Poll: Police Detail or Road Flagger

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

[Poll #1577209]

Comments

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I don't care who does the flagging but for eFF's sake would they do their eFFing job?!?!! I can not count the number of times I've come into an intersection that's under construction and had to work out with other drivers via eye-contact and hand-signals, who will go next, because the officer "on duty" is talking on the cell phone, or standing with his back to traffic, yacking with the crew. WTF?! Or, you know, I come into the intersection and tap my horn lightly to get the officer's attention, and half the time they look at me like "duh. uh, wha..? whachu honkin' at?" and ignore that there's, you know, something they're supposed to *do* while collecting that paycheck.

So, I guess I think it should be professional flaggers, because then they could be vetted, and better yet, fired if necessary, in a way officers can't be.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the one I passed today was texting.

[miss-lisa-ma.livejournal.com]

So, I guess I think it should be professional flaggers, because then they could be vetted, and better yet, fired if necessary, in a way officers can't be.

Cops have to jump through a lot of hoops, psych evals, etc., to become cops. It doesn't always prevent a bad candidate from becoming a bad cop, but it certainly counts as "vetting" far more than whatever happened in the case of the U30 bank robber and convicted felon who got certified as a civilian flagger. (http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1183736&format=text) (Article is partially viewable; rest in archived and available only for fee.)

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I'd rather have all of those hoops, psych evals, etc. focus on the qualities that make a person a good police officer... which, by all appearances seems to *not* select for people who make good flaggers.

There are many officers in this area who I'd love to "fire" from the flagger-list, but who may be excellent police officeres when it comes to exectuing the primary duties for which they're hired.


To play arm-chair pop psychologist just for sh*ts & g*ggles:
Maybe a person who makes a good police officer needs to have the kind of mind that can evaluate complex situations, notice and remember a lot of details and a lot of information coming in very quickly, and make solid snap decisions under fire. That kind of mind might get bored and be unable to focus on a small task of standing road side for six hours watching for potential conflicts between pedestestrians, vehicles, and construction equipment.

A bank-robber, on the other hand, needs to be able to carefully observe one place, one situatation, for weeks or months, and consider all the people who are coming and going from that location and be aware of where they are looking and paying attention and what the people who moving around are not noticing around them. So, maybe a bank robber would be a far better flagger than a good police office!? ;-) Maybe it would be the idea re-habilitation job for an ex-bank-robber who no longer wants to steal, but does still want to carefully case a location all day and know who's coming and going.