heric, God bless you lad, you made my day...

As for the topic, many years ago I took a Police Lt's exam and scored an 88, which was twenty points higher than my nearest competitor (I had a BS in Law Enforcement, and was three credits shy of a Masters in Judicial Administration). Further down at 43, was the first of three black Sgts who also took the exam. The Sheriff gave interviews to me and the black Sgt, stating that he was the best of the black applicants and I was the best of the whites, then gave the job to the black officer. I started a lawsuit against the Sheriff who was a Democrat, but gave all the information, including the exam, the scores, and the qualifications of each applicant to an individual who was running against the Sheriff. This information was published, the Sheriff was defeated, and I was a Lt. three days after the election.

Then an interesting thing happened. The new Sheriff did not want to demote the black officer and put him on the road with me. But none of the deputies would report to him, in one case driving a half an hour to turn in some reports to me instead of him. And he would never look me in the eye.

After some discussions with the new Sheriff, he was put in charge of the Jail, where he worked for three years and did a good job. When he came out on the road after the three years, the men accepted him immediately.

Respect must be earned.