A Career GONE at Age 23

In the news today is a report that a part-time Class II police officer in a small town has been suspended without pay following a charge that last month he shot his own police car with a personal handgun and then radioed in that the car had been fired upon.

Naturally, the response to the radio call was significant, but once investigators completed their work they concluded that the officer fired a single shot through the windshield from the outside.

Having been with this particular police department for approximately a year, this individual will be able to look back at that year as being his entire police career.

It is of course possible that the conclusions of the investigators are incorrect, or that there was some compelling reason for the young officer’s actions, either of which could change the outcome of this story.  But we rather doubt it.

A League of Their Own

This week, November 18-19-20, we’ll be exhibiting at the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ annual conference in Atlantic City.  It’s the 99th annual event, and while we have not been there from the beginning we have been there for decades.

If you are a municipal, county, or state employee attending the conference, stop by our booth in space 240 and say hello to Bob, Sue, Lou and Tom.  Check out our latest products, pick up our new brochure, and grab a free lanyard.

To learn more about the conference, visit the League’s web site at http://www.njslom.org/

Think Quick!

Pop Quiz: What kind of gun is this?

It’s not a gun at all, it’s a cordless drill.  But this past summer when a California woman behaving erratically and brandishing this item failed to follow police orders to drop it, the result was that she was shot fatally by one of the responding officers – who thought that it was a gun.

Of course, internet message boards were soon awash in mindless criticism of the police.  But any honest person will admit that, seeing a disturbed person waving this item around, they too would guess that it might be a gun -- particularly if they had only a few seconds with which to make the determination.

This shooting, like all fatal shootings involving otherwise innocent civilians, was tragic.  But the extent to which it was an unavoidable shooting is found in the appearance of this drill.  Most cordless drills are brightly-colored and stylish.  Why this one is matte black and so thoroughly gun-shaped is known only to the manufacturer.