Monday, July 07, 2008

When The Law doesn't Apply Logic

Sometimes we wonder about our law enforcement agencies. Either we wonder why they can't clean up the Meth labs, or on the other hand, we wonder why they actually don't obey the law themselves.I have written about Cop Abuse. I have also complimented good police work and of course, when they are thinking, rather than dragging their knuckles, they really come in handy.

We wonder what happened to the real pros like Dick White, long retired, who seasoned the law with common sense. We sometimes wonder what happened to the good old days when people that were screw-ups, still respected the guys that slapped the cuffs on. We wonder about the old pros that were lured out of retirement from LAPD, and had the experience to know right from wrong, and what was important to enforce. Now we have a gaggle of barely adult kids with way too much testosterone, and way too little maturity. Oh, and they get to carry a gun, too. One sometimes wonders what mental tests these guys pass.

Some of the problem is with the county. Kootenai County has consistently underfunded the Sheriff's Department. Some of that is because of the friction between the elected Sheriff and the separately elected County Commissioners. Bottom line, they don't like each other. Results? We the people suffer from under trained kids with a gun and a lot of huffed up authority.

This brings us to the point of this particular post. During the week-end, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department Goons, descended upon the Lakeland RV Park. Not to stop an in progress crime, but to arrest a man accused of child molestation, obviously, an egregious crime. I call them Goons, because the probable cause they had, was that the last name of the alleged perpetrator was Brown. I won't mention the first name, because I personally know two and possibly three Browns with the same first names. They also had information that led them to believe the suspect drove a red truck.

Now let's cut to the chase. Obviously, a guy named Brown and driving a red pickup narrowed the chase down to just a few thousand. Bingo, they had their Guy. I am finding as I write this report, it very difficult to refrain from using obscenities. Sometimes, normal adjectives just don't say enough. Well, I have a hard and true philosophy about that. I want my blog to inform, educate and entertain. I also want your kids to be able to log on to it.

Well, back to the story. Having found what they thought was their man, hey, name Brown, red pickup, what could go wrong. They sailed into the aforementioned RV park, where Mr Brown was a maintenance worker, doing his job. In front, allegedly, of his wife and child, he was arrested, thrown against a vehicle, and was about to be hauled off, when the owners of the RV Park stepped up and questioned their identification. Hopefully embarrassed, these Keystone Cops fled in disarray, wondering how many other Browns they would have to arrest to finally get the culprit. Why, Why, Why! Where is the leadership! Where is the training! I personally, am disgusted beyond belief.

There comes a point, where either we as a people put up with our liberties being trashed, our kids being subjected to hard drugs, or we step up, recognize we can't hire or keep officers with adequate experience without competitive pay. We aren't going to have both. I call on the Kootenai County Commissioners to reject the on the cheap program the county has followed for over twenty years, and grab the brass ring. Give us qualified officers that care about the people that they are sworn to protect. Give us officers that don't cheat on probable cause for traffic stops. Currently, an egregious failing. If the Cops do not respect the public, the public will never respect the Cops.

We will write more, as more information becomes available. One can only hope that the County department hierarchy is listening.

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