There Oughta be a Law

These days you can't turn around without bumping into someone who believes someone or some entity should be investigated and charged with some crime. Many times something unusual is going on but no official action has been taken. Sometimes it's because investigators are 'getting their ducks in a row' before proceeding, sometimes it's because there is nothing criminal going on, which is not to say it's right, just that no one can be charged for it and sometimes officials who should be doing the investigating aren't aware of the situation.

Whenever a government official isn't being pro-active enough for some the people who think they aren't doing enough can come up with some very creative ideas for why this is so. They will posit that the official is inept, lazy, in cahoots with the perpetrator, or is just being mean. Most of the time they will be wrong.

Here's the thing, investigations cost money. It's just one of those things. You don't get something for nothing and somebody is going to pay for the time and effort put into an investigation. In counties like ours budgets are very limited. Of course they're limited in big counties too, but the economics of scale make it easier on the larger counties to compensate for tight budgets.

In a perfect world every possible crime would be thoroughly investigated and any guilty parties would be tried (and convicted) by a jury of their peers. Innocent parties would be completely exonerated with no stains on their character.

We don't live in a perfect world. The best we can do is attempt to use all of our resources wisely. That means priorities must be established. Any time someone sets priorities someone else will have different opinions on them and think the first person has got their priorities misplaced.

When that happens there are options. The first person can rethink the priorities and change them, they can rethink them and keep them the same or they can ignore the call to change priorities.

When disagreements occur between people of goodwill they can disagree without being hateful about it. If you think someone has done something wrong and call for an investigation and you don't see any action, think twice before accusing the investigating authority of impropriety. They might have already started doing what you ask but need to keep the investigation quiet. They may have no money to do an investigation and they might be doing something more important than what you want them to do. I know it's hard to believe that someone could think something is more important than what you want them to do but it happens. When it does be an adult.