'Fairly Standard'

Back after Thanksgiving, a Kitsap County Deputy was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving.  One two separate tests, he registered .12, and .13 BAC.  Don't worry though...just like police are trained to use guns you and I can't use, and trained to talk on their cell-phones and radios while they drive, like you and I can't, I'm sure they are trained to drive while drunk, like you and I can't.

Sigh.

Deputy Argyle was sentenced yesterday, pleading guilty to 'Negligent Driving', and not anything having to do with Alcohol. 

The Pierce County Prosecutor's Office called it a 'fairly standard' punishment...at which point I would have to ask, if this is fairly standard, is it fair, or right?  I did a check of the Pierce County Prosecutes site, and couldn't find any kind of stats about how frequently this type of plea is allowed.

Our DUI punishment makes me mad, which is hypocritical of me, because, and I have admitted this before, when I was younger and dumber, I drove home once or twice at a point beyond 'tipsy'.  I was lucky, and never got caught, AND never hurt anyone else. 

Over the years, I realize how horribly lucky I was.  I now have the opinion that driving drunk is just like walking into a mall, closing my eyes, and intentionally firing a gun in a random direction.  If I'm lucky, no one will get hit.  If I'm unlucky...well, we all know the worst case.

If I was to walk into a mall and fire that gun, do you think I would get to plead down to a misdemeanor? 

We all know the answer to that. 

So...if this type of plea is routinely allowed for The Rest of Us, that makes me a bit sad, but I can't say that this guy should get any harsher legal punishment just because he is a police officer. 

He shouldn't still have his job as a patrol deputy though.  Once again, relating things back to my past, if I had ever gotten caught driving under the influence, the punishment handed out by the legal system would have paled compared to what the Navy would have done to me.  It was made clear early on in my Naval Career that Driving under the Influence reflected poor judgement, and the Naval Nuclear Power Program had no room for poor judgement.  I saw more than one guy get caught, and get bounced.  We're talking guys throwing away 12-14 year careers because of a DUI.  They weren't always kicked all the way out of the Navy, but they were given positions of greatly reduced responsibility. 

That's why the last paragraph of the story kind of spins me up.  The Deputy in this case has been restored to duty, pending the completion of an investigation. 

I don't expect any less judgement from a police officer than I did from some of the chuckle heads I used to run reactors with.  Stick this guy behind a desk, or cleaning the bathrooms until he decides to retire.