Is Our Country Choking to Death on Red Tape?

In yesterday's Dayton Daily News Police Blotter column was the following report ...

"A 41-year-old man was arrested after being seen staggering into traffic...around 5:00 a.m. He told police he had gone to a bar with friends who left without him so he was walking home. He couldn't find a ride while police waited so he was jailed."

Not all that interesting a report, but it got me thinking. If the man was walking home, he probably didn't live all that far from where the police picked him up. The police waited while the man trying to find a ride - I'm assuming by phone. At some point, the man was in the police car.

Why didn't they just drive him home?

Yes, I know, there are probably rules and procedures and insurance issues that prohibit police officers from giving a civilian a lift but...well, isn't that the point?  They weren't far from the man's home, he was in their car, he wasn't a serious criminal. They even tried to help him out by waiting while he hunted for a ride.  Once upon a time they would have driven him home, given him some kind of warning about the next time he went drinking, and that would have been it. 

Instead, the police department incurred the expense of processing an arrest and whatever court related costs will follow while a man suffered the embarrassment, expense, and other possible consequences of being arrested (including going to court).

Rules and procedure verses common sense. Red tape.

Do you have any red tape stories to share?  Do you think we're choking on our own laws, rules, procedures, etc.?
 
Groaners for the Day:  (I haven't made you groan in a while so here's a couple.)

A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.