Debbie Does Current Events.

I try my best to avoid politics, but this whole Tulsa Police & Fire thing bugs me. I'm not going into the whole deal with the cops not stickin' together and then bein' mad and wantin' a second chance when the firemen did -- it's the "limited response" that bothers me most. The person who spoke about it on the news said that they were not responding to non-injury accidents or larceny calls; ie "Let's say you have a chainsaw in the back of your truck and somebody walks by and takes it..." Now, I'm not interested in snatching a chainsaw, but if I were, that line just kinda sounds like the police department is saying "Hey, Free Chainsaws!"

Drivers involved in non-injury car wrecks are supposed to "exchange insurance information and file a report on their own," so what about those assholes who don't have insurance? I'd say they're probably going to just leave; so what are the rest of us (who are paying for insurance and playing by the rules) supposed to do?

Here's my idea. Go out to your car right now and pop the trunk. Dig around in there 'til you find your lugwrench; it might be a stick with a bend in it with one pointy end and one lugnut-size socket on the other, or it might be an X-shaped one with three sockets and one pointy part -- whichever -- take it out of the trunk and stash it under the driver's seat. If you're involved in a wreck that appears to be non-injury, take pictures and then get out that lugwrench. Ask the other driver if they have insurance; if they say yes, put the lugwrench away, if they say no, let 'em know you're willing to use it. If they don't have insurance, it'd be wrong to let 'em leave, so if you can't disable their car with your lugwrench, injure someone so that the cops have to respond. If you really insist on taking the high road, you can injure yourself; but really, I'd recommend injuring the person who's not playing by the rules. If they drive without insurance, that's the chance they took.

--

Also, how'bout that "off duty Tulsa cop" who ended up in jail for waving his gun around in a bar... Did ya know he's on "paid suspension" right now? Tulsa can't afford to keep 'em on the job, dozens of officers are looking for work and wondering how they'll pay their bills, but that dip is getting paid while not working. Nice, huh? Let me have his gun, I'll make sure nobody walks off with someone else's chainsaw -- he's more suited to a job that involves a french fry basket than a gun anyway.

--

Tonight on the news, apparently some of the last few cops still on duty caught a man in the act of what could've ended up being a homicide. I'm glad to know that they stopped a crime in progress and most likely saved the life of a mom and her child; but then after they'd hauled this man to jail, supposedly he bonded out a little faster than expected. The impression that I got from the folks telling the story on TV is that they were puzzled as to where the "bad guy" came up with the nine thousand dollars to bond out so quickly.

I don't know if anyone else has pointed this out or not, but last night on the news, they told about a robbery of a grocery store where the "bad guy" made off with "about seventeen thousand dollars." Hmmmmmm... Think there might be a connection there?

--

More later... _\,,/