Oh I am royally pissed. Last night at work some individual offered to put a bullet in my head. He said it in front of 4 Olympia PD officers. I called them to have him removed from the ER for making threats to harm staff out in the parking lot. He made a death threat towards me, in front of all four of them, and they refused to arrest him for it. The man was not drunk, was not high, and was not insane. I was told "He only said that because he wants to go to jail".

Any Oly PD on here who want to explain officer Johnson and Sgt Hutchinson's thinking?

The only time anybody gets arrested in the ED is after they've broken someones ribs, or stabbed one of the nurses. Otherwise its a free for all. Anybody can say anything they want and they are never held accountable. From what I've been told, if that same person returns to our ER we are obligated to treat him. Imagine someone at your workplace threatening to put a bullet in your head and the law states you can't refuse to serve him in the future.

I've let all 80 or so nurses in the ED know what has happened. I've written to my Union. I'm planning on chatting with the Mayor about it. My administration recieved my write up. The Olympian will be finding a letter to the editor. And depending on how my hospital admin reacts I might be talking with KOMO news.

I've already had discourse with my administrators about the level of physical violence, and potential for worse, in our ED. A staff member is going to be killed unless things change. This is not the first time those particular officers responded with less then full interest in the safety of the emergency room staff.

Anybody have any suggestions?

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Vince