BlogWonks

Once again, a startling view of how ideology can cause people to no longer be capable of common sense.

Cop size doesn’t matter - Nixon

POLICE chief Christine Nixon has denied politically correct zealots are making a mockery of recruitment, insisting size and age does not matter.

Ms Nixon was responding to a Herald Sun report revealing fit young men are being denied entry to Victoria Police while the force recruits more women and people approaching retirement age.

Ms Nixon said past height and age barriers to entering the force were outdated and had unfairly blocked talented candidates.

She said police used their brains, capsicum spray and batons in brawls and other confrontations, not their size, age or gender.

“It’s about the way you go about your work, the way you deal with people, the way you interact, your confidence in yourself,” Ms Nixon said.

A 142cm woman, a 61-year-old man and two men in their late 50s are among the 157 recruits now in training.

The recruiting policy was yesterday described by one serving policeman as “political correctness gone mad”.

The Opposition and the Police Association also challenged the policy.

Police command defended the system, saying the force could not legally refuse any applicant on the grounds of age, gender or height.

But some qualified male applicants have waited two years after sitting the police entrance exam and still don’t know if they will be accepted.

One would-be recruit told the Herald Sun he had been told by police friends his position on the training academy’s waiting list fluctuated each month “depending how many women have applied”.

Russell Dickson, 24, is 188cm, has a university business degree, works out almost every day and passed the force’s entrance exam in March 2006.

He has a female friend who is 157cm, struggled to complete year 10 and applied to join the force a year later.

She started training at the academy last month.

“I know she didn’t do as well on some of the tests as I did, but none of that seems to matter,” Mr Dickson said.

More women than men graduated from the police training academy for the first time in 2007. Police figures show that 33 per cent of last year’s 1098 applicants were women.

Almost 52 per cent of the 316 recruits who graduated during the year were women.

The number of women in the 11,250-strong police force has jumped from 15 per cent to almost 23 per cent in the seven years since Christine Nixon became the first female chief commissioner.

But that number is short of Ms Nixon’s aim to boost female police numbers in Victoria to 25 per cent by last June — and well short of the national average of 31 per cent.

Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland yesterday denied female applicants were given preferential treatment.

He said the reason they were being selected in large numbers was because many scored higher than men during the selection process.

Mr Overland said there had been a campaign to encourage women to apply, but applicants were treated according to the score they achieved in the selection process.

He said the percentage of policewomen in Victoria was still the lowest in Australia.

Assistant director Sue-ellen Zalewski, of the police human resources department, said rankings on the force’s order of merit were based solely on results in the entrance exam and a selection panel interview.

She said the force aimed to at least reach the national average of female police.

There were 250 people on the order of merit who had qualified and were hoping to be accepted for training, and another 1000 at earlier stages of the selection process, she said.

She said Victoria Police was the only force in the country with a waiting list.

Ms Zalewski said of the eight squads and 157 recruits now in training, 92 were men and 65 women.

The Police Association and the Opposition yesterday questioned the fairness of the recruiting system.

Opposition police spokesman Andrew McIntosh said the recruiting policy “should be about equal opportunity — not reverse discrimination”.

“It’s wrong if the high-jump bar is set differently for some people and not for others,” he said. “Reverse discrimination is just as disingenuous as having a discriminatory policy.”

Police Association secretary Paul Mullett said the association was supportive of equal opportunity principles, but not at the expense of the best possible police force.

Sen-Sgt Mullett called on Ms Nixon to apply for exemptions from equal opportunity laws.

“Because of the nature and type of work policing is, we believe the Chief Commissioner should be seeking an exemption to avoid these issues,” he said.

“She should be given an exemption so she doesn’t have to employ people in their 50s or 60s — male or female — or people who could be physically incapable of performing all the tasks that could be required of them.”

Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission chief executive Dr Helen Szoke said criticism of female police undermined the force’s significant gains.

Dr Szoke said an employer could seek exemption from the Equal Opportunity Act if they could demonstrate that a physical characteristic would be a “significant and genuine barrier” to employment.

It was not against the law for an employer to discriminate if it was necessary to protect health or safety.

Mr Overland said the force aimed to be representative of the community.

He said age, height and gender were not a reliable guide to policing ability.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as that. You can’t distinguish on that basis.

