<insert kissing arse-cheeck gremlin here>

OK, time to rant again. Front headline of section B in the Tacoma Tribune today. Detective"s house hit in driveby. Article states it was a probably a stray aimed at a gang house nearby. Investigation underway. $1000 reward by crimestoppers. Wow, this is in the same neighborhood, about 1 mile from me. Wonder why they wouldn't even show up when the shooting was at my house. I even found a shell in my driveway. You should have seen the look of disgust from the officer I made come and pick it up. He looked at me like an idiot when I told him it was from the driveby last night, "what drive by?" Oh, well, have a good day, " as he drove off as quickly as he could.

Here goes for the wanna beeeeees

Krijack your case sounds outrageous... and I work in the same ER as Vince and agree with most everything he's said about OPD and particularly this shooting yesterday...
BUT I would not paint all LE with that same brush as you seem to. Given your experiences I certainly understand your contempt, but remember its only based on your experiences. How much do you really know about the other side. Do you have any personal friends/ family in law enforcement. Have any idea what the divorce rate is? It's not because they lead happy lives, in posh neighborhoods, cashing in huge paychecks and taking early retirement to enjoy their rockin benefits. Your talking about people just like us, doing a job that makes them a target for complaints, bitching and yes bullets all while under a microscope. They are forced to see and expect the worse from all humanity. My father is a retired cop. We can be walking in Disneyland, and do you know what he sees? He sees a crowd and is trying to figure out who could be trying to pick our pockets, or kidnap his grandkids to then rape and kill them. And do you know why he's not just being paranoid, because he has seen it happen to families no different to us. They make deciscions good and bad, with limited information that are constantly dissected by monday morning quarterbacks. And rarely do they get acknowledgement for just "doing their job." Yeah there are some "bad" cops and others that are a little too enamored with their authority. But unlike you, I do not think they are the majority.
I believe on the whole law enforcement performs a extremely stressful and thankless job, and that they do it for the most part with integrity, courage and honor... and also for the most part without acknowledgement. I agree with everything that Vince has observed with OPD though and can't explain any of their agregious behavior or attitudes toward protecting our hospital staff. I applaud the effort he's gone through and continues to struggle with to understand and work with them to change the problem/ behavior. But I will never let an injured officer sit "forever" until they complain just to make a point... and I will still, as Vince says, 'rip out my own kidney' to help an officer.

Dumb luck,
Yes I do have friends that are LE.
For some reason I seem to get myself into situations that are unusual. I have seen a shooting, been next to my brother when an officer threatened his life, got a life saving award for heroism, watched an officer get his but tossed around (the perpetrator ran when we stopped), had officers run past us to get away from a mob, been mugged then yelled at by the cops for having actually called it in, had the cops beating at my door about to break it in because they had the wrong address, been arrested wrongly, been tossed in the back of a cop car more than once for no reason, and believe it or not that is just a start.

That said, Do you let the officers get helped ahead of others. If I come in with a gash and they come in a half hour later, who are you going to stitch up first. My guess is that the LE get helped first. If that is the case, that is what I mean by waiting, is simply not bowing down to them and putting them at the top of the list. In other words, tell them to sit and wait with the rest of us. Would you rip out your own kidney to help me? If not, then why not. You have no idea what my life is worth or how much I have done for humanity any more than you know if that officer is a child molestor or wife killer (Past Sheriff and ranking Tacoma officer for the first and Tacoma Chief for the second).

I'd rip out a testicle for you Krijack. It just might not be my testicle though.

I'll tell you my big regret is that I didn't focus my anger and attention on the OPD leadership. We do have some good officers that we work with on a regular basis from that department.

Here's a quote that I do believe comes right near the top of OPD Brass, Lt Kostas. It was NOT signed by Kostas, but was posted "ANONYMOUSLY" AKA a chickencrap post.

Some of the phrases are exactly as he spoke them to me 2 summers ago at our hour long meeting. This is from the blog on the Olympian online...

I submitted it for your veiwing pleasure in its entirety. Nothing out of context.

