“May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.”


"This report is maybe 12-years-old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, 10, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people . . . better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." ~ Captain Malcom Reynolds

Sunday, March 30, 2008

delimmas

One of the great things about my job is that I have a lot of discretion in what I do - within the law I get a great deal of leeway in how to deal with most situations and how to resolve them. It can be a great tool at times as well - deciding whether or not to arrest someone or cut them a break, stopping a particular violation in hopes of finding something more & all that. I truly think one of the things that separates the good cops from the adequate is just knowing how to use their discretion appropriately.

Unfortunately, a few situations we really don't have much (without blatantly ignoring things that is - not saying it never happens, just that I try to avoid being in that position). Domestic assaults - we have no choice, someone goes to jail. Shoplifters, same deal (a pet peeve of our judges for some reason).

This week I got caught in another one - didn't regret it, just kind of felt bad for the guy.

Stopped him in the classic "it's my girlfriend's car, I'm just running to get gas." BUT, the guy was 100% honest from the start, told me he didn't have a license and was suspended because of some DUI's. Was very straightforward about everything. Didn't run on me. Didn't lie. Didn't play games - I was ready to cut him what breaks I would, write his ticket & let him call for a ride for being honest.

Unfortunately, the position he was in - he'd been caught driving on his revoked license enough times that it was now a felony offense. And the way our rules read, I don't have the option of just writing him a ticket on a felony - I have to take him before the magistrate for it and get a warrant. Not only that, I had to impound the car for thirty days at his expense - runs about $1300 or so.

Of course, I'm under no illusions it was this guy's first time driving when he wasn't supposed to - this time he just got caught. But I did feel kind of bad that he was honest and straightforward and still took the ride to jail...

Maybe now he'll get the point.

2 comments:

Dori said...

Weren't we just the Chatty Kathy last night! So, what would the therapist have to say about this being our mode of communication?! :)

Captain Tightpants said...

So not true! Just because the majority of our other conversations are interrupted with diapers, chasing loose munchkins and requests to not throw/hit/climb/eat/whatever the object in question doesn't mean we aren't communicating!