Cops, 40 minutes to respond to daycare incident

[NickNitro]

Thats absolute bull#$*(

This is a horrible story. We entrust these people with our safety, especially children's safety and this is what we get?

Shift change is a B.S. excuse! Guess they were too busy

 

[Pink Ranger]

I thought in the USA if the cops don't show up you could just stomp a mudhole on that guy.

 

[danoyse]

I wouldn't assume anything. Just like I wouldn't assume this guy meant "I'm going to kidnap the children" when he said "God told me to take the children".

Is it cause for concern? Yes.

It is cause for sheer panic? No. Unless he was, you know, actually trying to kidnap the children. Doesn't seem like he was.

Except that yeah, it appears that he was.

They were not his children. He did not have the permission of the parents to take the children. He has no valid reason to try to take these children.

In the last two months, there has been a massacre at an elementary school, and a madman stormed onto a school bus, killed the driver, took a 5-year-old from that bus and held the boy hostage in an underground bunker for days.

You really don't think, that in light of all this (not to mention the plain common sense that any stranger who comes after a child should be treated as a threat), that this isn't something the police should have responded to right away?

Even if this person did not have a gun, he is a threat. He wanted to take the children that he had no right to take. Even if he was simply escorted to the door, there is nothing to stop from lurking around the school and try to snatch a child on his own. There's nothing to stop him from trying to come into the school again. Maybe that time he would have a gun.

The police needed to respond immediately to respond to this person. If he was just a nut, fine. But if he was someone who was going to try this at another school, or someone who was going to menacing others outside of the schools, the police need to respond right away. Which means show up as soon as they're notified by the school, not wave it off during a shift change.

If you didn't think that was important enough for the cops to cone immediately, then I'm glad you're not a cop.

 

[Schlosser85]

Not only am I glad he's not a cop, I sincerely hope he's also not a parent.

 

[Gotham Knight]

There's a certain bit of sad irony when you realize those asinine comments are coming from someone named "The Guard".

 

[danoyse]

That's not my argument. I'm just saying...who the bad place knows what he meant? He's a nutjob.

My argument is that it's not apparently that serious a situation based on what actually physically happened.



It's a matter of common sense. I'm fairly certain that after about 30 seconds, the parents and staff probably realized that the guy wasn't anywhere near making off with the kids, and that he was in fact, crazy.

Yeah, that's ok. He's just crazy. Obviously, he didn't seem to look like he was really going to do it. Let's not bother the cops with this silliness.

And now that he knows that simply asking at the school doesn't work, maybe he'll try a different way to do it next time. Maybe he'll drive around town and lure a child into his car, or into his house. Because a 6-year-old can easily spot a nut job as well as an adult can, especially when he starts bringing God into the conversation.

And because it obviously wasn't an important enough issue to alert the cops, who could have investigated this person - maybe even searched his home, his car, his computer if he had one, there was certainly no reason to alert neighborhood parents that someone they didn't know tried to take their children from the school.

It's mind-blowing how much you don't understand this.

 

[danoyse]

I feel like it says he said "God told me to take the children". Not kidnap them. And it's a moot point, because the parents obviously didn't buy his story. Was he actually kidnapping them? No? Then what's the big deal? The man's likely nuts.

That's not my argument. I'm just saying...who the bad place knows what he meant? He's a nutjob.

My argument is that it's not apparently that serious a situation based on what actually physically happened.



It's a matter of common sense. I'm fairly certain that after about 30 seconds, the parents and staff probably realized that the guy wasn't anywhere near making off with the kids, and that he was in fact, crazy.

You seem fairly certain of a lot of things here. After reading a few articles about this incident, I'm fairly certain that you're incorrect about all of them.

It's reported that what the man was heard saying was that "the children need to go with God," which could very well be a threat. After all, what's the fastest way for someone to meet God?

The man originally tried to enter through the playground gate. Not the front office, but the place the children would be. When he found it locked, he entered through the front door (which was also locked, but he was let in by a parent who mistook him for another parent).

He was immediately escorted out of the building and the police were called, but the man made no attempt to leave. He lingered around the entrance, arguing with staff and parents who had witnessed the incident that he needed to send the children to God. He did not appear to be willing to give this "mission" of up. That went on for 40 minutes, because it took that long for the cops to show up. And that is inexcusable. It was dangerous for him to be there, and they should have responded sooner.

