To The Man Who Called the Police on 2 Little Girls Instead of Calling (1 Viewer)

[LarryAllen'sJockstrap]

1. I was a latchkey kid in the late 80s and early 90s. I would be out exploring, riding bikes for hours at a time.

2. 6 and 7 does seem young; I think I was 10 or so before I could go past our street.

3. If the kids seemed calm and fine and were able to ask for their parents to be called, calling 911 is a joke.

4. Our family court system is a joke. The time and resources spent to go after what seem to be fairly innocent parents when there are god knows how many children living with convicted criminals, druggies, abusive parents is mind-blowing. I really wonder of these people have money, so the system milks them, while ignoring those I mentioned above because they usually don't have money.

 

[DaVinci]

There was likely no problem with the police until they got back to this chicks house.

Then she probably started yapping...

I'm sure she just told them she was going to talk with chefs about future work opportunities.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Pretty sure my mom and dad took 3 day trips to Vegas when I was 6-7. Big sister was in charge @ 12-13. Might have been some aunts who stopped by in the morning/evening to make sure we were alive.

I was as free range as they come, but with 3 older sibs and a couple hundred eyeballs around the lake & village we grew up in - and every other kid being outside from dawn til dusk - seems like no big deal.

6 or 7 seems too young to be out of sight. I probably would have walked them back home but I can see calling the cops is an option for some.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Don't worry, our 6 and 7 year old girls have been taught self defense in case they need it... No, we haven't taught them not to talk to strangers.

"It would be rude to not take candy from someone or to help them look for a lost puppy."

 

[Psychopav]

Not the man's fault that the police completely overreacted imo. Voted assuming "911" could also mean calling the non-emergency number.

 

[sublimeone]

This women's angry letter should be directed at the police officers who arrested her, not the person who took time out of their day to make sure two little unsupervised girls would get home safely.

 

[fatness]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

 

[spreagle]

Young kids, some in diapers, are hanging out and wandering all over the place in the city and no one is calling the cops on them. The problem is that there isn't enough kids wandering around in the suburbs, and when a couple happen to go exploring they stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[Hang 10]

Good thing the creek was in view of the window.

 

[Courtjester]

Calling the police wasn't unreasonable, but the police arresting the parents is absurd.

Yeah, this is kind of where I fall. There is no way kids that age should be out that far from home alone and unsupervised. The whole argument about he should have called the parents and not the police is a joke. Just judging by how she comes across in this letter, she wouldn't have taken too kindly to a person calling her about her kid. Frankly, that is a problem a lot of good samaritans run into. You think you are helping and it is perceived as you are just being nosey. This lady would have given him an earful if he bothered her.

However this is also the type of mom you can just see on Dateline or whatever show, after the two children were abducted or found brutally murdered, wondering why someone ANYONE didn't call the police when they saw two "little children" wandering aimlessly through a parking lot. Why didn't anyone help?

The police don't just arrest parents to arrest parents. They have discretion in these matters and I am guessing this woman came across as a jerk to them and she got charged. What is more interesting is if the case is still in a pretrial posture, this letter could actually open her up to more charges for intimidation of a victim/witness as in most criminal cases there is a protective order entered against harassment or contacting potential victims/witnesses.

Bottom line lady, watch your darn kids when they are this age. Don't worry, they will be out of your house soon enough, so just do your job for the few years you need to.

 

[timschochet]

Yes we do treat kids differently nowadays. I wandered a lot too as a kid (though even then, 6 and 7 seems young to be allowed to wander). It's not any more dangerous, but the culture is different because we're all more aware of dangerous anecdotes. Then too, girls are perceived as more in danger than boys are.

The woman shouldn't have been arrested, but her real gripe is with the police. The rest of her letter is absurd.

 

[boots11234]

I let my 7 year old play outside with other neighborhood kids. Though I live in the suburbs and all the neighbors watch out for each other.

 

[jonessed]

The police were the ones who took it way too far.

 

[culdeus]

Has someone run this by snopes? Seems fishy

 

[TenTimes]

This whole thing is kinda like an M. N. Shamalyan movie, so here's the twist ending:

The moms and girls are ageless shapeshifting karma personified and they visit us at random times in our lives to test us. We face tests everyday of our lives, but when it is a test carried out by these agents, it is a real life chance to earn or lose karma, the only opportunities we have to do so. And time travel is involved somehow, just for fun.

 

[Courtjester]

Has someone run this by snopes? Seems fishy

No, there is actually a website where these stories are on. The top one on there is a story complaining about the cops being called on a mom who left her baby in a locked car (but just for a short period of time according to her)

 

[tjnc09]

I wouldn't expect anything less from someone posting on something called freerangekids.com. Sounds so horrible she has time to pen a long anonymous letter on the internets and accept financial donations from strangers. The horror!

