griping again

Last night's DUI hunt went well - the six of us locked up 9 drunk drivers in 6 hours, and fortunately none of them were involved in accidents or hurt other people. Made for a busy night at the jail getting your paperwork done, but well worth it.

Of course one of them had to punch one of my buttons... I am so gorram tired of people who get arrested for their own bad judgment, then start on the "You ruined my life." rant, then start trying to file complaints about excessive force, police rudeness and everything else in hopes of making their problem go away.

Folks - we don't put the drink in your hand. We don't start the car for you and tell you to drive home. We didn't make any of the choices which led to your life on this night & you getting stopped for driving under the influence.

And when we do encounter you, quit taking every freaking thing as a personal attack and judgment of you and your life. I'm doing my job - nothing more. Whether you are a preacher, a teacher, a businessman or a thug during your normal day has nothing to do with it - at this point in time you are driving drunk & that is my concern. Should you be over the limit, you're going to wear handcuffs, no matter who you are - that's the rules folks. No, they aren't comfortable - they aren't meant to be. You're going to go to jail & have to deal with the sounds, smells and sights of all these other people; and while I will treat you courteously and respectfully make no mistakes - you are under arrest, and will be treated as such. Bitching and whining about tight handcuffs, or that you weren't a risk to anyone and I should be after "real criminals," or the even better "You can't do this!" are going to do nothing but annoy me and get added to the file of statements for the judge to hear at trial.

But, apparently it's just part of modern society that no one is to blame for their own actions in life...

A wonderful bit of generosity

Artist Kaziah Hancock founded Project Compassion to provide free portrait paintings of military, fire, and law enforcement who have passed in the line of duty in the past decade. This is all done for the family at no charge and they are supported by donations.

If you have a few free dollars I can think of much worse things you could do than to help support such generosity.

Knowing your audience

While helping out with the public function today I noticed we were handing out a wonderful little coloring book to kids titled "When to call 911."

I made the observation to my coworkers that perhaps we'd cut our workload more if we did a version for adults, and included a copy in every six-pack of beer sold...

An utter disgrace

For whatever reasons the decision not to prosecute the mastermind of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole is utterly shameful and unforgivable. Let us hope that enough public pressure can remedy this situation.

Bits & Pieces

- I love the winners who, upon seeing a cop car, do the "please don't see me" game. Staring straight ahead, slowing down to avoid passing you at any cost, hands glued to the 2 & 10 on the wheel, you can almost see the "Please oh please oh please" prayers going on. Because this desperate attempt to avoid attention is almost 100% certain to get me to go ahead and run your info and find out how many tickets you are about to get written...

- Get to spend my afternoon tomorrow at a dog & pony show for a local event. Then it's off to a DUI special for some overtime money. Hopefully I have better luck than last time.

- Been way too long since I blew anything up - need to remedy that soon.

- If you haven't been reading Momma Fargo you're missing a great blog - she can make me laugh and shake my head at her tales pretty much every day. Drop on by, I bet you'll like it.

Excuses

Sorry not much in the work posting category lately. Most of my time has been spent dealing with frustrations caused by staff members and other internal issues, so it's kind of had me annoyed.

Hopefully all will return to normal madness soon.

IRS using politics to determine tax status?

If this anti-Israel bias is true it is yet a new low for our current government.

More linkage

Matt has an excellent story up about the importance of even the simplest cases. This judge has the right idea.

Posted without comment

iTunes annoyances

- After all this time you would think that Apple could build a simple interface to let you look up songs by the title & match the info to your mp3 file without having to manually type it all in. Windows Media Player and RealPlayer have been able to do it for ten years now, get on the ball.

- Is anyone out there really reading a 64 page license agreement with an upgrade? If you want to impress your customers Steve put a simple summary at the front of the document highlighting the changes & let the lawyers enjoy the rest.

Wasting time

Spent far too many hours last night stuck late on an "assist" with a Federal agency running about town & witnessing a total lack of coordination or clue on their part. The sole highlight of the evening was delivering an ass-chewing of truly Biblical proportions upon the idiot who wanted to wear an Army uniform (improperly and with obviously unearned insignia) and pose as a soldier in order to get a bus ride discount. So at least I accomplished one thing.

More fun

Nothing like finding out you and your department are being sued in Federal court to liven up your day. It wasn't unexpected, and the odds of it going anywhere are slim, but still rather frustrating...

Twisted humor (NSFW)

Called in dead to work today, so I can try to kick this cold & get some rest. My poor wife, already suffering with a husband who's not the most helpful right now, has been busy rolling her eyes at my choice in shirts today:




I told her it's not like I'm wearing it in public or anything, and she just laughed.

ick

Fighting the mother of all head-colds here, as well as extra heat and a work schedule in the sun too much.

Off for more rest, just wanted the world to know I'm (barely) alive.

Long day

In the good news, the rest of the family is home from their week at the beach. Kyleigh is definitely letting us know she missed her daddy, and Jacob is getting his time in as well.

Spent a long night last night in a fruitless DUI hunt - I wasn't the only one, as none of us had any real luck. Just one of those nights where no one was out to catch at the right time. Still, rather put in the effort than not as it were.

Then today, just after getting the biscuit down for her nap, the phone rang for a call-out in one of our shopping areas. Nothing to it fortunately - except for way too much media out there! (I have a long-standing aversion to pictures is all...)

All together a nice collection of overtime will be coming in for the day.

K9 Rule #1

People will automatically assume you are a training expert on any dog issue, no matter what, as soon as they know you are a canine officer.

Priorities

The west end of our city has a reputation locally as being the "monied" side of things - not as true as it used to be, but that is definitely where some of the blue bloods, privileged types, and overly impressed with themselves live.

I was reminded of that fact working on a call today. Bit of juvenile vandalism, unfortunately involving explosives - just another in an exciting summer trend.

As we are talking with one area resident, asking if she heard or saw anything, and she's discussing all the reactions amongst the neighborhood her first comment is "Oh, I was just sick - I don't want the news media out here interviewing people on this, or folks talking about our street."

Not "I hope no one got hurt," or even "Gee, I hope there wasn't a lot of damage." No, her very first fear was that someone might associate her neighborhood with those "common people" whose children do such things.

Sometimes it's all I can do to keep my mouth shut...