The only problem with zero tolerance polices is their real-world implementation. However well-intentioned, and they all are, they can impose a zero-sum solution to issues that demand a measure of subjectivity and common sense. Case in point: the slap heard ’round Tampa Bay.
That’s what 73-year-old Theresa Collier of Largo delivered to her belligerent, profanity-spewing granddaughter. The 18-year-old then stormed out and called 911. And her grandmother was arrested for domestic violence. The slap, context notwithstanding, induced the department’s mandatory arrest policy for domestic violence. Collier spent a night in jail.
Eventually — after scrutinizing, embarrassing media attention — the domestic battery charge was dropped. Imagine needing Bubba the Love Sponge Clem to call attention to an exercise in overkill stupidity.
We all know why such a domestic violence policy was formulated in the first place. Too many psychotic boyfriends and too many battered women. Throw the book — and any number of legal haymakers — at the feral creeps.
But a back-talking teen in rebellion against homework and her overseeing grandmother is hardly the sort of “victim” that domestic violence laws and policies are out to protect.
What is obviously needed is “zero tolerance” for such common-sense-challenged scenarios. Bubba the Love Sponge won’t always be around to set things right.