Not About Training

September 1, 2017

Wary

This won’t be about the Donald, more about Donald symptoms.

Back in July there was a car wreck in Salt Lake City; a badly hurt driver was taken to the hospital, unconscious. Once the patient arrived in the ER receiving area, a cop approached the attending nurse and asked her to take a blood sample; the nurse, following procedure, asked if the patient was under arrest. He wasn’t, so she asked for a warrant. (By law, she needs consent or a warrant if there’s no arrest. The patient was unconscious, so couldn’t grant permission. Hence, need warrant.)

The cop insisted. So, she called her supervisor – who also told the cop no. So, the cop physically assaulted and arrested the nurse. He claimed to have “implied consent” (there’s no such thing) and said she was obstructing. He roughly seized her, spun her around, cuffed her and took her to the cop shop. The whole thing’s recorded and on the web.

The nurse, of course, was later released without charges. She did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, she tried to adhere to the law, while the cop wanted to ignore the law because it was inconvenient. (Sound like anyone we know?)

In keeping with Trump’s America, the cop’s still working, though his blood sample duties have been suspended, pending investigation. Apparently, he was trained for special blood gathering duties, but must have missed the part about not assaulting nurses.

So much for training…

A couple days ago we heard a cop assure a frightened woman, who he had pulled over on a traffic violation, not to worry because, “We only shoot black people.” Later, his police department took him off duty and promised to consider better training.

Going back a month or so, we were treated to the story of a cop shooting and killing the woman who called him to report a possible sexual assault. Once again, his police department took him off duty and promised to consider better training.

Yeah, I know. If I look up and take notice, I find that black people get gunned down by police all the time – it’s SOP. And every time it gets noticed some police chief, mayor, or candidate talks “training”.

But the tough guy who pushed around the nurse was trained and certified to collect blood. The trigger-happy patrolman who shot the unarmed woman who called him for help was the result of training. The officer who offered “we only shoot blacks” as assurance, probably requires more than sensitivity training.

Perhaps, before we pay to train anyone to police us it would be prudent to test for psychological suitability – some people should not be allowed to wield power over others. (Just look at the Donald.)

Additionally, perhaps intelligence testing would be good. Let’s face it, some people aren’t smart enough to wield power. (Once again, the Donald is an excellent example.)

Moving forward, we’re going to need a smart well intended police force – not soldiers (and certainly not the Donald).

Over these last two-hundred-ninety-seven post-election days it seems like some war on the population has escalated. Perhaps at one time they only targeted black people, but lately, under Trump, white women have been added to the list. The republic wonders: who next?

First they came for the Socialists,
osv