" Okay, NOBODY said these were "shortcomings of the ER"... and I think Providence should look at their inadequate security measures(your definitions here, not mine) but why is it OPD that gets the heat when your own facility doesn't meet your percieved safety standards? Why are you and your co-workers not "venting" your frustrations to your administrator... call him, email him, hell... call The Olympian... but what makes this an OPD problem? It certainly seems like a MAJOR safety issue for the staff... nobody could argue that... but why does an already taxed and short staffed police department have to clean up the messes for an agency the size of Providence? St. Peters is the only level 1 trama center in this area... the staff are all well trained and professional (at least has been my experience thus far)... but why should the tax payers have to foot the bill when they make PLENTY of profit each year to a)train and b)hire out security. It's not a law enforcement problem... it's a Providence problem, and if I were you, and it is as bad as you say and you are in danger as frequently as you claim, I would be making myself available to industry in one of the many fine cities in the area! Leave the cops alone... they aren't security officers, mental health counselors, or baby sitters... they are police officers and MY tax dollars pay them to do the job they are doing out on the streets and in the community... not running to SPH everytime there is a problem in the ER!"



... not running to SPH everytime there is a problem in the ER!"
Would those problems include taking gunshot victims and worrying about if the shooter is going to show up? Silly me.

If it matters to anyone...dispatch told me last night when I went in there that it only took 13 minutes to get a detective there. Yes, he was armed.

I don't why I get ever get sucked into these threads...There is inevitably the one or two persons who have that unfortunate run of bad luck when it comes to experiences with the cops. I am sure they were unfairly targeted and their own actions had absolutely no bearing on what happened. I have to say that the majority of criminals I have dealt with (and believe me, there has been every kind you can imagine in 23 years) took some responsiblity for their actions. I'll tell you something else, if I drive up and someone starts with being an A$$ to me, I might just drive off too if he/she doesn't kennel up. Tell you a story about that, once upon a time a deputy went to a call for a noise disturbance. When he got there, the guy who called it in became an ass and refused to come to the door. He in fact yelled at the deputy to "f-off, you got a warrant?". Well, the deputy wasn't willing to spend anymore time on an a$$ like that and went back to his car. As he was sitting getting ready to drive off, Mr. Sunshine decides he now needs the police and approaches the partol car and yells that he wants to talk to him. The deputy rolls the window down ever so slightly and replies "you got a warrant?" and drives away.

There is a kind of honor and mutual respect even, if you will, between hard core cons and the cops. I mean they know they are bad and what they are, but they know we have a job in catching them. It's rarely personal. It's only the punks on both sides that are the exceptions (cops and crooks both) . The less able one is to take any repsonsibility for anything they do, because, "BY GOD, the laws are BS" , the more likely they will be unhappy when that authority figure holds them accountable.

You don't like society's laws?

The solution is abide by them (the big ones that is) or accept that you WILL be held accountable at some point. Here's an example-

As you can imagine, some men are real control freaks with their significant others. This often evolves into control of who she talks to, where she can go, her household tasks, and very often every aspect of her life. It is very close to human bondage (the bad kind).

Now you get a guy like me that finally gets called because the lid finally blows and she or someone calls us. The first thing that happens is the guy usually tries to get us to agree she is really just emotional and out of control and he was just trying to "calm things down" when he hit her. When that doesn't work, it often gets ugly when he realizes that he can't control it now and that we have stepped in and his freedom and ability to manipulate is taken away.

This is just one of the services we provide!! lol.... And guess what? I'll bet when he tells the story later, he'll naturally spin it to where he is the victim and the stupid cops just took her side. You know what? I 'll bet I can tell you my side on any given situation and my spin will always make it sound like I am a victim.

And something else you should know, even after 23 years of the worst of people and people at their worst, I still like folks in general.

I dont whine because people in general lie to us, disrespect us, and are extremely self centered. I knew that coming into the job. The good stuff is the people you work with, the humor in all the wierd stuff you see and deal with, and getting to help the folks who are truly victims. I hope that this helps.....

Still seems odd to me that our charge nurse, nor the house supervisor seemed to know that there was any law enforcement present. I'm not saying your a liar John, because I know better, I am saying there was an intense breakdown of communication. I can accept that the situation was chaotic. If this had happened in any other city I had worked in previously, nobody would have gotten too upset. But taken in the context of the lack of support we had received previously from OPD, we were already edgy. The irony of Costas complaints about how city taxes shouldn't be used to provide PSPH security is that OPD informally has used our ED as a back up jail facility.
I am defensive, about the whole situation. We've had an unbelievable amount of assaults against the ER nurses that go unnoticed, it's freakin shocking. I work with 80% middle aged or older women, who are expected to deal with alot of the same population of drunks, and violent offenders that city PD deals with, except without the body armor, the gun, or the knowledge that they are supported by anybody except their immediate coworkers.
I'm not speaking up because I am in mortal fear for my own safety, that's cowardice. I am speaking up because I genuinely feel one of my coworkers is going to be killed if there isn't better cooperation with the city PD.

