It’s A Dirty Job
But someone’s gotta do it.
Steyn slams the cop who bagged Craig. He doesn’t doubt Craig was looking for love in the wrong place, but decries sleazy vice work:
My general philosophy on public restrooms was summed up by the late Derek Jackson, the Oxford professor and jockey, in his advice to a Frenchman about to visit Britain. “Never go to a public lavatory in London,” warned Professor Jackson. “I always pee in the street. You may be fined a few pounds for committing a nuisance,* but in a public lavatory you risk two years in prison because a policeman in plain clothes says you smiled at him.”
Just so. Sgt. Karsnia is paid by the police Department to sit in a stall in the men’s room all day, like a spider waiting for the flies. The Baron von Richthoven of the Minneapolis Bathroom Patrol has notched up a phenomenal number of kills and knows what to look for – the tapping foot in the adjoining stall, a hand signal under the divider. Did you know that tapping your foot in a bathroom was a recognized indicator that a criminal act is about to occur? Don’t take your iPod in with you!
I don’t know about you, but I don’t smile at men in the restroom. I like to think I can go there and do my business without being accosted. I like to think I can take my kid in there to do his business without getting a lesson in the birds and the bees, or the birds and the birds, or the bees and the bees. There may be legitimate concerns about entrapment, overzealous cops. After suggesting Karsnia went overboard, Steyn says he doesn’t have much of a problem with Karsnia’s arrest in this case. I sure don’t. A lot of crime goes down in public restrooms, from illicit sex to drug use to rape and murder. What they do in public restrooms is everyone’s business. Thanks, Officer Karsnia and others who have to do this dirty job.
* In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, peeing in the street is not an option. Not only viewed socially as a legitimate public sanitation problem, but legally can be deemed indecent exposure resulting not only in fine but in a listing as a Level One sex offender.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:57 am on Sunday, September 2, 2007
9 Responses to “It’s A Dirty Job”
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September 2nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Also, peeing in the street is not a practical option for women, although you don’t hear much about disorderly conduct arrests in women’s bathrooms, unless two women get into a hair-pulling catfight.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Hmmm…
Sounds more to me like Steyn has some personal worries of his own. Did this event strike too close for comfort?
Respects,
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Ummm…yeah. And what, exactly, are mothers of small boys supposed to do?
People like Steyn never seem to think of practical details like that, do they? I get so sick of the libertarians in this world arguing that if they are fine with something, so should everyone else be and the Devil take the hintermost.
FWIW there was a great article in the Idaho Statesman about Karsnia. Seems he is a very good cop. The kind you wish there were more of in the world.
Not all cops are overzealous. My son’s a cop. It’s not an easy job and if people would just get a freaking room he wouldn’t have to DO such a distasteful job in the first place now would he? I rather doubt people were fighting over that one in the squad room.
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:23 pm
“In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, peeing in the street is not an option.”
However, every Bostonian drunkard knows it is OK to pee in my doorway. I’ve always believed that’s one of the reasons why people say Boston is like a European city.
RebeccaH, you would be surprised how impractical women can be.
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Sue me, but I feel sorry for Craig. 26 years down the tubes over this silliness. If people are that worried about what goes in public restrooms, put a uniform officer or a security officer in there instead of some guy watching for foot tappers and finger wavers.
Is there any indication at all that Craig ever did anything to anyone’s kid in a restroom or anywhere else?
One thing about Republicans, you can always count on them not to stand up for each other.
September 2nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Gotta disagree with M. Steyn on this one.
It doesn’t happen very often.
And I’m familiar with the “young officer not handling it all perfectly” syndrome.
But it’s no kind of mitigating circumstance here.
September 2nd, 2007 at 8:56 pm
There’s enough doubt about the whole mess to make it unprosecutable, how many here know that if you tap your foot in a public bathroom it’s a signal? What else don’t you know that might bring an officers attention in a manner that you hadn’t solicited?
Are you aware of the interest that you might engender if you whistle on the CB? Driving a truck will cure you of whistling in a hurry, regardless of the musical quality or proficiency of your accomplishment.
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:34 am
Anyone who uses the stalls at the Haggard Library in Plano TX, that’s who. The graffiti is pretty clear, including # of taps.
OTOH, using placement of carry-on as evidence could only be done by someone whose never traveled. There isn’t anywhere else in the typical stall to put the thing except at the front, between you and the door.
September 3rd, 2007 at 11:26 am
“…how many here know that if you tap your foot in a public bathroom it’s a signal?”
Larry Craig knew it.
Right at the start of the “arrest tape” he says to the officer…
“you solicited me”