Driving home from work a few minutes ago (I-64 West) I found a huge but not uncommon traffic jam as I entered from Blankenbaker.
Flashback: Several days ago on the same route home, I saw a huge black wild turkey in the white snow on the side of I-64...
Flashforward:
I assumed there was a car wreck & as I neared the entrance to the Watterson Xway, I saw flashing blue lights in the emergency lane. As the traffic jam eased, I looked over to ensure it was not a co-worker in the accident.
Guess what? - No wreck.
But what I did find was:
* 2 city police cars, lights blazing
* 2 city police officers standing on the side of the xway, looking young & nervous
* one empty rifle case on the trunk of the first police car
* one rifle laying on the trunk
AND
* one round, happy, black turkey in the snow up the bluff, standing there innocently eating grass
So, traffic has died down and I imagine there is now one dead turkey somewhere.
Clarification: I am not veg/vegan, I am not a PETA-card-carrying individual, but wow.
Was a turkey (who are said to be highly intelligent birds) worth the traffic, the gun, the 2 police officers?
My thoughts instantly went to the mentally ill, hammer-carrying man that was shot (& killed) by four officers last week... The lady who'd called him in had (by herself) pushed him out her door & called for assistance in getting him out of her doorway. She even said something to the effect of "they knew he was mentally ill, there was no need to kill him."
I'll let you come to your own conclusions as to why I tie these situations together...
Needed to vent. Thanks for the ear!
Man, what I have found is while there are a great number of reasonable and decent cops out there, he criteria they use to select cops inevitably is favorable to letting in less intelligent, trigger happy, nut jobs than most professions. The irony is this job requires more intelligence and sanity than most others.
ReplyDeleteI applied to the police force and despite excelling in all the tests they gave me (at least the ones they released the scores on) and was college educated and now onto my third degree, was rejected. A lot of the guys who went through were good at taking orders.
I am probably just bitter, but as I see more and more cops do really dumb things (particularly straight out of the academy) I have to wonder what they are really screening for.
Update: there was a dead turkey on the side of the road yesterday on my drive into work... opposite direction! So he either made it across 4 lanes and a median or it's a different bird.
ReplyDeletemonica, could you drive mr. molnar and i to where you seen the bird. drop us off with a 12 pack of barleywine and see if we can procure that beast for the friends school auction?
ReplyDeleteIf Brian S. will agree to make the first bid, you've got yourself a deal.
ReplyDeletePS: Bonus points for resourcefulness
Reply to rdenny: I think they screen for the lower educated people so it's easier to put blame on the officer who make bad decisions when stupid shit goes down... like shooting a defensless mentally ill person. It's not complicated to say "this officer didn't have the proper training" or "this officer used bad judgement and into further investigation, he may not have been qualified for this position... he fell through the cracks.". i don't know. that's just my $0.02.
ReplyDeleterider
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Although I do agree with Mo's association of police and their willingness to use their index finger to influence a result. I do so live my life very much a Pro-Firearm individual, and when dealing with Firearms, hesitation is a very negative thing. I also know that Turkeys have better eyesight than humans and are very timid birds, try hunting them, so this said bird could also be deemed either VERY hungry, or mentally ill.
ReplyDeleteRdenny, it could also be said that maybe with your higher education, you in a milisecond could hesitate with a concious thought of the impact of your actions, therefore putting you at a higher risk as an officer and thus making you a lessor candidate than one who doesn't.
Not trying to incite anything, I am just sayin
Good/valid thoughts from all - thanks.
ReplyDeleteLike many (most?) people, I get caught in my own stuff... I appreciate the insight!
502- I agree that there is a certain level of "intelligence" (and I use that in quotes only because I could not find the best word right now, not in a negative way) to make a split second decision of when to pull the trigger or not. I think that is a separate issue though from education. But you certainly make a valid point.
ReplyDelete