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Drunk cop

post #1 of 9
4/25/03 at 3:44pm
Thread Starter 
On the day after Christmas, a Tucson police lieutenant drove to work, drunk and passed out, at her desk. She blew .21, almost 3 times the legal limit.

Rather than being fired, she was demoted and is getting a pay cut. The chief says that she won't be prosecuted, for DUI because there "are no eyewitnesses". SHE CONFESSED, and at least a dozen cops saw her staggering around the station, slurring her speech and reeking of alcohol.

After getting drunk and acting stupid, at an out-of-town police conference, she was counseled about her alcohol use and told to seek treatment. Obviously, she didn't heed the warning.

To top it all off, she is appealing the demotion, under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Since when, is showing up at work drunk, a disability? She should be fired. How can a police officer enforce the law, when she so blatantly broke it?

I have a hunch that, if she had been a white male police officer, she would have been summarily fired. The city is just scared to death that, if they fire a black female, they'll have Johnny Cochran and Jesse Jackson down here, stirring up their usual racist bull****. Considering the overwhelming evidence, she'd lose a court case.

Should cops be held to a higher standard of behavior?
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post #2 of 9
4/25/03 at 4:56pm
Betcha 10-1 she's going to use the "alcoholism is a disease" claim for the ADA.

Cops should be held to a higher standard, and they should realize that when they sign up.
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post #3 of 9
4/25/03 at 5:28pm
Fire Her! Alcholics won't seek treatment until hitting rock bottom, sometimes not even then.
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post #4 of 9
4/25/03 at 6:08pm
Thread Starter 
Personally, I don't consider alcoholism to be a disability. It is something that you do to yourself.

The ADA is being used for all kinds of ridiculous claims. There was a hugely fat woman, in California (where else) who kept breaking office chairs. She sued and tried to make the company buy special chairs to accomodate her. Good grief! Most chairs are already rated for 300 lbs.!
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post #5 of 9
4/25/03 at 6:12pm
What if this officer had been called to respond to an emergency situation? She would have been incapable of acting in a manner befitting an officer. I believe that in any job, if an employee is drunk/ under the influence while on the job, they should be subject to immediate dismissal.
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post #6 of 9
4/25/03 at 7:24pm
A higher standard?!?! What about simply holding this cop to the same standards that any of us would be held to?????
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post #7 of 9
4/25/03 at 8:03pm
I grew up with an alcoholic father, and I don't believe that his drinking was entirely self-inflicted or due to laziness. However, I do believe that the officer SHOULD have been fired. Police officers should expect to live up to a higher standard than the average Joe. After all, they are the people who tell us when we are acting outside of the law. Plus, if my Dad had ever shown up to work stumbling and passed out at his desk, he would have been let go that moment.

For whatever reason my Dad was an alcoholic, he never thought of it as a disability, but something he could fix with treatment and AA. To call it a disability minimizes the blood, sweat and tears of many men and women who have fought alcoholism and won.
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post #8 of 9
4/25/03 at 8:19pm
as I am deaf and am aware and learning the ADA, I feel that she is abusing the ADA - it isnt fair on people who wish to enforce the ADA for REAL cases. This is ridiculous. There are people with real disabilities that they cannot help. Like Christy said, alcoholism can be treated. But things like deafness, blindness etc cannot.
A bloody abuse of the system.

I hope she loses.
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post #9 of 9
4/26/03 at 6:11am
I think she should have been fired. IMO, alcoholism is a (genetic)disease, but it is not a disability, and I'll be very surprised if she gets anywhere with her appeal.
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