Free-range kids picked up AGAIN by police

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just listened to the 911 tape and so glad that there are people like him in the community who was genuinely worried about these children and just called 911 to make sure they were ok. We should be giving him a hearty thank you instead of criticizing him.

.

Is there a link to the recording?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just listened to the 911 tape and so glad that there are people like him in the community who was genuinely worried about these children and just called 911 to make sure they were ok. We should be giving him a hearty thank you instead of criticizing him.

I wasn't there, so I don't know. But do you think it's likely that these two children of indeterminate not-very-old age were the only children wandering around DTSS without parents or adults? What about the other unaccompanied children? Why was he so unconcerned about them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just listened to the 911 tape and so glad that there are people like him in the community who was genuinely worried about these children and just called 911 to make sure they were ok. We should be giving him a hearty thank you instead of criticizing him.

Yes, it's not his fault that modern US middle-class society has decided that kids walking around constitutes parental neglect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is odd that people would criticize the 911 caller, who was just trying to look out for the kids, regardless of whether he overestimated or underestimated their ages and abilities. It is really up to the police to determine whether anything inappropriate or neglectful was going on once they got there. If a random citizen is in doubt, they should contact the authorities and let the authorities deal with it from there.

I agree. There are many possibilities that could have been at play here. This gentleman called the people who knew more about handling such situations than he presumably did. Most of us are not social workers who have experience in working with children and families.

Yes. If only the people who know more about handling such situations had actually handled the situation properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just listened to the 911 tape and so glad that there are people like him in the community who was genuinely worried about these children and just called 911 to make sure they were ok. We should be giving him a hearty thank you instead of criticizing him.

Yes, it's not his fault that modern US middle-class society has decided that kids walking around constitutes parental neglect.

The call indicates there was more to the concern than just kids walking around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm starting to lose patience with really dumb questions. Really, really dumb. Of course there are adults around. But do you know those adults around? Are there 40 adults around, in which case we can figure at least some of them will notice something if it's unsafe for your kids? Or are there 2 adults around, one who looks drunk/high and the other is jogging with his earphones on and not paying any attention? Those are different scenarios. Of course day/night/populated/unpopulated makes a difference. As do a million other factors in the surroundings, the kids themselves, etc. And you know who's in a better place to judge that than random people on the internet? The actual people who were there. The caller. The cop. Seriously. This isn't that hard.

It just doesn't make sense to me. On the one hand, we're supposed to assume that anybody might be a predator out to get us. On the other hand, we're also supposed to assume that some random guy with a dog is a reasonable person who made a rational assessment of the situation.

Wow, you're dense. No one is saying the parents should leave the kids with this caller. We are saying the caller's observation is more meaningful than the speculation of internet posters who weren't there. NO one's saying remove custody due to the caller's observation. But DO follow up on his call and investigate. Which is what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is odd that people would criticize the 911 caller, who was just trying to look out for the kids, regardless of whether he overestimated or underestimated their ages and abilities. It is really up to the police to determine whether anything inappropriate or neglectful was going on once they got there. If a random citizen is in doubt, they should contact the authorities and let the authorities deal with it from there.

I agree. There are many possibilities that could have been at play here. This gentleman called the people who knew more about handling such situations than he presumably did. Most of us are not social workers who have experience in working with children and families.

Yes. If only the people who know more about handling such situations had actually handled the situation properly.

Which you somehow think you are more expert at judging than they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm starting to lose patience with really dumb questions. Really, really dumb. Of course there are adults around. But do you know those adults around? Are there 40 adults around, in which case we can figure at least some of them will notice something if it's unsafe for your kids? Or are there 2 adults around, one who looks drunk/high and the other is jogging with his earphones on and not paying any attention? Those are different scenarios. Of course day/night/populated/unpopulated makes a difference. As do a million other factors in the surroundings, the kids themselves, etc. And you know who's in a better place to judge that than random people on the internet? The actual people who were there. The caller. The cop. Seriously. This isn't that hard.