 

[Ned]

I never quite buy the claim that things are as safe for kids now as 50 years ago. Statistics may be the same, but people are also way more protective of their kids and kids today spend way more time inside. So it's very possible that statistics are where they are only because parents are more careful. In which case a 6 and 7 year old wandering around by themselves are even bigger targets.

And I'll say this about the guy that called the police: in today's world I'd do that 100 times out of 100 instead of calling the parents. A male adult with 2 young girls is just asking for the police to be called on him by another stranger or even risking having the kids make up lies and the parents calling the police. Calling the police himself protected him from insane sexual abuse charges.

What a sad world we live in... This whole things is stupid on the surface, but I'm usually pretty skeptical of someone who's being overly adamant about their point. Tells me she's hiding something.

Is absolutely absurd that they arrested the parents based on what she wrote, but like I said... She's coming off as embellishing to over compensate for something.

 

[mcintyre1]

In today's world, you don't let 6 year old kids just wander off. I am not sure what this lady is thinking somehow insisting it was a shark move on her part.

Today's world is not any more dangerous than the world we grew up in. By most statistics, it's less so.

 

[jon_mx]

In today's world, you don't let 6 year old kids just wander off. I am not sure what this lady is thinking somehow insisting it was a shark move on her part.

Today's world is not any more dangerous than the world we grew up in. By most statistics, it's less so.

40 years ago nobody cared if a six year old was running around alone. Today it is child neglect. Things are different today if only in perception of society. Child protective services are also more powerful and agresive, and in some cases overly zealous.

 

[SayWhat?]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

The mom makes it sound like this, just because the one girl supposedly knew her phone number. But that doesn't mean that the girl actually knew to tell this stranger her parents number, nor if he asked them for it (I wouldn't have thought to ask a 6 year old her phone number).

This mom may be frustrated, but this situation was her own fault IMO.

 

[Todd Andrews]

That guy is a ninny.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

There was likely no problem with the police until they got back to this chicks house.

Then she probably started yapping...

This is what I was going to post. In a vacuum, the police seem to have grossly overreacted. But it would not surprise me to learn that DC Mom and her friends decided to mouth off, resulting in the situation escalating. Not that that would justify arresting anybody of course, just making it a little more understandable.

 

[jon_mx]

I kind of doubt it was the police. They probably turn cases like this over to child protective services who make the call on how to proceed. I am sure there were some more interviews.

 

[belljr]

I used to walk to school when I was in kindergarten. .

thought I'd share

 

[KarmaPolice]

I used to walk to school when I was in kindergarten. .

thought I'd share

howi far was the walk?

 

[belljr]

I used to walk to school when I was in kindergarten. .

thought I'd share

howi far was the walk?

about half a mile

 

[timschochet]

I used to walk to school when I was in kindergarten. .

thought I'd share

howi far was the walk?

about half a mile

Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

 

[belljr]

So you don't think I walked to school in my small town in 1976? It's not like I was the only one

 

[cstu]

So you don't think I walked to school in my small town in 1976? It's not like I was the only one

I remember having to walk three blocks to school by myself when I was 6. My mom had to go to work early so I'd have to walk there when the sun wasn't even out yet (7-ish).

 

[cstu]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

The mom makes it sound like this, just because the one girl supposedly knew her phone number. But that doesn't mean that the girl actually knew to tell this stranger her parents number, nor if he asked them for it (I wouldn't have thought to ask a 6 year old her phone number).

This mom may be frustrated, but this situation was her own fault IMO.

My 5 year old knows her phone number. Address and phone number are things you should teach your kids as early as possible.

 

[Flying V]

Times sure have changed. I remember when I was 11 delivering papers so early in the morning I needed a light on my bike just to see where I was going. My parents were praised by our neighbor for raising a kid with such a good work ethic.

 

[bigbottom]

Times sure have changed. I remember when I was 11 delivering papers so early in the morning I needed a light on my bike just to see where I was going. My parents were praised by our neighbor for raising a kid with such a good work ethic.

Big difference between 6 and 11. Also a difference between delivering papers in the neighborhood and tooling around a shopping center.

 

[3C's]

Times sure have changed. I remember when I was 11 delivering papers so early in the morning I needed a light on my bike just to see where I was going. My parents were praised by our neighbor for raising a kid with such a good work ethic.

Big difference between 6 and 11. Also a difference between delivering papers in the neighborhood and tooling around a shopping center.

Worse yet a creek. Those 2 places stand out to me. Not the same as delivering papers or walking to school.

 

[comfortably numb]

White people problems.

In the ghetto this would be called tuesday.

