“A few days later, DFCS presented Patterson with a “safety plan” for her to sign. It would require her to delegate a “safety person” to be a “knowing participant and guardian” and watch over the children whenever she leaves home. The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son’s phone allowing for his location to be monitored. (The day when it will be illegal not to track one’s kids is rapidly approaching.)”
I was around this kid’s age when I was at a friend’s house for a sleep over and we decided to leave his house at 2 am and go downtown and see what was happening. We had big backpacks full of stuff because we were 10 and it was an adventure. Cops drove by and looked at us as they drove by and didn’t slow down. And the town was a whole hell of a lot bigger than the 370 population of this one. There were also a lot of people likely to be stumbling out of the downtown bars at 2 am, but I don’t remember anything other than the cops driving by and looking at us. Apparently Indiana cops back then didn’t think it was all that big a deal.
But things have changed for kids since the 1980s and, in cases like this, not for the better.
If anything, the cops should have been more on the ball in your case. I would have been grateful as a parent. Bring the kid home and let it end there. What happened in this article is describing something so very far on the other side of the pendulum. Good grief.
As for me, I managed to stay out of sight of the police. And I will admit that there are times when the police would have had very very good reason to take me downtown. 😬 I can’t even count how many times the cops brought my older brother home. But in every case, it ended there.
I’m guessing the cops want to make sure kids are better controlled these days that way they can more effectively shoot other innocent kids with all that extra free time they have.
It was the 80s. They were probably just glad we were just walking through downtown with backpacks on and not taking a hit off a homeless man’s crack pipe without heeding Nancy Reagan’s warning about saying no.