Ellisonn Is An Idoit

Minnesota AG Keith Ellison says that when the rapist has fled, it would be better to send social workers to the scene rather than police officers.  Original Link Here.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said it would be better to not have police officers responding to rape calls in situations when the rapist has already fled,

 Ellison stated: “If you’re a woman who’s been a victim of a sexual assault, and the assailant ran away, wouldn’t you rather talk to somebody who is trained in helping you deal with what you’re dealing with, as opossed to somebody whose main training is that they know how to use a firearm? Right?”

Wrong, you jack-wagon.

I don't know how cops in Minnesota are trained, but here in Louisiana we're trained in a vast variety of responses.  In the later years of my career, I kept files of  my training, because like most government activity, glitches occurred and I wanted to make sure my training records were correct.  Below, find a screen capture of my training in 2018, the last full year before my retirement.

2018 Police Training Certificates

By my count, I had three (3) courses on Domestic Violence, four (4) on Sexual Assault, and one (1) on Sexual Harassment.  I had one (1) course each on Firearms, Use of Force, and Making the Arrest Decision.

There is a whole lot more to police work than using a firearm.  Yes, I was qualified on the weapons, but I was also qualified to respond to a sexual assault.  I will grant that it would be good to have someone at a rape scene who might be better trained, and I would never have turned away any help I could get to assist the victim.  But, try getting a social worker out of bed at 3:00 a.m/ in a timely manner to respond to a rape scene.

I'm not knocking social workers.  They do great work, and I've worked with some fine ones.  But, the are generally not available in the wee hours.  That is why police officers are trained to take the basic first steps to assist, protect, and transition the victim to trained medical staff, while preserving evidence and laying the groundwork for a successful prosecution.

Ellison't idea is both ignorant and insulting to police officers.