That's common sense. Unlike anything you posted here so far.

 

[The Guard]

So according to you there should be absolutely no accountability for law enforcement to act in a timely fashion during an emergency? Jesus Christ.

No...where have I said that? Where have I remotely implied that?

It's obvious that you didn't bother to read the article in the link, because the man really wasn't calm at all. He confronted the parents and was arguing with them, presumably about his intent to kidnap their children, and the situation escalated.

I both read the article and viewed the video.

There is nothing there that says that the man wasn’t calm when he gained entry to the building. All it says is that he got into the lobby because a parent let him into the building. And that he said “God told me to take the children”. There is nothing about an altercation involving this man until a “verbal fight broke out outside the daycare”. And there are no details about what this fight was about, what it consisted of, etc. For all we know it was some angry parent calling the guy names and trying to get him to leave. Maybe the guy WAS becoming violent. I don't know based on the info in that article/video.

It's ironic the poster talking about common sense thinks there's little to worry about when a mentally deranged man busts into a daycare center and announces his intention to take all the children for God. Remind me never to ask you to babysit, Guard.

I did not say “There is little to worry about”. I quite clearly said “It’s cause for concern”.

And I certainly never said “let him take the children”.

Nor did he “bust” into a daycare center. He walked in the front door.

It's a good thing you are typing on the internet...because it must be awful hard to talk with both feet in your mouth.

Over what, exactly?

The job of the police is to arrive as quickly as possible when notified of dangerous situations...not to wait around and decide later if that situation could have possibly maybe become one.

I never said that isn’t their job. I made a guess as to why they may have had a delayed response. I never said it was the right move on their part, or that it wasn’t incompetence. I never made a value judgment on it at all.

All I pointed out was that based on what actually happened, the situation wasn’t quite as dire as people seem to want it to have been.

An adult male who is not on the approved pickup list arriving at a school, gaining access to it, and announcing that God had sent him to pick up the kids...is a potentially dangerous situation. If you are saying you do not see this...then you have worse problems that that guy did....or are trolling...which is pretty much covered by last statement anyway.

I have said quite clearly that it is a cause for concern.

The cops could very well have been busy...BUT....when they are told just months after a crazy person killed 21 kids at a school that a man has entered a school and announced that God had sent him to get the kids...then, you become unbusy very very fast. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can figure out what calls need immediate attention and what calls can be put off for a little bit.

Cat stuck in tree....it can wait.
Someone calls 911 because their pizza was delivered cold....it can wait.
The neighbors music is too loud....it can wait.

Unauthorized unknown man entered school and announced that God had sent him to pick up the kids...you get your ash there as soon as possible.

I never said otherwise.

All I said is that cops tend to prioritize incidents, and that they tend to deprioritize crazy people unless there’s a legitimate direct threat. I never said they made the right choice in this instance. And that’s apparently not why they were delayed anyway. Supposedly it was due to a shift change.

They were not his children. He did not have the permission of the parents to take the children. He has no valid reason to try to take these children.

That’s not “trying to kidnap someone”, though.

If he’s not physically attempting to take a child elsewhere, he is not attempting to kidnap them.

Might he have? I dunno. But he wasn’t. He walked into the daycare and he told the front desk that God told him to take the children. He did not actually physically attempt to take the children as far as I can tell.

In the last two months, there has been a massacre at an elementary school, and a madman stormed onto a school bus, killed the driver, took a 5-year-old from that bus and held the boy hostage in an underground bunker for days.

You really don't think, that in light of all this (not to mention the plain common sense that any stranger who comes after a child should be treated as a threat), that this isn't something the police should have responded to right away?

Of course it’s something the police should have responded to right away. I never said it wasn’t.

If you didn't think that was important enough for the cops to cone immediately, then I'm glad you're not a cop.

Again, I never that it wasn’t a concern, or that the police shouldn’t have responded immediately.

Yeah, that's ok. He's just crazy. Obviously, he didn't seem to look like he was really going to do it. Let's not bother the cops with this silliness.

It's mind-blowing how much you don't understand this.

