‘Sergeant Venter of the Empangeni K9 unit and his Maltese poodle, Fluff Ball, failed to apprehend the fleeing murder suspect.’
Imagine reading that in this newspaper…
‘It’s absurd and will never happen,’ I can hear you say, ‘because the application is completely wrong and nobody is that daft.’
Well, I’ve got news for you.
While still making use (at least for now) of dogs with a fear factor above that of baby sheep, one cannot say the same about the folks in blue themselves.
Last week in a supermarket I witnessed a policewoman getting stuck between two checkout points because she’s so vast that, well, that she got stuck.
It was quite a spectacle and to ‘unstuck’ her from the adjacent till point’s wiring, a cashier had to remove the woman’s firearm from its holster.
In this instance the long arm of the law was not long enough to reach behind her own hip.
By the time she was manoeuvred back into open space, she was drenched in sweat and snuffled like an asthmatic in an asbestos factory.
Losing ground
I know it’s about equality, which is a good thing, but the precarious case of Constable Colossal is proof that it can be taken too far.
It’s obviously the wrong application – the wrong person for the job.
In the workplace, especially where a lot of movement is required such as manual labour or running after a suspected thief, the body becomes a tool.
Use the wrong tool and one will not get the desired outcome.
This woman would have been of better use to the people she serves in a different role, like working behind the counter inside the charge office at the police station.
Out in public, in combat gear and carrying a firearm, she’s a liability and an embarrassment to herself and the public.
Equality should be managed right, and not enforced upon the public as it is now.
The qualified, productive and strong are sidelined, and in their place the challenged, lazy and weak are shoved into roles they are unable to fulfil.
Instead, we see fit, strong, young, well trained members standing all day behind counters in the charge offices, certifying documents.
For as long as this situation continues we will keep on losing ground, just as we are now losing ground to criminals because, in a manner of speaking, Maltese poodles are used instead of German Shepherds.
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