgeton NJ police shooting; the shooter
cop went berserk. He should be in a psych ward, not in a uniform.

A friend who works in an emergency room tells me that many of the
police officers who come in injured have anabolic steroids in
their blood.  Some officers use these schedule III drugs to bulk up
physically, and to increase their aggressiveness.  That makes them
trigger happy, and unable to think rationally and de-escalate a
crisis.  Thus increasing the chance of killing someone, or dying.

Cops should be tested for steroids, and prosecuted if using them
without prescription, or put on desk duty for medical use.  A cop
using steroids who kills the passenger of a car for the "crime"
of running a stop sign should be imprisoned for homicide.  Every
incident like this should be followed by an immediate blood screen
for all involved.
   
Cops should be subject to the same rules that govern all of us.
If police can stop people and search their cars, then state police
should be able to do the same to local police, and federal to
state.  If police are found with drugs or unregistered weapons
("throwdown guns") they should suffer the same criminal penalties
as any other citizen.  Local governments that hire psychopaths for
police officers should not be allowed to have police forces, with
law enforcement provided by outside professionals, state or county
or from neigboring jurisdictions with more capability.  

If this makes law enforcement difficult, perhaps we should consider
enforcement difficulty when we enact laws, and do without laws that
lead to violence.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com