FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – For the Broward Sheriff’s Office, it was the height of the crack cocaine epidemic.

One tactic the department used made headlines: making its own crack and having detention officers pose as street drug dealers.

The drugs were manufactured on the seventh floor of the courthouse.

The state Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that the practice was outrageous and that those arrested should have their records expunged.

Now, more than 30 years later, Broward County Attorney Harold Pryor announced that thousands more could be on the hook and the state was committed to fixing the problem.

Raymond Hicks says he was one of those detention officers who became undercover dealers.

“It didn’t suit me,” Hicks said. “If you work in law enforcement, you ask yourself, ‘How can a department make its own drugs and give them to us to sell on the street?'”

Attorney Ed Hoeg represented many of those arrested.

“Funnily enough, it didn’t affect the cracking problem,” Hoeg said. “For 30 years these people have been convicted felons, and every time they apply for a job, every time they try to vote, they can’t vote.”

It’s not clear how long it will take to clear the arrest records, but current Sheriff Gregory Tony is on board.

He told Local 10, among other things:

“I consider my predecessor’s actions to be a miscarriage of justice. Police officers must never be so desperate to arrest criminals that we compromise our own integrity.”