 

[fatness]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

The mom makes it sound like this, just because the one girl supposedly knew her phone number. But that doesn't mean that the girl actually knew to tell this stranger her parents number, nor if he asked them for it (I wouldn't have thought to ask a 6 year old her phone number).

This mom may be frustrated, but this situation was her own fault IMO.

The article posted said the police-calling guy had the phone number.

"But I don’t know why you didn’t call us when you were given a phone number that would have reached us immediately."

 

[bigbottom]

I never quite buy the claim that things are as safe for kids now as 50 years ago. Statistics may be the same, but people are also way more protective of their kids and kids today spend way more time inside. So it's very possible that statistics are where they are only because parents are more careful. In which case a 6 and 7 year old wandering around by themselves are even bigger targets.

This is an interesting take that I hadn't considered before. Had to be way easier to snatch a kid back in the day.

 

[SayWhat?]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

The mom makes it sound like this, just because the one girl supposedly knew her phone number. But that doesn't mean that the girl actually knew to tell this stranger her parents number, nor if he asked them for it (I wouldn't have thought to ask a 6 year old her phone number).This mom may be frustrated, but this situation was her own fault IMO.

The article posted said the police-calling guy had the phone number.

"But I dont know why you didnt call us when you were given a phone number that would have reached us immediately."

I'm not sure from that statement there's any way to know for sure that the cops or random guy had the parents phone number. It may very well be that crazy mom assumed that because her jiujitsu-trained-more-responsible-than-her-age six year old knew their phone number, that the little girl automatically passed that along to the cops. Remember, this is the moms story...not an accurate reflection of what necessarily went down.

 

[bigbottom]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

The mom makes it sound like this, just because the one girl supposedly knew her phone number. But that doesn't mean that the girl actually knew to tell this stranger her parents number, nor if he asked them for it (I wouldn't have thought to ask a 6 year old her phone number).This mom may be frustrated, but this situation was her own fault IMO.

The article posted said the police-calling guy had the phone number.

"But I dont know why you didnt call us when you were given a phone number that would have reached us immediately."

I'm not sure from that statement there's any way to know for sure that the cops or random guy had the parents phone number. It may very well be that crazy mom assumed that because her jiujitsu-trained-more-responsible-than-her-age six year old knew their phone number, that the little girl automatically passed that along to the cops. Remember, this is the moms story...not an accurate reflection of what necessarily went down.

Actually, DC Mom's daughter didn't know their phone number. It was her daughter's friend that supposedly knew her parents' number.

Also, it's worth noting that they weren't at DC Mom's house. They were visiting family friends.

 

[Flying V]

Times sure have changed. I remember when I was 11 delivering papers so early in the morning I needed a light on my bike just to see where I was going. My parents were praised by our neighbor for raising a kid with such a good work ethic.

Big difference between 6 and 11. Also a difference between delivering papers in the neighborhood and tooling around a shopping center.

I agree, but just to clarify, are you saying it's acceptable these days to let your 11 year old pedal down a narrow, unlit rural road at 5 AM?

I've met some folks that think not. I'm kind of on the fence.

 

[parasaurolophus]

I love how people that teach their kids to be wary of strangers are somehow prohibiting them from making valuable life connections. JFC these are 6-7 year old girls. What "connections" are they going to make when wandering off? So stupid.

 

[cstu]

I never quite buy the claim that things are as safe for kids now as 50 years ago. Statistics may be the same, but people are also way more protective of their kids and kids today spend way more time inside. So it's very possible that statistics are where they are only because parents are more careful. In which case a 6 and 7 year old wandering around by themselves are even bigger targets.

And I'll say this about the guy that called the police: in today's world I'd do that 100 times out of 100 instead of calling the parents. A male adult with 2 young girls is just asking for the police to be called on him by another stranger or even risking having the kids make up lies and the parents calling the police. Calling the police himself protected him from insane sexual abuse charges.

There were no cameras 50 years ago so if someone wanted to kidnap a child then all they had to do was wait until there was no one around to see.

Now we have cameras everywhere and it's very difficult to get away with kidnapping a kid off the street without getting seen by a camera.

As for the last paragraph, sadly you are right.

 

[the moops]

The top one on there is a story complaining about the cops being called on a mom who left her baby in a locked car (but just for a short period of time according to her)

have we discussed this scenario in here?I have left my kid/kids in a locked car while I have run into my work for a minute or into a store to buy something real quick.

 

[Drunken Poster]

But I have an eight-year old (and an 11 year old). And the eight-year old? Either my wife or I have eyeballs on her every 4-5 minutes in our yard.

You can't let your 8 year old in the yard more than 5 minutes without checking on her/him?

Correct. Though "checking on her" doesn't mean she has to see us or talk with us. We just make sure we see where she is, what she's up to, etc. Even in a stealthy way.

