Ramsey: More cops in U.S. juicing up

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey acknowledged a burgeoning national trend of cops' bulking up with drugs.

"There is a growing problem in law enforcement with the use of anabolic steroids," said Ramsey, who added that he didn't know if city cops were using.

The department does not include steroids or HGH as part of its preemployment testing or random drug screens, said Lt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman. He said that an officer can be tested for the drugs if their commanding officer suspects they are using them.

John McNesby, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said that he can recall less than a handful of officers being punished for steroids in the past four years.

"They do pop up here and there," he said. "It's not frequent, though."

The Newark Star-Ledger reported last year that hundreds of law-enforcement workers in New Jersey received steroids and human growth hormone from a corrupt Jersey City doctor.

Even worse, most of the workers used their government-funded health-care plans to pay for the drugs, the paper reported.

-Daily News staff report