Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Arrr! What if they'd waited?

Suppose the Campus Police had waited until today to Taze Andrew Meyer. Would he have screamed like a girl in Pirate Talk? Maybe "Avast with the Tazer!"

Seriously, though, he seems to have done everything but beg to have a large can o' whoopass opened up on him. I'm not sure but I believe that before he was tazed he got that one arm that was cuffed free and was flailing around with that cuff slicing through the air like a small mace. Ever seen a bluesuit that got a loose cuff 'cross the face? Lost teeth, fractured cheekbones, jaws and skulls happen, and on a regular basis. The least that happens is multiple stitches.

Now Meyer had his chances. The Police were just trying to escort him out. He then fought. So they tried arresting him. He fought some more. Now perhaps in 1971 they wouldn't have had to use a lot of physical force. Of course back in 1971 the LEOs would have been men. Men who met a minimum height requirement. There is a certain calming effect when one looks straight out and there is a badge at eye level.

There was one a day when average sized men who pinned on a badge knew full well they'd have to fight a lot more than those beefy old Irishmen. Today we've lost the size restrictions so that women and small statured men get to work the streets. Now this wouldn't be so bad, there are a lot of situations where a women can calm things down, or someone who speaks, say Vietnamese, can keep a fight from starting.

Unfortunately, we've gone way too far. Everyone isn't going to be reasonable. In the pictures and short videos I saw there wasn't a big Irishman or a very large black guy. From my screen it looked like an out take from "When Midgets Attack". I have no quarrle with hiring women for law enforcement. But can't we team them up with someone who has the size to stop trouble?

Now come the civil libertarians, none of which have ever been on the losing side of a fight to get someone into the back of the Patrol Car. Sorry, he asked for it. He got it. Now, maybe ninety days on a road gang in high summer, he might think about what he's doing.

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