4-19-06, The San Francisco News

If the Balco Scandal is strictly about drug use in sports, then why is Barry Bonds represented by Michael Rains -- a lawyer whose entire legal career has been spent protecting police from prosecution? While the US is being distracted by the Bonds saga, are we missing a connection between steroids and police? Independent journalist Junya looks behind the headlines and finds a simmering scandal that may explain this mysterious conjuncture of legal phenomena. Have cops gone psychotic from steroid use become even more of a danger behind their guns and badges?

In 2003, about a month after Bonds' trainer was arrested in Burlingame, the same Narcotics Task Force discovered more than 700 tablets of steroids and syringes in the truck and house of Burlingame Police Officer Robert J. Cissna. While Bonds' trainer and others received jail time, the officer received a deal of 18 months probation, with the charges dismissed and his records cleared because his defense convinced prosecutors that the steroids were for personal use. As one police psychologist reported, steroid use among star baseball players may be getting the most attention, but a bigger problem is likely the police officer down the street who is using them: "At some point in using the drug, psychotic-type symptoms come in. And they're not predictable. That makes it an even more dangerous issue."