Thursday, October 11, 2007

Not Enough Cop Cars….

This was posted in a parents group I belong to....it pretty much sums up the way we are talked to by school administrators.

Imagine this:

You are in your business - a retail store - and suddenly 2 gunmen come in while you are in the back room and shoot your employee at the register, then empty out the register as well as the case of magnificent jewelry nearby.

Luckily your employee will live and his injury is superficial.  However, your case of jewelry is gone as well as a small fortune in the register from the last two days.

The law says that it is illegal to steal and shoot people so you wait for police to arrive and make things right again- find the thieves, get back the money and the jewelry, and put the thieves in jail for the robbery as well as the shooting.  Instead, they come and tell you that they don’t have a car to look for the thieves, they don’t have enough cops to look for the thieves, they don’t have guns of their own to protect themselves against the thieves, or the training to hunt them down, and all of the jails are full anyway so there is a waiting list to get these guys in once they are found.  You will have to do it yourself and fight to show the police that spending the money they do have to help you is a worthwhile gesture .

So on your own you have to read up and research on how to find thieves, how to shoot a gun and then where to buy one, how to find the jewelry which was probably fenced, how to bring in the guys once you find them, and how to restrain them until a space becomes available in a jail.

But you’re not finished!  Then you have to stay up all hours of the night for the next two months researching how to prosecute these guys, what the specific applicable laws are that you will use to prosecute them, where the friendliest, most sympathetic judges are located and what/how to say to them to get them on your side.  You need to find the best jurors who are sympathetic to your side and not the thieves’, and you need to reserve the courtroom.

Last, it is your job to demonstrate for the jury that not only do these laws exist, but that they were broken, and how they were broken, and what the correct remedy will be, and hopefully, the jury and/or judge will side with you if you have presented your case correctly and cleverly, and you have used exactly the language which appeals to them most...and the thieves aren’t more clever than you or having all of their buddies come in and give up all of their own money (probably stolen from another store) to help them fight better and longer than you can. because you don’t have any money left- they took your money and your product, so you are actually in debt now!  And if you ever want your property back and the gunmen punished for shooting your employee, you will need to figure out a way to convince those officers to enforce the law.  Because the laws alone aren’t enough - it’s your job to learn them beyond a shadow of a doubt, so you can persuade those charged with monitoring and correcting offenders to support you.  Chances are you will not prevail. Good luck!!!!!

Posted by Moi ;) at 10:10 AM | Link
in Autism/SpecialEd  Deekheads  Education  No Child's Behind Left