Let me repeat this, this is important enough to me, that I have put my employment at jeopardy, I have used my own name and identity in my posts, because I feel that one of my coworkers will be killed if there is not better cooperation. I have risked alienating my friends in law enforcement, because I genuinely feel that my coworkers are at risk of getting murdered. I don't think that this particular incident had the capacity to lead to that kind of tragedy, but the lack of communication and response will eventually lead to something terrible happening.

I invite any LE officers to talk with the staff nurses in the ER about the concerns I've mentioned.

This is not about the reputation of the City of Olympia, not about the reputation of OPD, nor of TCSO, the primary concern should not be about anybody's reputation, it should be about safety. If people want to think I'm an ahole for being protective of the women I work with, then color my sphincter brown. But that whole primary concern of mine, my coworkers safety, has gotten lost in the argument. And no health system can deal with violent offenders safely without a working partnership with local LE.

Vince

Vince,
I don't mean to minimize your concerns, for they are completely legitimate. I was responding to the inevitiable cop bashing by others that get on these threads to express their opinions.

I just wanted you to know that I did check and was told that by a dispatcher. I always encourage good relations with you guys, last thing I need is bad blood when I come in with a sucking chest wound...lol

Besides, we'll probably be fishing together again when I get my boat back in the water soon.

Goinfishin,

Gotcha, I wasn't sure who you were replying to. Jess and I both would love to fish with you again. I'd also like to talk about our charge nurses having some written protocol/policy or some written guidance on what to expect, and what we are responsible for, and who should be our contact person when we are part of an incident like this. If TCSO and Lacey PD can make arrangements with PSPH, then having other agencies step in line will be easier. It'll also be easier to go to the PSPH admin and ask for our own policy changes with the cooperation (pressure) of regional agencies.

Maybe something to think about for later this summer as we fish and wonder why the coho don't bite.

And apologies again to good officers like Nutter who do a great job with OPD. I shouldn't have swept everyone with the same dirty broom.

Vhawk

A lack of empathy. Thats what I see in the letter you got Vince. If the writers wife or mother was working with you, the response would probably be different. Classic defense mechanism, in my opinion, when you feel fustrated and can't do what you want to. Same reason people change the channel when we see starving kids in Africa.
Gone Fishin demonstrates this lack of empathy when he uses his sarcasm to incinuate that I deserve some of what happened to me. Kind of like the officers in the court house that sit behind the bullet proof plexy glass with their guns and watch us walk around, unarmed.
I truely do care about your situation Vince. You want to help, then kind of get blamed for doing it. I also understand the officers feelings about not being able to be everywhere. They show up for you and then I get pissed at them for not showing up. In the end you probably will have to get the hospital to beef security. Is it right, no... Until people are willing to pay more in taxes they will just have to pay a whole lot more for hospital care. In the end, I think you want what I want Vince, a little respect and empathy, and most of all to feel safe.

Krijack,


I'd need therapy if I had all that crap happen to me, that you went thru. Sorry about that. And I appreciate your support.

Now, as far as special treatment, I've fished with Goingfishin and you've pegged him wrong. I saw him bring his kid into the ER once. When I called over to him to tell him I had a room for his kid he said to me, "I hope your not cutting us ahead of these other sick people". We'll truth is, I asked a Doc that was not taking anymore patients 'cause his shift was almost over to take one more. It didn't displace anybody, and it took me 5 minutes to get IV's going and fluids in, which was the majority of treatment. I also know that if I needed help, regardless of how he is treated in the ER, he'd do whatever he could. It's impossible to provide care for the patients we deal with, without the cooperation of law enforcement.

And for the most part Thurston Co Sheriffs Dept will go farther out of their way for the general public then would ever be expected. They'll stick around to watch violent patients that they bring in for eval's. Not every LE dept does. And they get involved in some pretty dramatic rescues as well, alot of which don't make the news.
Lacey has some great officers as well, unfortunatly although I can picture their faces, I can't remember their names.

Considering that I'll rip into any LE department if I think they are screwing up big time, I'd hope that when I say a group of guys is doing a good job that it would mean something.

VHawk