SOL? WTF! - UPDATED

Racing engines, flashing lights and a rain of spent brass ringing like tiny bells as they fall to the asphalt - those are the stuff of police dramas. Also...long legs, plunging necklines and double entendre. Is that the plural?

Largely forgotten, unless made compelling by a sad story line in search of a cause, is the arcane world of criminal law. Every officer operates under must/may/cannot statutory language which is often tortured and confusing. While we have repeatedly advocated laws of general application (Misdemeanor "Guilty of Something"; "Driving with Head Up Ass") we are compelled to apply the laws our legislatures (in their infinite wisdom) have written in a way our courts (in their infinite inventiveness) have interpreted. Mostly it works, but sometimes it doesn't and cops aren't the ones who suffer. The victims are.

Countless times a true victim has brought a case to police only to be told that they arrived too late. We could investigate up a storm and nothing would come of it. Are we lazy, stupid or unfeeling? Hardly.

We, and our victim, are shit out of luck. Welcome to the strange world of the statute of limitations.

Bear with me - this isn't what you think.