Tuesday, May 27, 2008

• Sometimes it is a crime.

  Even some of our best officers (remember I work at a county prosecutor's office), or maybe the officers' transcribers, sometimes have trouble spelling certain words.  For example, I can't tell you how many times I've seen charges for "fleeing (the scene) and alluding (the police)."  Uh, sir, that would be "eluding."

  I can see the perpetrator in my mind's eye -- "no, officer, I didn't mean to allude to you, honest!  I meant to elude you!  Aww, give a guy a break -- I didn't mean anything by it!"

  Another common mistake is "scarred" for "scared" -- "scared" being, frequently, a word that appears in the police narratives.  Sometimes I have to re-read a sentence to make sure that someone wasn't actually "scarred" in the course of some incident, rather than "scared."

  I think the punishment for "allegorizing" is something like 30 days in jail.  Beware, ye poets!

  • 9:13 AM
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