“We’ve got some big, burly blokes who are absolutely useless and we’ve got some tiny policewomen who are absolute terriers.”

Mr Overland agreed it had been a problem for some smaller members to manage the weight and bulk of all the items carried on a police utility belt — such as a baton, firearm, radio, capsicum spray can and handcuffs.

“We’ve had to modify our equipment to suit all of the workforce, and we’re looking at vests as an alternative carriage system,” he said.

Police figures show the oldest recruit last year was 60, the youngest 19 and the average age was 30.

Twenty recruits were former police who have been re-appointed. The 61-year-old recruit in training at the academy is also a re-appointee.

One sergeant said a 142cm policewoman would have “no hope of carrying everything on the utility belt”.

“I’ve worked the past six months in the CBD, and after dark it’s a war zone,” he said.

“A copper that size — male or female — would be about as useful as a chocolate teapot.”

A female sergeant said the recruiting policy was “great in theory but useless in practice”

Just so its clear as to what happens when such ideas actually go into practice.

‘A Very Sad Day for Fulton County’

A Fulton County judge, a sheriff’s deputy and a court reporter were shot and killed and another deputy critically wounded Friday at the courthouse before the gunman fled from the scene and carjacked a motorist.

Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, a female court reporter, identified as Julie Ann Brandau, 43, of Snellville, and a sheriff’s deputy, identified as Hoyt Teasley, were pronounced dead after they were transported to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Police were conducting a massive manhunt for the suspect, who fled in a vehicle believed to have been a green Honda Accord, after the 9 a.m. incident. Sheriff’s Lt. Clarence Huber identified the suspect as Brian Nichols, 33.

Grady physician Dr. Jeffrey Salomone said two deputies were rushed to Grady for treatment, but Teasley, who suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen, later died.

At a news conference outside the hospital, Salomone said the second deputy, who suffered a gunshot wound to the mouth, was in critical condition. She was identified as Deputy Cynthia Hall.

Salomone said, however, that Hall was expected to survive her wounds.

A reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was also injured during the incident.

Authorities said the reporter, identified as Don O’Briant, was pistol-whipped and assaulted during an attempted carjacking while the suspect was trying to get away.

The AJC reporter, who was attacked as he was arriving to work, was taken to a metro area hospital, where he was listed in good condition, newspaper spokeswoman Mary Dugenske said.

The suspect fled from the scene in the reporter’s car.

Police issued a lookout for two vehicles: a green Honda Accord with a tag of 6584 YN, which is O’Briant’s car, and a green Isuzu Trooper with a tag of 4697 AJY.

At least one courthouse worker said the suspect grabbed a gun from the deputy inside the courthouse before opening fire. Police Deputy Chief Alan Dreher confirmed that account, saying the 6 feet 1 inch man overpowered Hall before taking her weapon.

The suspect then fled to a nearby parking garage and attempted to carjack two people. A shootout with Teasley, who was felled by a bullet, ensued on the street just outside the courthouse.

The assailant managed to get a vehicle from the AJC reporter before leaving the area.

Police shut down several streets in the area while they looked for the suspect. No one was allowed to enter or exit the courthouse buildings, which sit on a two-block site in downtown Atlanta.

The courthouse’s 400-plus workers were evacuated later, and schools, restaurants and office buildings in the area were locked down during the day.

The area reopened Friday afternoon.

An attorney who witnessed this morning’s shooting told Channel 2 Action News that Barnes was hearing a rape case involving Nichols at the time of the shooting.

Fulton prosecutor Gayle Abramson told the AJC that Nichols was appearing before Barnes in the retrial of a rape case. Nichols was accused of going to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in North Fulton and holding her hostage for hours during which he repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

County employee Ali Lamei, who works on a floor below where the shooting started, said he was told by officers in the building that a sheriff’s sergeant was escorting a prisoner into Barnes’ courtroom when the prisoner grabbed the sergeant’s gun and shot the judge and sergeant.

James Bailey, a juror in the Nichols trial, said the jury was not in the courtroom at the time of the shooting.

Nichols, who also faced charges of sodomy, possession of a machine gun, possession of a handgun, and possession of marijuana, had not taken the stand yet in the trial, which started Tuesday.

Renee Rockwall said she was outside the courthouse when the incident happened. She said she saw a deputy chasing the suspect when the gunman turned and opened fire, wounding the deputy.

