August 31, 2001
9:23 PM   Subscribe

I'm sorry, the DC cops are clearly in need of ...something. Condits a boob, the press will do anything to sell airtime/column-inches, but... Aw hell, when are we getting to the punchline?
posted by dchase at 9:32 PM on August 31, 2001

Y'know, I hope he sues and I hope he gets a few million- it's that kind of taxpayer bailout that gets attention. I happen to believe that these kind of bungles are worth a certain amount of coin.

I also have this crazy theory that judges and D.A's should have to spend a month or so in an out-of-state prison (so as not to meet people they've dealt with, or to be known commodities who might get preferential or especially harsh treatment) every few years, to keep them in tune how the other half lives. It's a sign of corruption in the system that a human life could just get lost like that.

It's this weird phobia that I have, that I could end up in jail or some other Brazil-like bureaucracy where I'd just get stuck in "the system" and not be able to get out. Some people are afraid of heights, me I'm afraid of the out-of-control machinations of human society. Go figure...
posted by hincandenza at 10:42 PM on August 31, 2001

what does this man have to do with a political assassination. sorry a womens disappearance.
posted by clavdivs at 8:03 AM on September 1, 2001

Clavdivs, I think it was a joke suggesting that the reason she had disappeared was that she was being held in a DC jail and no-one knew it.

This happened in, I believe, Baltimore a few years ago; a man was held in the jail there for at least a year without being arraigned because of a records mixup. He was in for some petty crime (breaking and entering, or something like that) and as soon as they found him he was released immediately. And he did sue, and won, and then the state stepped in and took over the police department and did a major housecleaning. It had already been notorious for its inefficiency and incompetence, and this was the last straw. (I was trying to google for a reference to this but I couldn't find one. Maybe I'm remembering wrong and it wasn't Balmore.)

Of course, DC isn't part of any state; if that happens here I guess it would have to be that paragon of efficiency and competence, the FBI, which stepped in and took over. Heh.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 8:29 AM on September 1, 2001

Joke? I usually laugh at jokes. Even esoteric jokes. This wasn't a joke - it was just plain mean.
posted by soynuts at 8:57 AM on September 1, 2001

I apologize for being too obtuse. My intention was to point out the apparently consistent incompetence of DC officials (cops in the case of Levy, correction officials in the case of this news story) and the consequences. The "color photo" comment was a reference to Officer Obie in Alice's Restaurant.
posted by dchase at 11:06 AM on September 1, 2001

What was mean about it? I mean, compared to every other story that gets posted on MeFi?
posted by Hildago at 11:32 AM on September 1, 2001