Three Stories

    Way back in 2019, a couple in Killingsly, Connecticut decided to let their kids, ages 7 and 9 walk down to the Dunkin' Donuts by themselves. It was Super Bowl Sunday, the kids had cleaned their rooms and mom and dad thought they deserved a treat. Killingsly is a town in the northeast corner of the state. The family's home was near an elementary school, a police barracks, high-end Victorian style homes, sidewalks, crosswalks, dog-walks, and a library. The kids got $7 from the parents and off they went. What could go wrong?

    Not long after, a policeman is knocking at the door. He informed the parents that it wasn't safe for their kids to be walking in the neighborhood alone. The parents disagreed; but they said they would walk with the kids next time. Thinking that was the end of it, three more cops show up. They send the dad to go get the kids. Now the questions started coming like machine-gun fire. The additional police described the neighborhood as infested with sex-offenders and drug-dealers. “Don’t you read the papers?” they ask. The police report makes clear that the police are obsessed with sex-offenders. According to the police report, the officers also claimed they had received over a dozen 911 calls (mind you, the kids had only gotten past 4 homes). The police then charge the parents with risk of injury to a minor. Then they arrested the husband. And while this was going on, the wife was trying to talk to the officers when finally one of the officers says to the husband, "If she talks to me again, I'm going to arrest you both and take away your kids."

    To make a long story short, the husband gets back home and a few days later gets a call from the police saying the charges have been dropped. But we're not done yet. A representative of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) shows up. She starts snooping around like these parents are the Manson family and she writes a complete history. She opens a case, etc., etc., but finally closes her case, too. 

    In closing, the wife is quoted as saying, “…I've lived in this area most of my life. I have never felt threatened by a single person in this town until meeting those officers and the social worker."

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    In December 2020 in Teaneck, NJ (a suburb of New York City) a town councilman, Keith Kaplan, got a call from friends asking if it was okay that their kids walked around the neighborhood alone with parental permission. It seemed the cops were at their house. Mr. Kaplan immediately went over. A retired cop called his former comrades-in-arms to report a child by herself out in the cold.

    The responding officer found the 7-year-old, appropriately dressed, taking a walk around the neighborhood. The officer proceeded to walk her home where, upon arrival, the young girl (obviously with a respect for the police) welcomed the officer in and introduced him to her parents (all videotaped by Mr. Kaplan as well as being written up in the police report). However, the officer REFUSED to release her to the parents unless they showed some ID. They declined, arguing they hadn't done anything wrong. The officer called for back-up. 

    Now the 7-year-old girl is crying. The father did what any dad would do and went to hug his child and tell her it's ok. Police back-up arrives and they arrest the father...with handcuffs. The police report said the dad was interfering as they were taking his daughter into protective custody. He's saying to the officers "I'm not going to let you do that!" Three officers wrestle him to the ground and off he goes...obstruction of justice. Now a child protective services rep interviews him in his CELL, finds that he's no threat to anyone. He's released, given a court date, found guilty, and has to pay $133. 

    The councilman, Keith Kaplan, subsequently drafts a bill in response to the incident. His Childhood Independence Bill represents an effort, in this town anyway, to stop treating every kid like they are in constant mortal danger, and that every adult, especially a parent, isn't a potential predator.

    Kaplan's bill passed, so hopefully Teaneck's kids can be kids and parents can stop looking over their shoulders.

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    Finally, in Pearisburg, Virginia, Emily Fields' three kids were playing outside with a soccer ball on a nice warm day in early May 2021. The boy, aged 4 (his two sisters were 6 and 8) kicked the ball across the street and missed the neighbor’s cat. The neighbor was not amused. She yelled and took their ball. Really?

    Later, mom takes the boy over to apologize. The neighbor starts yelling again (why does every neighborhood have these neighbors?). She screams that the kids abuse animals, everyone thinks she's a horrible mother, and they were going to call CPS...which she did.

    To keep this short, CPS accused the parents of everything but molestation. They accused the parents of inadequate supervision (the kids knocked on neighbors doors to raise money for school by selling Easter eggs), insisting that the parents had to be supervising the kids AT ALL TIMES!

    These nitwits even presented the parents with a 5-point safety plan. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the immense power of the state...they signed it. Here's the plan in its entirety:

Initial report related to child safety: Children not being supervised at all times when out doors. One child is mean to animals.

Summary of safety factors identified and any protective capacities that mitigate the safety concerns: Inadequate supervision.

Immediate needs identified by family and/or worker: Children deserve home free of abuse/neglect.

Caretakers' actions/referrals/safety plan: Emily, Sophie [Fields' sister], and Gary agree to supervise the children at all times when playing outside.

Worker plans/actions: If safety plan is violated, a protective order will be filed.

    In other words, if these kids ever play outside again...alone...they might be taken away...BY THE STATE! Is this what we've come to with stories like these? I know I'm gonna hear from some of you, "Peter, you're not a parent. You don't know what the fear is like." Or, "Peter, times have changed since we were kids." Please, just stop. First of all, I was a kid and I had parents. I know...something. Secondly, times haven't changed that much except everyone's got a video camera in their hands and the evil things that happen can be virally transmitted in seconds. Trust me, there was evil in Bristol, Pa., in 1968. My friends and I still rode our bikes from one end of Bristol to the other. We're okay. But that's not even the point here. 

    Let me say again, my conservatism is not anti-government; it's pro-liberty. It's not about getting rid of the state like those morons who committed sedition and stormed the nation's capitol building not long ago wanted to do; it's about the state not having the overwhelming power to stifle the individual, and dare I say, ripping children from their parents for playing hopscotch or basketball in the neighborhood by themselves. Secondly, as I've said before on this site...I'm pro-police. I'll grant you, the police make it more and more difficult to be supportive these days. But I think I'm correct when I say that the police in the above stories are the exceptions to the rule. True, there are good police and bad police. I've known both, personally, from Bucks County to Boston...and they need to be better. More importantly, so do the laws. Because I'm tired of reading these stories.