Thug-ocracy -- All About Protecting The Power, And Screw The Children
Lenore Skenazy writes at reason about the latest in nosy neighbor paranoia and where it led:
One afternoon this past April, a Florida mom and dad I'll call Cindy and Fred could not get home in time to let their 11-year-old son into the house. The boy didn't have a key, so he played basketball in the yard. He was alone for 90 minutes. A neighbor called the cops, and when the parents arrived--having been delayed by traffic and rain--they were arrested for negligence.They were put in handcuffs, strip searched, fingerprinted, and held overnight in jail.
It would be a month before their sons--the 11-year-old and his 4-year-old brother--were allowed home again. Only after the eldest spoke up and begged a judge to give him back to his parents did the situation improve.
...Here is the law: "A person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects a child without causing great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the child commits a felony of the third degree."
I first heard of Cindy's case last week when she wrote to me at Free-Range Kids. Her email explained:
The authorities claim he had no access to water or shelter. We have an open shed in the back yard and 2 working sinks and 2 hoses. They said he had no food. He ate his snacks already. He had no bathroom, but the responding officer found our yard good enough to relieve himself in while our son sat in a police car alone. In his own yard, in a state, Florida, that has no minimum age for children to be alone.The children were placed in foster care for two days while the state ran a background check on a relative who was willing to take them in. "Our first choice was my mother," said Cindy. "But she lives in another state and so the kids would have been in foster care even longer until they cleared her." The parents decided to have them placed with a slightly problematic in-state relative instead.
They'll get their kids back -- a judge allowed it after their 11-year-old pleaded with him -- but they're still in legal hot water and there are all sorts of conditions on them.
For what? For exercising what used to be thought of as parental judgment.
And sorry, but leaving a kid in his own backyard to play basketball is not child neglect. It's part of the wildly safe and easy life people live in 2015 in the American suburbs.
Back in the OLD days your neighbors helped you (and your family) not the government.
Bob in Texas at June 13, 2015 5:06 AM
Exactly.
This is not much different from citizens of the Soviet state informing on one another.
Amy Alkon at June 13, 2015 6:05 AM
And as I just tweeted, "Leaving a kid in his own backyard in suburban America to play basketball is not child neglect, but the old normal."
Amy Alkon at June 13, 2015 6:24 AM
Taking a child who is playing basketball in his own yard? Isn't that kidnapping? If the prosecutor won't prosecute, then pursue it in civil court.
As for the nosy neighbor - find out who it is, and have a little sit-down chat. Explain certain facts of life to them, like the way a guy may feel protective of his family. Oh, the fact that I'm open carrying? Just a coincidence, don't think anything of it, means nothing at all.
a_random_guy at June 13, 2015 6:31 AM
a_random_guy has great advice for anyone hoping to land a job making license plates.
dee nile at June 13, 2015 6:56 AM
Part of keeping/taking back "rights" (peace, quiet, letting your kid play outside w/o being bit by neighbor's dogs/kidnapped by police) is being assertive about "THESE ARE MY RIGHTS AND YOU ARE MESSING WITH THEM.".
Being polite while explaining your options (call the police if you keep playing rap music on volume 10, I will protect my family from your aggressive dog, I'm not a city boy and I've killed a few snakes in my day) is what is missing in today's world.
I do suggest you only do this once and that you call the police the second time to establish a record of the problem. Usually just the mental imagery of what you are capable of instills caution. If it doesn't then you know you are dealing w/an unstable person and are forewarned.
If this family can not move, I suggest visiting each neighbor and ask that they call you before calling the police. (This should let you figure which a$$hole it is based on their reactions.)
No retaliation as typically just letting them know they are not unknown will stop most cowards/SJWs. Play the game smartly.
Bob in Texas at June 13, 2015 7:13 AM
Okay, while I think the authorities overreacted, I do have one small problem with this. This child was left outside, unable to get into his own home. What's wrong with him having a key? What was he supposed to do if a storm came up, or the weather was cold? I don't have a problem with 11 year olds left on their own for 90 minutes, but unable to get into their own homes?
Patrick at June 13, 2015 9:01 AM
The decision was re@@$&diculous. Without food - for 90 minutes? You are supposed to be able to go without food for a lot longer than 90 minutes. No wonder people are so obese! The child is 11 - not 3. He has been through a lot more trauma than he would have been by himself.
