View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2006 > February > 05 > Entry
Near-fatal attraction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A man said he got a call from a girl he recently met. The call came in just before 2 a.m. The woman said she was in a black Dodge Intrepid, parked outside on Glen Forest Drive. She wanted to talk to him.
He opened the door and saw the car. It drove up, turned around and drove passed. The victim said he heard a loud bang, similar to a gunshot. He and a witness returned to the house and called police. The report said he has only met the suspect once and barely knows her.
This is a good example of why all of us need to make a good impression on anyone we meet.
When life imitates cartoons
A man said that around 2:15 a.m. he was in a club and was on the way to the bathroom. He opened the door and said he got caught up in a fight-in-progress that started between some guys inside the bathroom. The fight was apparently moving in a northeastern direction, through the door and out into the hall.
The victim said he got sucked into the fight and was hit. It appears to be very similar to when Popeye gets into a fight just after eating the spinach. All that can be seen is a big cloud with feet and arms sticking out.
I think it was something like that.
Other things:
— A man said that he was assaulted on Monterrey Parkway by a juvenile who was angry over being fired from his job. The juvenile was arrested. He was released to a family member pending his hearing. — An off-duty officer had to remove a man from the DJ booth of a Roswell Road nightclub. The man refused, so the officer removed him and told him that he would have to leave. The would-be music maker refused to do so. The Marietta man, 32, was arrested for criminal trespass and taken to FC jail.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Olfart
February 5, 2006 1:43 PM | Link to this
Releasing juvenile offenders to their parents just doesn’t cut it in this day and time. The parents are generally as much at fault as the juvenile since good parenting skills seem to be a thing of the past. A few days in a detention center might help early offenders learn the consequences of breaking the law. The more “chances” they get, the worse their offenses will become. I am a foster parent with DFACS and know how the lack of structure and simple disipline at home affects alot of today’s youngsters.
By Whitey Nichols
February 5, 2006 1:56 PM | Link to this
CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG ???
By CrazySailor
February 5, 2006 3:51 PM | Link to this
Lack of structure and simple discipline. It is a slippery slope. Seems that DFCS is pretty tough on the less fortunate, and they are terrified of imposing structure and discipline, or take discipline to mean a beating. Then, when DFCS intervenes, the child often gains control of the parents. There needs to be more resources and support for parents to help them help their children.
By Frank Oudkirk
February 6, 2006 7:51 AM | Link to this
Last Friday I heard on thwe Kim Petersen 640AM radio show that there have been several instances of thieves targeting people coming out of banks.
Two cases were reported that involed people leaving a bank with the contents of safety deposit box being obvious.
Thieves broke into their cars and stole the stuff.
The victims calim the cops told them this happens all the time.
Is this true?
If yes how should one avoid this?
By Theri
February 6, 2006 9:43 AM | Link to this
Crazy - You are absolutely correct.
I am a single mother of one (with no immediate family in the state of GA; my family is military) and thus would take my son to school with me in the evenings while earning my college degree. DFACS become involved (through a neighbor, whom I never met) and in court several months later I was deemed as not being a “good parent”. My education was to better the both of us; eventually financially, etc… It wasn’t important that I serve in a church every Sunday, that my son and I would go to Savannah or Tennessee every 3 months (for a weekend get-a-way), BUT that I WOULD HAVE THE SELFISH desire to further my education rather than stay at home with my child after my full 40 hour work week; thus to go to school as a single parent, dating very little, and maintaining a disclipine parenting skills with my child IS THE WRONG WAY. Maybe I should have went out to the bar or hung with drug users would have been the approval of DFACS. That system is screwed up. Even for “single fathers” whom I recently saw protesting outside Gwinnett’s Justice Center…Some who pay child support but DNA proves that it’s not theirs OR the others whom disclipine their distruptive child(ren) and let them stay an extra day in the Detention Center and NOW they are charged with child neglet… Help us Lord.
By Gman
February 6, 2006 12:07 PM | Link to this
My question is to Theri. How in the world did DFACS find you an unfit mother? You took your child with you while you went to school. What’s wrong with that? Maybe what’s wrong is we don’t have a good DFACS agency.
By Sherry
February 6, 2006 1:15 PM | Link to this
I have a granddaughter that has been raised the same as the older one..yet this one runs away from home, tries to ‘cut’ herself, has had the police called on her many times….assaulted her 18 year old sister who fell unconscious to the ground..police told 18 year old she could go to jail for assault…younger one was released to go back in house…we have tried to get help…mental, whatever…but the system keeps sending out counselors who tell her ..’when you get angry pretend you are on a purple cloud..yada yada yada…’ yeah right…what good is that purple cloud going to do when she eventually gets angry enough to kill…so much for DFACS, juvenile system…Cobb County Police…and so on and so on
By Rose
February 6, 2006 1:52 PM | Link to this
My observance of DFACS is that there are those who need help who don’t get it and then there are those who are good, decent people and get their kids taken away for some weird thing. There is entirely too much power given to these people. I know of a recent case where the DFACS workers overruled the judge’s orders, and we found out they are actually allowed to do that. They need reigning in. I know their jobs are tough and probably underpaid, but the system is flawed. The attitude, too, is that our children belong to the government, not to us, and they can swoop in with their sovereignty and make whatever judgements they want. If you have old food in your refrigerator, for example, they can deem you “unfit.” My word, then we’re all unfit in some way.
