1 In 4 Cops Have Drug Or Alcohol Addiction Problems, Twice As Bad As Civilian Population, According To Former Cop

One might question the drug testing practices of the local police force, because we have many cops with badges and AR-15′s and armored to the teeth, and they’re hooked on opiates (pain killers, which is really time released heroin), steroids or alcohol. Their excuse is that their job is tougher than everyone elses. I agree, it would be tough to be hooked on drugs while you’re busting drug dealers, probably some of them know you are hooked, so you bust them to keep them quiets (read hypocrite)….

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pulation; there are many reasons for this. I believe that before we address the problem, we need to define it first.

Cops and addiction are two words that do not go well together.  However, they’ve been a part of police culture for many years.  I spent almost 20 years in law enforcement with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the Kirkland (Washington) Police Department.  I served in many different capacities; field training officer, gang officer, D.A.R.E. instructor, school resource officer, homicide detective and my final assignment… drug addict.

I now have 7 years of sobriebriety.  I am all-too-familiar with substance abuse and addiction within the law enforcement community.  We think addiction in our world exists only among those people we deal with and arrest every day on the street.  However, it has been estimated through multiple studies that abuse and addiction among law enforcement officers runs somewhere between 20-25%.  This figure is twice the national average of the general population; there are many reasons for this. I believe that before we address the problem, we need to define it first.

http://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/cops-and-addiction/

Now, I’m glad this former door busting Rambo got help, but he’s STILL on the taxpayer dime, making speeches to other cops about how to keep the problem from the public, in my opinion.

Oh, they make excuses, but truth is, I believe, cops just are less mentally and socially adjusted people in the first place, having seen the kids the grew up and became cops in my own lifetime. I mean, who wants to be the neighborhood snitch. What happened to minding our own business, unless help was called upon, where in the old days, the community would rally. Now we have 911 and armored tanks with 100′s pf SWAT agents swatting at the flies (civilians)….

And when a cop actually does go into rehab?

“For most people with addictions, an inpatient program is the best start to recovery, but it is also one of the most difficult steps for an officer to take. For an officer, entering an inpatient facility may feel similar to incarceration, which is contrary to what the law enforcement profession represents, and giving up control goes against everything officers are trained to do. Their training has also provided them with a hyper-awareness of external surroundings—it is not uncommon for officers entering treatment centers to scan their surroundings and mark their exits the way they do on the streets or in jails.”

http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=3492&issue_id=92014

Does scanning your rehab for ways out sound like a human being that thinks properly?? Giving up control is an issue obviously for a cop, and here in lies the #1 problem, cops are people who want control, and people to obey their commands.  

Last but not least, I will remind people about the Stanford University Experiment, and how quickly normal people become abusive and cruel when given a badge and a baton (imagine if they had loaded weapons)