Jen at June 13, 2015 9:05 AM
@dee nile: No, not at all. I was very careful how I put that. Granted, Texas is an open carry state, dunno about elsewhere. But here, it's my good right to be carrying. If I happen to be doing so while having a little neighborly chat? While expressing my sincere anger at whoever got CPS involved in my family's life? Any interpretation by the neighbor is theirs, and theirs alone.
I'm quite serious about the kidnapping charges though. I really hope that these parents are able to lawyer up and succeed in taking a piece out of both the police and CPS over this. As described - and apparently now confirmed - this is totally over the top.
We've finally seen a couple of violent cops actually charged - a good start, anyway. It's past time to see this happen to CPS as well.
a_random_guy at June 13, 2015 9:19 AM
Right, Patrick. Given that nasty overreaction cases like this are getting well known, why NOT let a kid that age have a key? One can always wear it on a neck chain. (I sometimes think all pockets should come with zippers - one time, in my mother's car, I was in the passenger seat and my house keys fell out of my pocket onto the floor of the car because of the angle when I was sitting down - and the pockets weren't that shallow, either. It's incredible how easily something can slip out of the top of a pocket - or get squeezed out when sitting down, such as a slippery leather wallet.)
However, I wouldn't be surprised if the overreaction has to do with the fact that this is Florida we're talking about, where you get a lot of crazy people/criminals and the heat aggravates the crime rate, the paranoia - and maybe neighbors' tempers and spitefulness as well. Maybe the neighbor had a grudge we don't know about?
lenona at June 13, 2015 10:01 AM
People in Nazi Germany were encouraged - nay, required - to call the Statz Polizei to inform on any neighbors who engaged in anti-Nazi behavior or talk. The Soviets, the Stasi, and other secret police organizations in the world have followed this same model. The fear of being arrested for your neignbor's or friend's or family member's "criminal" activity drove people to inform on others.
We'll know we've entered Gestapo territory when the neighbors of someone who lets their children play outside are arrested for not calling the police on them.
Conan the Grammarian at June 13, 2015 10:35 AM
Sorry, my German sucks.
That's Staatspolizei.
Conan the Grammarian at June 13, 2015 10:37 AM
F%&* the neighbor that called. So damn scared of the kid that rather than invite him over to the porch for some shade and water they call the cops?
F%&* the cops. So damn scared of WTF that they can not talk to the kid, establish that "yes usually my parents are home and no I am not thirsty because we have a water hose right around the corner".
F%&* whomever decided that they parents needed to be arrested and the kids kept from them because YE GADS it rained, traffic got snarled, and they were late!
Time to go on the offensive here and go after the SJWs personally one at a time. Cull them out professionally in the public paper and let them busy bodies that are on their side get stirred up.
Bob in Texas at June 13, 2015 12:10 PM
Oh my gosh, what is wrong with this neighborhood? Do you know how many times kids were let off of the bus in my old neighborhood only to find no one home? So they come banging on my door to get a snack and some A/C and watch some toons. Then they push off once mom/dad gets home. Not once did I ever consider calling the cops - it's not their place. If you have an issue, discuss with the parents. If you really feel it's an issue, lodge the incident with CPS so they can investigate/scare the crap out of the parents. But cops??
gooseegg at June 13, 2015 12:57 PM
Without knowing all the facts; I wouldn't be so quick to blame the neighbor for calling the cops instead of offering to help the kid.
As a male I will NOT talk to kids without their parents nearby. My own safety depends on it. All it takes is one asshole to accuse me of trying something inappropriate with the kid and away I go to the slammer.
charles at June 13, 2015 5:04 PM
From Bratfree:
cfdavep:
"I have a feeling with this story the neighbor called the cops because the kid was playing basketball for an hour and a half."
mistress rotwang:
"Honestly if it makes it so I don't have to hear the ------- monsters when I am trying to sit outside in the summer then it is a good thing. ---- parents and breeders they get enough tax dollars anyway."
stillwaters:
"I'm with mistress rotwang. The entire fambly (sarcastic spelling) lost any iota of sympathy at 'basketball' and 'ninety minutes'."
lenona at June 17, 2015 3:08 PM
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