Drunk officer-in-training stays on the school board. Great for kids.
Alcoholic Antic-of-the-Month
“ANOTHER FINE MESS HE’S GOTTEN HIMSELF INTO: A conservation officer from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources stopped a boater on the Geist Reservoir at 11:00 p.m. for failing to have working navigational lights. The boater ‘repeatedly’ told the DNR officer he was a police officer and demanded ‘professional courtesy,’ the DNR officer said, but he gave a citation to Adam Goldstein, 37, anyway. Allegedly angered, Goldstein went home, changed into his Lawrence Township police officer uniform — he was in training as an unpaid reserve officer — grabbed a squad car from the station, and drove it to the Geist Marina to confront the DNR officer. The officer arrested Goldstein for public intoxication. Prosecutors have added other charges, including drunk driving in the squad car, and, because he was still in training and not yet commissioned as a police officer, falsely presenting himself as a police officer ‘with the intent to mislead and induce [police] to submit to official authority’ — a felony punishable by up to 3 years in prison. Goldstein has been fired by the Fortville Police Dept., but he still has a fall-back position: despite his legal troubles he remains on the Lawrence Township School Board. ‘We will let due process run its course before we decide anything,’ the Board president said. (Indianapolis Star) …Good plan: this is a great ‘teachable moment’ for the district’s students.”
My early research on alcoholism included interviews with a number of Drug Recognition Experts (DREs), who are by far the most addiction-aware and addiction-educated law enforcers. When asked what percent of active-duty police officers were practicing alcoholics, the DREs didn’t hesitate: 20-50%, depending on the force. It immediately dawned on me that these constituted the bad cops and they should be weeded out through testing.
Before they gain an “in” with their fellow officers, cops have little prospect of being enabled. However, once they are on the force, the odds of intervention or loss of job dramatically decrease. The code of silence and buddy system protects them, so much so that many alcoholic cops rise in the ranks, even becoming top cops (i.e., chiefs of police).
Indiana has been protected from one alcoholic cop. Unfortunately, Goldstein is in a position to wield power capriciously on the Lawrence Township School Board. The best thing for everyone involved would be to draw a line in the sand: no more drinking, Mr. Goldstein, if you want any job at all. That just might get and keep you sober, which will make your life—and the lives of those around you—far more happy and productive.
(Story and tagline from “This is True,” copyright 2009 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission.)