Our daughter also has a healthy fear of big dogs...after seeing a neighbor's dog take after my wife one time...in our yard. Bit her with a deep wound in her leg...and the dog had to be put down, since the neighbor never gave the animal its vaccinations/shots. Blood, hospital visit, et al. [hijack] Apparently in our town, the right to own animals that bark 24/7, and are often roaming around a few blocks from their home without a leash, is more important than other human beings not having to listen to said barking or take EXTRA time/care to try and make sure their daughter, a nature and animal lover, is safe...and isn't woken up in the middle of the night with nightmares about dogs biting her or her mom in the neck/face. [/hijack]

I'm not saying smother your kids...not give them any room to explore and grow their independence! But eight years old isn't old enough for her to be roaming around without us necessarily knowing where she is. And at 6 or 7 (the ages of the kids in the mom's account)? No chance in #### my wife and I would have gone 12+ minutes not having eyeballs on them.

I sometimes take naps while my kids are playing in the yard. Sucks that you live in such a dangerous place.

 

[PatsWillWin]

Police went over the top.

That said, it's shocking that the mother is bragging about how they don't teach their kids to not talk to strangers.

 

[fatness]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

The mom makes it sound like this, just because the one girl supposedly knew her phone number. But that doesn't mean that the girl actually knew to tell this stranger her parents number, nor if he asked them for it (I wouldn't have thought to ask a 6 year old her phone number).This mom may be frustrated, but this situation was her own fault IMO.

The article posted said the police-calling guy had the phone number.

"But I dont know why you didnt call us when you were given a phone number that would have reached us immediately."

I'm not sure from that statement there's any way to know for sure that the cops or random guy had the parents phone number. It may very well be that crazy mom assumed that because her jiujitsu-trained-more-responsible-than-her-age six year old knew their phone number, that the little girl automatically passed that along to the cops. Remember, this is the moms story...not an accurate reflection of what necessarily went down.

Actually, DC Mom's daughter didn't know their phone number. It was her daughter's friend that supposedly knew her parents' number.

Also, it's worth noting that they weren't at DC Mom's house. They were visiting family friends.

I'm not clear of why a parent was not called first. That seems the sensible first step to me.

 

[bigbottom]

So he got the parents phone number, but called police? Seems like a call to parents first was in order.

The mom makes it sound like this, just because the one girl supposedly knew her phone number. But that doesn't mean that the girl actually knew to tell this stranger her parents number, nor if he asked them for it (I wouldn't have thought to ask a 6 year old her phone number).This mom may be frustrated, but this situation was her own fault IMO.

The article posted said the police-calling guy had the phone number.

"But I dont know why you didnt call us when you were given a phone number that would have reached us immediately."

I'm not sure from that statement there's any way to know for sure that the cops or random guy had the parents phone number. It may very well be that crazy mom assumed that because her jiujitsu-trained-more-responsible-than-her-age six year old knew their phone number, that the little girl automatically passed that along to the cops. Remember, this is the moms story...not an accurate reflection of what necessarily went down.

Actually, DC Mom's daughter didn't know their phone number. It was her daughter's friend that supposedly knew her parents' number.Also, it's worth noting that they weren't at DC Mom's house. They were visiting family friends.

I'm not clear of why a parent was not called first. That seems the sensible first step to me.

I don't disagree. But why isn't it also sensible to call the cops? Why would the guy assume that the parents would be arrested and charged with a crime they didn't commit?As an aside, the arresting and charging of one parent of each child makes no sense to me if both parents of each were there. How does that work? Okay, the four of you robbed a bank, but we'll only arrest two of you. Who wants to go to jail?!?

 

[BobbyLayne]

As an aside, the arresting and charging of one parent of each child makes no sense to me if both parents of each were there. How does that work? Okay, the four of you robbed a bank, but we'll only arrest two of you. Who wants to go to jail?!?

If there are other kids, arresting both would mean putting all the kids in custody of CPS.

 

[bigbottom]

As an aside, the arresting and charging of one parent of each child makes no sense to me if both parents of each were there. How does that work? Okay, the four of you robbed a bank, but we'll only arrest two of you. Who wants to go to jail?!?

If there are other kids, arresting both would mean putting all the kids in custody of CPS.

So if the four bank robbers were two couples with children, two get to go free and won't even be arrested?

 

[bigbottom]

Yes, I'm being somewhat facetious, but it just seems odd to me that the cops would conclude that both parents were guilty of a crime, but give them the option of picking which one will be arrested. Also, to the extent that there is any jail time to be done (unlikely for a first time misdemeanor offense?), can't that be coordinated so both parents aren't locked up at the same time?