Court officials had been concerned Nichols might do something because earlier this week a shank was found in his shoe during a search, said two officials in the district attorney’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The shank was confiscated and extra deputies were assigned as security on the case, the official said.

Fulton Sheriff Myron Freeman said during a news conference outside Grady that Nichols is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous. Anyone with information was asked to call 404-730-5129, 404-730-7983 or 911.

“This is a very sad day for Fulton County,” Freeman said. “We’re going to do everything we can to bring this person to justice.”

News of the shooting shocked those who knew Barnes, described as a fair judge who was well-liked.

Among the recent cases that Judge Barnes handled was the sentencing of Atlanta Thrashers player Dany Heatley, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of a teammate.

Barnes, 64, also drew national attention last month when he took the unusual step of ordering a mother of seven who pleaded guilty to killing her 5-week-old daughter to have a medical procedure that would prevent her from having more children.

Barnes was named to the Fulton County Superior Court bench on July 10, 1998. He also worked as a part-time Fulton County Magistrate and City Court Judge in Hapeville and Fairburn. Barnes was a 1972 graduate of Emory Law School in Atlanta and a graduate of Lebanon Valley College

A BIT MORE ON HILL

Hurt Deputy Leaves Rehab

ATLANTA — The Fulton County sheriff’s deputy who was injured when a man took her gun and went on a deadly shooting rampage at the courthouse last month left an Atlanta brain injury center Wednesday.

Deputy Cynthia Hall, wearing sneakers and pink hospital scrubs, walked on her own from the Shepherd Center to a van. She gave her doctor, Gerald Bilsky, a “high-five” and then thanked him as she left the medical center where she has been recovering.

“We are very proud of her and know that she still has some work to do,” Bilsky said. “But she has come a long way.”

Hall, 51, sustained a bruise and bleeding on the brain as well as fractures around her right eye during the March 11 shootings. Authorities say Brian Nichols, 33, overpowered her when she was escorting him to his retrial on a rape charge.

Authorities say Nichols took Hall’s gun from a lockbox and shot Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and court reporter Julie Brandau to death in the courtroom. They say he also killed a sheriff’s deputy outside the courthouse and a federal agent at the home the agent was building in Buckhead before he was arrested 26 hours after the shootings began.

Officials said Hall has little, if any, memory of the incident, a loss that she has struggled with.

Hall’s doctor says she may never recover fully enough to resume her former duties as a sheriff’s deputy. But he says a full recovery is one of the center’s goals.

Her treatment regimen during rehab has included strength training, physical therapy and relearning basic skills.

“She’s gotten to the point where she can walk unaided,” Bilsky said. “Now we have to see how she does handling herself in grocery stores, restaurants and out in the community as opposed to what we consider a more protected environment.”

She will continue her rehabilitation at Shepherd Pathways — an outpatient therapy clinic in Decatur.

you can read about Brian Nichols here

After a 51-year old female sheriff’s deputy, 5′2″ Cynthia Hall, removed his handcuffs so that he could change into civilian clothes in preparation for a court appearance, Nichols attacked the deputy and took her sidearm. According to hospital sources, the deputy suffered bruising to her brain and some fractures around her face. After the attack, her condition was reported as critical, but she survived.

Nichols then crossed over to the old courthouse via a skybridge, where he entered the private chambers of Judge Rowland W. Barnes. While there, he encountered another deputy, overpowered him and also took his weapon. Nichols then entered Barnes’ courtroom from a door behind the judge’s bench, where Barnes was presiding over motions in a civil trial, and shot him in the back of the head. Nichols then shot Julie Brandau, the court reporter, and as he made his escape from the courthouse he shot Sgt. Hoyt Teasley, a pursuing deputy. Barnes and the court reporter died at the scene and the deputy was pronounced DOA at Grady Memorial Hospital.

During his escape Nichols tried to carjack at least three vehicles, ending up in a multi-level parking structure for Atlanta’s Underground tourist area. He first took a tow truck at gunpoint outside the courtroom. Later he hijacked a Honda Accord from Don O’Briant, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Nichols pistol-whipped O’Briant in order to gain control of the car.

Anyone care to send Ms Nixon a copy of the wiki link, some photos, and ask her again if “size matters”?