On January 11, 2024, Paul Digiacomo, Scott Munro, our attorneys, and representatives of the other unions, attended a meeting with members of the Police Commissioner’s staff and Dep. Comm. of Labor Relations Ed Delatorre regarding NYPD Operations Order No. 52, which was issued by the Department on December 27, 2023. We requested the meeting in an attempt to clarify certain ambiguities in the order, and to express our concerns regarding other aspects of the order. By way of background, the Department issued Operations Order No. 52 essentially updating the Department’s policy regarding the use of steroids and other human growth hormones by members of the service. The Order reiterates what has been in place for years: namely, that the Department has a “zero tolerance” for the possession and/or ingestion of steroids, with certain key exceptions. One such exception is where a member has been prescribed an anabolic steroid or other substance which, but for prescription, would be a banned substance for which termination would be the presumptive penalty. It is these prescriptions of anabolic steroids on which the Ops Order particularly focuses.
The revised Order appears to require a notification to the member’s District Surgeon where a member has been prescribed one of these substances. In the meeting with the Department, the DEA expressed our concern that this would be a violation of our members’ confidentiality and privacy rights. The Department promised to reexamine the language in the order to instead “strongly encourage” members to notify their District Surgeon, but not require it. We are waiting to hear back on this particular objection which we raised. Be assured that maintaining the confidentiality of our members’ diagnoses and documents is an extremely important issue for the DEA and our members. The diagnoses that go along with these prescriptions are of a very sensitive nature and often can be extremely embarrassing to members. They must know that in complying with the Dept.’s new mandate they are not waiving their rights to confidentiality set forth under HIPAA and other state and local laws.
Also, under the order “members of the service are strongly urged not to use on-line, mail-order, out of state, or out of country doctors” to obtain these prescriptions. Unfortunately, we have seen several examples as of late where members have tested positive for the presence of anabolic steroids and who have produced prescriptions from doctors that they have never actually met in person and who are out-of-state. While this fact will not per se invalidate a prescription, needless to say, any such prescriptions will be closely scrutinized and will result in the member being placed on medical review while all applicable records are reviewed. These mail-order prescriptions seem to be the primary target of why the Department updated its policy.
The Ops Order then goes on to discuss the use of workout supplements, and provides important research tools for members to use to research any and all supplements, vitamins, shakes, etc. In short, if a supplement is not certified and approved on these lists that the Dept. provides, and a member fails a DOLE test for the presence of a steroid, members will be deemed to have failed the test despite their protests that they only take pre/post workout supplements. Members must be strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with these research tools if they plan on taking any such supplements. It could mean the difference between passing a test, or being terminated for improperly ingesting a steroid. Members should check to see if the supplement they are taking is “certified” on the following sites:
NSFsports.com (NSF Certified Sport)
BSCG.org (Banned Substance Control Group)
Wetestyoutrust.com (Informed Sport)
In the meantime, please continue to forward any questions you may have on the policy to our attorney Jim Moschella and his team.