Hire stupid people, get stupid results…

This particular case has been bugging me since I first heard about it a few weeks ago. As an intelligent person, I would like to think I could do anything I wanted; but apparently I can’t be a cop:

METRO NEWS BRIEFS: CONNECTICUT; Judge Rules That Police Can Bar High I.Q. Scores – New York Times
Published: September 9, 1999

A Federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a man who was barred from the New London police force because he scored too high on an intelligence test.

In a ruling made public on Tuesday, Judge Peter C. Dorsey of the United States District Court in New Haven agreed that the plaintiff, Robert Jordan, was denied an opportunity to interview for a police job because of his high test scores. But he said that that did not mean Mr. Jordan was a victim of discrimination.

Judge Dorsey ruled that Mr. Jordan was not denied equal protection because the city of New London applied the same standard to everyone: anyone who scored too high was rejected.

Mr. Jordan, 48, who has a bachelor’s degree in literature and is an officer with the State Department of Corrections, said he was considering an appeal. ”I was eliminated on the basis of my intellectual makeup,” he said. ”It’s the same as discrimination on the basis of gender or religion or race.”

So, what happens when a profession who is responsible for maintaining law and order refuses to hire ‘smart people’?

Deputies subdue car crash victim who fought rescuers — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Staff report – June 14, 2008

Sheriff’s deputies zapped a car accident victim with a stun gun several times Friday morning after he became violent with emergency workers who tried to put a neck brace on him, authorities said.

The crash occurred about 3:30 a.m. when the man, Mark Holder, 30, of Boynton Beach had a seizure in the Cadillac he was driving along Military Trail and Champion Drive, and his passenger, NeNe Piltoff, 47, of Delray Beach, had to take the wheel, sheriff’s spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

The car jumped the median heading southbound in the northbound lanes of Military Trail before it swerved off the road and smashed into the Addison Court plaza sign.

As fire-rescue workers tried to put a neck brace on Holder, he fought them, Barbera said.

After he was subdued, he was taken to Delray Medical Center with serious injuries, Barbera said. Piltoff suffered a dislocated elbow.

A smart person would realize that a tazer is not a general purpose tranquilizer gun. It is not a star trek phaser set to stun. In the wrong hands, in stupid hands, it is a potentially lethal weapon. Only a complete fucking moron would use a tazer on a person who had a possible spinal injury and who emergency workers are trying to get into a neck brace…

-Chris

[ad#adsense-horizontal]

Comments are closed.

I use Amazon affiliate links in some of my posts. I think it is fair to say my writing is not influenced by the $0.40 I earned in 2022.