By norymoreezon
February 6, 2006 1:53 PM | Link to this
Theri…i’m with G-man, that doesn’t make sense that DFACS would get involved especially if your child is with you every evening….it would make sense if you worked all day, and than left your child alone while gone to school…are we missing something here? What would your neighbor be calling for? to say you’re not home? but neither is your child so what’s the point? For DFACS to become involved there is certainly more to the story. Just my .02
By jennifer
February 6, 2006 2:49 PM | Link to this
Theri- Amen. DFCS recently became involved in my family as well because they did not think it was right that I spanked my child. Mind you, DFCS told me that Georgia law does in fact say it’s ok to spank a child open-handed without leaving bruises, welts, or other marks, which is exactly what I did.
However, they keep returning children to families that truly DO abuse them sexually, mentally, and emotionally. That little spanking my daughter got was for calling me names. Gee, I guess I should have just allowed her to be disrespectful, huh?
I, too, saw the DFCS protests and it breaks my heart to know there is a good portion of good people out there who have had DFCS involved in their families when they shouldn’t have been.
When they came to my house the refrigerator was full of food, each child has their own bedroom, and my husband and I work full-time and we’re able to rent a four bedroom home in Midtown. However, we don’t have a lot of extras because of the amount of rent we pay, but all of the kids have a good home and go to good schools.
The most ironic thing about this to me is the fact that I divorced my previous husband because he truly was abusive to myself and to our son. I guess this is the thanks I get for getting out of a bad situation, moving to Atlanta, getting a full-time job, and trying to be involved in Boy Scouts, art club, Beta Club, and French Club that my children are involved in.
Yes, DFCS definitely has some HUGE issues that need to be addressed.
By jennifer
February 6, 2006 2:53 PM | Link to this
You know, I, too, would have thought that there must be more to Theri’s story had I not been living my own DFCS nightmare.
By lilianralton
February 6, 2006 4:41 PM | Link to this
America, you are so far behind the rest of the western world.How to get rid of DFACS?:
Live,behave and keep the morals of the civilized society you claim you are.
Educate yourself and stop having kids in your teenage years.All the money in this rich country cannot buy morals.Females,not males, are responsible for the moral calamity this society is in.Women can say NO anytime. Mothers and fathers and not grand parents should bring up their kids.As Nelson Mandela once said: The more educated the mind the more civil our actions.(interpreted).A fourteen year old is hardly capable of taking care of herself. How is she expected to bring up a child?How is she to know about sex if no one tells her the facts in a country which is obsessed with sex? Every western country supplies free contraceptions to women and men yet over here abortion seems to be the only contraception available when it comes to pregnancy prevention. Grow up America.Your ignorance is well known around the world.You do not need a reformed DFACS system.You need good a good education.
By Syena
February 6, 2006 6:42 PM | Link to this
I am a Human Rights worker at the grassrootslevel,thats fighting the social worker cults that have sprung up to give jobs to middle-class households via poor motherschildren.No considerations given to the child at all.The Universal Rights of the Childs totally ignored.Foster care research on the net already shows the horrors of this child trafficking,disguised as "social services".The Beatdown Club on PBS showed the results of snatching children from families and shifting them around from place to place.All social services workers need to learn the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,because atheists are the only ones that could treat our children as chattel property.The most dysfunctional family these children are snatched from,could never match the coldness they get from most foster parents,w******* only in it for the money.I have the documentation to prove it,and parents of these children need to file suit under international law,to stop the plundering of our children.I have sent my complaint to International Law Center in Geneva, Switzerland.Somebody has to stand up for our children`s future.Earth Mother,Syena
By steve rose
February 6, 2006 10:28 PM | Link to this
Wow, what a great photo of Detective Rose! It looks so much better than the previous ones. Great job ajc. I’ll always read this blog!
By T. Turner
February 6, 2006 10:35 PM | Link to this
My thought of DFACS is that they are very much over worked and under paid. You place so many case loads on their plate and pay them $28,000/yr to be responsible for the lives of some many children. We have to find a better way in handling this. Some caseworkers are immature with very little life experience and here they are making major decisions with someone else life. What is wrong with this picture? So, can we blame DFACS? the government? our state laws? Who is to blame for this travesty? Today’s kids have too much freedom to treat their parents like children. What happened to “good rearing?” Those days are long gone. We cannot discipline our children like our parents discipline us. Nothing happened to us.
By Olfart
February 7, 2006 5:09 AM | Link to this
I’m afraid you all missed my point. I did not suggest that DFACS get involved with juveniles who begin to break the law. The Juvenile Justice system needs to be changed so that offenders learn the consequences of breaking the law. The juvenile who committed assault in this instance needs a few days in a detention facility.
By esl
February 8, 2006 12:34 PM | Link to this
If parents were to/allowed to discipline their children, the children would already know the conseqenses of breaking rule/laws before the juvenile justice system knew their name.
By Samantha
February 9, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
Law abiding, hardworking Christian family, mom, dad, boys age 5 & 8. No drugs, alcohol but parents smoke.
School has sessions on drugs and drug abuse and include tobacco in with drugs, tell how the kids should report parents for drug abuse, give them a phone number to call.
Five year old is unable to diffrenciate drugs from the cigarettes and calls the number given to report the parents “drug” use. Apparently no one bothered to ask questions.
Cops show up at parents home conducting a “drug raid” and totally trash home. No drugs were found. Cigarettes, yes, but no durgs. Parents and police were able to clear up the matter on the spot after talking with the boy that called to report his parents.
One week later DFACS showed up, papers in hand, to remove both boys from the home because of drugs. Never mind that the whole thing was a misunderstanding on the child’s part and an appology was issued by the police.
End result….it took 2 months for the parents to get their boys back. She lost her job and they lost their home because they had to hire a lawyer, something they could not afford to do but it was the only way to get their kids back.
Ture story folks….it happened five years ago and this family is just now recovering financially. The emotional scars will always be there but these are strong God-fearing, loving people.
Was DFACS ever questioned on this? Yes, but there was no appology and no fallout in the system. Seems “THEY” are always right.