It just doesn't make sense to me. On the one hand, we're supposed to assume that anybody might be a predator out to get us. On the other hand, we're also supposed to assume that some random guy with a dog is a reasonable person who made a rational assessment of the situation.

Wow, you're dense. No one is saying the parents should leave the kids with this caller. We are saying the caller's observation is more meaningful than the speculation of internet posters who weren't there. NO one's saying remove custody due to the caller's observation. But DO follow up on his call and investigate. Which is what happened.

Has anybody said that the police shouldn't have followed up on his call?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is odd that people would criticize the 911 caller, who was just trying to look out for the kids, regardless of whether he overestimated or underestimated their ages and abilities. It is really up to the police to determine whether anything inappropriate or neglectful was going on once they got there. If a random citizen is in doubt, they should contact the authorities and let the authorities deal with it from there.

I agree. There are many possibilities that could have been at play here. This gentleman called the people who knew more about handling such situations than he presumably did. Most of us are not social workers who have experience in working with children and families.

Yes. If only the people who know more about handling such situations had actually handled the situation properly.

Which you somehow think you are more expert at judging than they are.

If they think that kids walking home constitutes child neglect, then yes, I am more expert at judging than they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That kid doesn't look ten. My 11 year old is 5 feet tall.

A 6-year-old girl in the 97th percentile for height is about 49 inches tall. So is a 10-year-old girl in the 3rd percentile for height. If you saw a 97% six-year-old and a 3% ten-year-old standing next to each other, do you think you'd be able to figure out which girl was which? I sure hope you would.

No. And I have a tall 6 year old. Everyone thinks she's 8. She also talks like she's 10. And I'm certain a man with no kids might not be able to tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just listened to the 911 tape and so glad that there are people like him in the community who was genuinely worried about these children and just called 911 to make sure they were ok. We should be giving him a hearty thank you instead of criticizing him.

I wasn't there, so I don't know. But do you think it's likely that these two children of indeterminate not-very-old age were the only children wandering around DTSS without parents or adults? What about the other unaccompanied children? Why was he so unconcerned about them?

I am DTSS all the time. I do not observe children without parents ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is odd that people would criticize the 911 caller, who was just trying to look out for the kids, regardless of whether he overestimated or underestimated their ages and abilities. It is really up to the police to determine whether anything inappropriate or neglectful was going on once they got there. If a random citizen is in doubt, they should contact the authorities and let the authorities deal with it from there.

I agree. There are many possibilities that could have been at play here. This gentleman called the people who knew more about handling such situations than he presumably did. Most of us are not social workers who have experience in working with children and families.

Yes. If only the people who know more about handling such situations had actually handled the situation properly.

Which you somehow think you are more expert at judging than they are.

If they think that kids walking home constitutes child neglect, then yes, I am more expert at judging than they are.

Again, you did not observe the totality of the situation. You are assuming the most benign version of those events, but you weren't there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just listened to the 911 tape and so glad that there are people like him in the community who was genuinely worried about these children and just called 911 to make sure they were ok. We should be giving him a hearty thank you instead of criticizing him.

.

Is there a link to the recording?

The recording is at the top of this article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/04/15/listen-to-the-911-call-that-led-cops-to-take-the-free-range-kids-into-custody/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 911 caller says the kids walked behind a CPA office building. Listen to the tape, pp. And he leads off by saying he observed the kids wandering around. That's why he called...because it didn't look like the kids knew where they were going.

But they did know where they were going. So it's odd that it would appear that they didn't.

Yes it is odd. Clearly they weren't going home. Clearly they decided to wander around other places like behind some random office building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just listened to the 911 tape and so glad that there are people like him in the community who was genuinely worried about these children and just called 911 to make sure they were ok. We should be giving him a hearty thank you instead of criticizing him.

I wasn't there, so I don't know. But do you think it's likely that these two children of indeterminate not-very-old age were the only children wandering around DTSS without parents or adults? What about the other unaccompanied children? Why was he so unconcerned about them?

I am DTSS all the time. I do not observe children without parents ever.

I lived there 5 years ago. Maybe things have changed drastically, but I never saw kids that young (the 6yo, not the 10yo) without their adults.