I grew up in the 70s and 80s and I can still vividly remember the early drinking and driving commercial campaigns. I remember it vivdly because I rarely saw my father without an open can of beer in his hand. Naturally, as I watched those rather graphic commercials and as I was exposed more and more to Dad's drunken driving, I learned an important lesson without having to get hurt to learn it: Driving Drunk is Dangerous and Can Be Deadly.
Now, I'm not gonna moralize about it ... we all screw up now and then, make bad choices that we wish we hadn't made ... this is all precursor to a local news story.
The town where I'm living now, South Bend, Indiana, has had THREE police officers who have been charged or investigated for drunk driving in the last two months. (All of them were off-duty at the times of their separate incidents, though ... that does make a difference, at least to me. It's one thing to make a bad choice on your off-time ... quite another to make it on-duty.)
On Monday night, 911 tapes recorded a caller who said that there was a police car around the corner from my house, pulled over on the side of a major intersection. Okay, sometimes cop cars pull over, no big deal, right? Well the caller wasn't even sure that the guy with the car was actually a cop because not only was he not in uniform, but he was taking a leak in the middle of the road! Of course, this caller was particularly upset because he had kids in the car (who, naturally, saw the whole thing).
Look, cops have a really incredibly stressful job. They've got an incredibly high suicide rate because not enough departments do enough to help the officers cope with the horrible stuff they witness every day on the job. A lot of cops feel a stigma about going to counseling because, well, dammit, they're the ones who help people ... they don't need help. (Not all cops and not all departments feel that way ... but it is a generally pervasive attitude.)
On the other hand, dammit, cops SEE all the time just what drunk driving does to people. They know, intimately, what happens to innocent families affected by drunk drivers. Even if there's no collision, they've seen the panic that shoots through the community as an impaired driver wanders through an area. They've heard the stupid excuses.
This last officer had a blood alcohol twice the legal limit.
The father of my ex was a cop in Dallas. I desperately wanted to be a cop when I was growing up. I have several friends who are or have been cops. I respect and admire the hell out of them. But there are times when I want to shake some of them. I don't think cops ought to be held to a higher standard than the rest of us ... they're human like you and me. But, I do think there are some things ... I don't know ... I just don't know. I started to say there are some things that are unforgiveable ... but I'm not saying these officers should be kicked off the force, by any means! This could have been a one-time deal ... or they could have a real problem with alcohol, in which case, they weren't fully thinking. That's the problem with any kind of zero-tolerance policy ... it catches honest mistakes or screw-ups as well as those who pre-meditated bad behaviour.
But dammit, I just keep coming back to, they oughta know better!
The department here in South Bend is making a big deal over trying to make sure all of their 300 officers know how to get help for drinking issues. That's a good thing ... but I wonder if they're just passing out some pamphlets or if they're really trying to work on the culture of the department to make it not just available, but encouraged for the officers to really talk about what's going on.
I mean, how else is the next drunken yahoo going to take their officer seriously when they get pulled over. Can't you see some smart-ass drunk insisting that the officer take the breath-alyzer first and figure out who's drunker?
Posted by Red Monkey at February 23, 2006 5:40 AM |
Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity
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I love this post! Seeing that when I get back to the states I'm going to be a prison guard part time while I go to school. Knowing me since I like the military I will enjoy being an officer and eventually I will be on the streets preventing the dope deals, drunken ness, and hostility. Hostility in a big way cause where I plan on being a cop the town is little NYC since that's where the influx of people are moving from.
Though I will admit I have a few friends that are cops and they have gotten drunk and driven home. Yes they should know better but, that is no excuse. Officers these days are preaching if you are drinking to give up your keys. I guess what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander.
February 23, 2006 10:38 AMJetting Through Life said:
Ender... good post. Well written. I agree with you 100%... I will show it to the hubby later!!
February 23, 2006 12:26 PM
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Mr. Matt said: