# Roofies and victim-blaming: thanks small-town cops! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 18, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075 "2013-04-18T22:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/1 "2013-04-18T22:28:47Z")
Monday morning a coworker requested one of the 12-bar drug testing pee cups I use to administer our drug-free workplace program. The previous Saturday night, he’d gone to a beer & wing bar out in the sticks past the Atlanta suburbs. He woke up in its parking lot with a small cut to his head, most likely from collapsing than from being struck, missing his keys and wallet. His truck had been burgled. His strongest suspicion is that his drink was tampered with by the bartender. The drug test showed positive for BZO; Benzodiazepine. We test that now that Xanax is a commonly abused drug, and presents a hazard to oneself and ones coworkers in an industrial workplace (people with prescriptions are exempt, but if you’re abusing, you’re using way more than a doctor would prescribe). BZO would also show for Valium and Rohypnol. His wife’s reaction had been that he’d had too much to drink, and was a bad husband for going to that place anyway. At my urging (or, more likely stiffening of his resolve) we both went to the little police station to file a complaint. We knew the cops wouldn’t take too much of an interest, since they prefer to solve crimes where the criminal is already identified. But we could at least “plant the flag” for when the next drugging occurs at that bar. The policeman supposed that my coworker had drunk too much, but because I was there to show the BZO results, he took my name and that information. And he offered the same opinion as my coworker’s wife: he shouldn’t have gone there in the first place. We’re so sorry to take up the nice policeman’s time. Since the civil police don’t have the power that military police do to place bars “off limits,” we’ll just have to resort to social media. But maybe places like that wouldn’t pull shit like that if the cops didnt put up with shit like that, instead of blaming the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/2 "2013-04-18T22:47:24Z")
Police, I was at X bar and Y happened to me. I have no evidence or leads for you, and the chance of finding the responsible party, let alone apprehending, charging, and successfully prosecuting them, is slim to none. I wasn’t even planning on reporting this crime but was urged to do so by a coworker. What ever will you do? I mean, should they have offered him a hug or something? “Stop going to X bar” sounds like pretty good advice, and it sounds like that was your coworker’s solution to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/3 "2013-04-18T23:57:19Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > Police, I was at X bar and Y happened to me. I have no evidence or leads for you, and the chance of finding the responsible party, let alone apprehending, charging, and successfully prosecuting them, is slim to none. I wasn’t even planning on reporting this crime but was urged to do so by a coworker. What ever will you do? > > I mean, should they have offered him a hug or something? “Stop going to X bar” sounds like pretty good advice, and it sounds like that was your coworker’s solution to begin with. god forbid the police would have to do any detective work what do you think they are? batmans? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/4 "2013-04-19T00:01:57Z")
There is a good chance that this man was not the first and will not be the last patron to have such an experience at this bar. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/5 "2013-04-19T00:05:37Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > Police, I was at X bar and Y happened to me. I have no evidence or leads for you, and the chance of finding the responsible party, let alone apprehending, charging, and successfully prosecuting them, is slim to none. I wasn’t even planning on reporting this crime but was urged to do so by a coworker. What ever will you do? > > I mean, should they have offered him a hug or something? “Stop going to X bar” sounds like pretty good advice, and it sounds like that was your coworker’s solution to begin with. Seriously. This is exactly why a policeman’s badge is just a picture of a dude shrugging with a confused look on his face. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/6 "2013-04-19T00:06:44Z")
> [@colander](#): > > god forbid the police would have to do any detective work Just curious what you think that should be? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/7 "2013-04-19T00:15:56Z")
I’d think having a police report would be a good idea from a CYA standpoint. Y’know, in case his name comes up for random drug testing at work and he’s got to explain a positive Benzo test. No need to be a dick about it. The officer could merely have said, “Thank you for your report. Here’s your copy. I don’t hold out a lot of hope for finding the person who did it, but we’ll call you if we need more information. Have a nice day.” ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/8 "2013-04-19T00:35:06Z")
Followed by “Next time, don’t dress provocatively like a businessman with money, and you should be OK. Slut.” ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/9 "2013-04-19T00:41:49Z")
I’ve got to ask. This place that everyone said he _should not have been there_, what’s with it? A dive? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/10 "2013-04-19T00:59:30Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I’ve got to ask. This place that everyone said he _should not have been there_, what’s with it? A dive? Rape Bar ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/11 "2013-04-19T01:05:26Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Just curious what you think that should be? Honestly, this is more of a customer service issue than anything else. We all know that there’s little likelihood the culprit is going to confess to a policeman, if by some miracle he still happens to be hanging around the bar. We know that the police have no real assurance that the victim in question isn’t a habitual benzo abuser anyway and that he really didn’t just drink more than he should have and pass out in view of some random petty thief. But for Christ’s sake, can’t the police at least _pretend_ like they’re going to look into it? What’s the harm in that? Seriously, all they have to do is manage to say “We’ll look into it” in a sincere tone of voice and suppress their eye-rolling until the guy’s left the station. Is that asking too much? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/12 "2013-04-19T01:18:05Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I’ve got to ask. This place that everyone said he _should not have been there_, what’s with it? A dive? Is there such thing as a bar that your wife and the cops would _recommend?_ We didn’t expect much from the cops going in. Mainly to put the place on their radar, for when something happens there again. What we didn’t expect (ironically the opposite of the Spanish Inquisition) was the uniquisitiveness. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/13 "2013-04-19T01:26:33Z")
It’s my understanding that actually getting “roofied” is such a rare occurance as to almost be an urban legend. What’s more likely? Someone in a bar singled your coworker out, slipped him a micky unnoticed, waited for him to pass out in the parking lot (and not the middle of the bar) and then robbed him? Or that he drank way too much, maybe did some drugs like cocaine or meth that also show up in a BZO test, passed out in the parking lot and someone then robbed him? From the way his wife acted, this doesn’t sound like the first time he had too much to drink. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/14 "2013-04-19T01:29:58Z")
Getting roofied is not an urban legend. Jesus Christ. Also, neither cocaine nor meth will flip a positive benzo screen. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/15 "2013-04-19T01:38:12Z")
_raises hand_ Roofied! Or, rather, ketaminized, but I don’t think that’s a valid word. On my birthday in, of all places, a gay bar. (I’m a chick.) Trust me to attract the straight sickos in a gay bar… Thank goodness I had good friends with me who kept that story from having a more interesting ending than, “I really \*cannot \*make myself puke, even with my bestie holding my hair in a public bathroom murmuring, 'Just…put your fingers in your mouth and stick 'em back there ‘til you gag.’” Drugs are glamorous, kids. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/16 "2013-04-19T01:49:53Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > Seriously. This is exactly why a policeman’s badge is just a picture of a dude shrugging with a confused look on his face. This is easily the funniest thing I’ve read in a week. Bravo. As far as the OP, that’s horrible. I can’t imagine why the police couldn’t have given a response like **WhyNot** gave in post #7. I’m usually a pretty vocal supporter of the police because I believe in most cases they are doing the best they can at a difficult job, but this is reprehensible. Later when it happens to others and something really awful happens they’ll wonder why they don’t have a trail to follow. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/17 "2013-04-19T02:03:06Z")
How awful. It’s unsurprising to me that the police acted as they did, but still infuriating. What if next time the happy druggist uses to much on their mark and that person dies? Will they care then? Will they even connect the death to this report? Gah, it just makes me so mad… Tell your friend he did the right thing, and he should spread the word on facebook and yelp and everywhere else. It’s a shame the police won’t do their fucking job, but since they won’t, it’s good of him to do it for them. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/18 "2013-04-19T02:28:37Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s my understanding that actually getting “roofied” is such a rare occurance as to almost be an urban legend. > > What’s more likely? Someone in a bar singled your coworker out, slipped him a micky unnoticed, waited for him to pass out in the parking lot (and not the middle of the bar) and then robbed him? Or that he drank way too much, maybe did some drugs like cocaine or meth that also show up in a BZO test, passed out in the parking lot and someone then robbed him? > > From the way his wife acted, this doesn’t sound like the first time he had too much to drink. In Los Angeles, we get about 100 roofie victims on any given day. Picked up two of my female friends when they were discharged just this past year, so no urban legend. What I get from the OP is: guy tried to roofie a girl, got glasses mixed up, roofed himself, knew he might get caught at work and made up the story. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/19 "2013-04-19T02:41:48Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > In Los Angeles, we get about 100 roofie victims on any given day. Picked up two of my female friends when they were discharged just this past year, so no urban legend. > > What I get from the OP is: guy tried to roofie a girl, got glasses mixed up, roofed himself, knew he might get caught at work and made up the story. I was thinking the same sort of thing, but in my version, the dude gets rolled by the hooker. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075/20 "2013-04-19T02:49:47Z")
> [@colander](#): > > Honestly, this is more of a customer service issue than anything else. We all know that there’s little likelihood the culprit is going to confess to a policeman, if by some miracle he still happens to be hanging around the bar. We know that the police have no real assurance that the victim in question isn’t a habitual benzo abuser anyway and that he really didn’t just drink more than he should have and pass out in view of some random petty thief. > > But for Christ’s sake, can’t the police at least _pretend_ like they’re going to look into it? What’s the harm in that? Seriously, all they have to do is manage to say “We’ll look into it” in a sincere tone of voice and suppress their eye-rolling until the guy’s left the station. Is that asking too much? Nothing in the OP says it won’t be looked into. The person who takes initial reports usually isn’t the one who does the follow up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roofies-and-victim-blaming-thanks-small-town-cops/656075.md?page=2)