What’s mind blowing is how much you guys don’t understand my actual point. I
think a lot of it is being taken out of the context it was intended for in the first place, because you seem to be focused in on my response to someone, but are ignoring the statement I responded to in the first place.

I have not once said “don’t bother the cops with this”, or that the situation didn’t need to be addressed, or anything remotely close to that.

I think Guard's problem is he's too proud to admit he's wrong. Because he's clearly not winning this argument on points. C Lee just sent him back to school.

I’m not trying to win an argument, other than that I've certainly never made some of the points I’m now being said to have made.

You seem fairly certain of a lot of things here. After reading a few articles about this incident, I'm fairly certain that you're incorrect about all of them.

I’m not sure why you think I’m fairly certain about all of it, when I say “Who the bad place knows what the man meant?”

What other articles are out there? This is the only one I’ve read or been able to locate.

The man originally tried to enter through the playground gate. Not the front office, but the place the children would be. When he found it locked, he entered through the front door (which was also locked, but he was let in by a parent who mistook him for another parent).

He was immediately escorted out of the building and the police were called, but the man made no attempt to leave. He lingered around the entrance, arguing with staff and parents who had witnessed the incident that he needed to send the children to God. He did not appear to be willing to give this "mission" of up. That went on for 40 minutes, because it took that long for the cops to show up. And that is inexcusable. It was dangerous for him to be there, and they should have responded sooner.

That's common sense. Unlike anything you posted here so

I never said it was common sense that the police didn’t show up right away.

I said it was common sense that the parents should have been able to see that the guy wasn’t exactly running off with their kids, in the middle of actually kidnapping them, etc. Because someone said that he was essentially kidnapping the children.

 

[Gotham Knight]

I never said it was common sense that the police didn’t show up right away.

I said it was common sense that the parents should have been able to see that the guy wasn’t exactly running off with their kids, in the middle of actually kidnapping them, etc. Because someone said that he was essentially kidnapping the children.

Yeah...

Just stop.

 

[C. Lee]

The Guard.....you are so full of crap I'm surprised you haven't exploded and caused a biohazard alert in your city.

You definately have to be one of two things....either you are a troll, trolling along doing what trolls do.....or you are a[BLACKOUT] I would say it but I don't want to get an infraction for telling a trolling troll what I think of him.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[James]

Don't back down, Guard! This is great!

 

[danoyse]

Oh, Guard...you don't even know what you're talking about anymore. Other than spinning nonsense that you were trying to make a point (and failing) somewhere.

It's not difficult to learn more about this story. I read the article and them google'd "Learning Center" (the name of the daycare) to see if there was more. And there was!

This is what happened:

-A man, described as a vagrant, turned up a day care center in Florida. He attempted to enter the facility through a locked playground gate. When that failed, he slipped in the front door with the parents who were dropping off their children. The front door is locked, but someone mistook him for another parent and held the door for him.

-The man approached the front desk and told the staff that "the children needed to go with God," and that he was there to take them to God. This was also heard by parents who were dropping off their children.

-Daycare staff immediately escorted the man from the building and called police. The man lingered around the front entrance and continued to argue with parents and staff about needing to "take the children to God". This went on for 40 minutes because that's how long it took the police to finally show up. An emergency dispatcher stayed on the phone with the daycare staff, but no police showed for 40 minutes.

-The man didn't take the children because there were adults present to prevent him from doing so. If he had gotten into the playground as he originally intended, it was entirely possible he could have snatched or lured one or more children from the playground. Again, a locked gate and the presence of adults to protect the children prevented him from doing so.

-Furthermore, common sense dictates that the police were called not only due to the disturbance at this center, but because a clearly disturbed man was trying to get at the children. I've pointed this out before, but what's to say he doesn't just attempt to lure another child away from someplace else? That is a risk you do not take, which is why the cops needed to show up as soon as they were called.

For example, if my nephews were over and a man knocked on my door saying that he needed to take them to God, I would be on the phone immediately to the police (after slamming the door in his face and locking it up). Regardless of whether or not he truly intended to take them, the police would need to know someone was out there trying to get access to children. The man being out there is not safe.

Taking them without permission is kidnapping, even if he intended no harm to the child. In any case, the man clearly needed help, and the sooner to get him to a hospital (which is where he is now) so he's no longer a threat to himself or others, the better.

Now I know you're just going troll this back with more nonsense, because god forbid you just admit that common sense completely alluded you here. But the facts are just not that difficult to comprehend.

 

[Schlosser85]

-The man approached the front desk and told the staff that "the children needed to go with God," and that he was there to take them to God. This was also heard by parents who were dropping off their children.

Sheesh, that sounds even more menacing than the way the first article worded, "God told me to take the children".

"I need to take the children to God" makes it sound like he's intending to kill them.

 

[danoyse]

Sheesh, that sounds even more menacing than the way the first article worded, "God told me to take the children".

"I need to take the children to God" makes it sound like he's intending to kill them.

Absolutely. And after recent events like Sandy Hook, and the guy who shot a bus driver and kidnapped one of the kids, they need to be extra vigilant.

There was an awful kidnapping from a school just recently where a woman claiming to be a girl's mother took a child from a school. The girl's mother was Muslim and kept her face covered, so the woman was able to sneak in dressed the same way and snatched the girl, who was only 5 years old. The girl was taken to a house where she was sexually assaulted, and then dropped off in a park wearing only a t-shirt. She was hiding under some bleachers nearly frozen to death when thankfully someone found her.

But this is why you don't mess around when someone crazy turns up at a school. The parents in the articles I read said they thought the school handled things fine. They were just shocked that it took so long for the cops to show up.

 

[TheBat812]

Dear god, some people just need to feel right about everything.

The perceived degree of severity is kind of unimportant here, fact is, if you call and ask the police to come to your daycare to help deal with a safety concern, they need to get there ASAP. ****, I've seen one black man pulled off to the side of the road with like 5 cop cars show up within 5 minutes, but somehow this kind of urgent call took 40 minutes? Like somebody said earlier, they are COPS - it's a goddamn time sensitive job. That's just bad police work any way you slice it.

 

[NickNitro]

Oh boy this is a good read!

 

[Spider-Fan]

All I can really say in regard to Guard's comments on this is, wow. Seriously, wow. There really is nothing to say in reply to him because he won't admit he is clearly wrong.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

When you have to reply to more than four or five people every time you pop into a thread because absolutely everyone else thinks you're wrong.... there might be something wrong with your argument. If Guard digs any further he'll end up in China.

 

[KevanG]

We're getting all the mods in on this aren't we?

 

[Darthphere]

I feel like I'm responsible for this lol. Sorry Guard but it's obvious your argument is insanely weak.

 

[Xeno]

No...where have I said that? Where have I remotely implied that?



I both read the article and viewed the video.

There is nothing there that says that the man wasn’t calm when he gained entry to the building. All it says is that he got into the lobby because a parent let him into the building. And that he said “God told me to take the children”. There is nothing about an altercation involving this man until a “verbal fight broke out outside the daycare”. And there are no details about what this fight was about, what it consisted of, etc. For all we know it was some angry parent calling the guy names and trying to get him to leave. Maybe the guy WAS becoming violent. I don't know based on the info in that article/video.

<snip>

Man, you just doubled down. You're still absolutely wrong, but at least you have the courage of your (mistaken) convictions.

 

[bullets]

I said it was common sense that the parents should have been able to see that the guy wasn’t exactly running off with their kids, in the middle of actually kidnapping them, etc. Because someone said that he was essentially kidnapping the children.

It's common sense that a person asking to take your children should be considered a threat. You don't know what they are going to do next and shouldn't take any chances. Especially if they say something cryptic about God.

 

[Donut]

We're getting all the mods in on this aren't we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kobnsqo2fSM

 

[hopefuldreamer]

My guess is there was a shift change, as well as some more important stuff to attend to. Cops tend to prioritize incidents. Crazy people are not a priority unless they're hurting someone.

I swear, some opinions should really just be kept to yourself

People of any kind who claim God told them to take children; crazy, sane, charming, famous, royalty, the president - I don't care who they are; should ALWAYS be treated as a priority. It's kids. You don't **** around when children are involved.

End of story.

Now I don't know if it was just a bit thoughtless, that original post. But your continued insistence on defending that opinion... well it's done some serious damage to your reputation

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

As well as his name I find his choice of avatar highly ironic.