What laziness, callousness, or deceit have the authorities displayed? People keep making these allegations and I have yet to see any justification for them.
They got the first warrant in good faith, with a lot of reason to believe the call was legitimate. If it wasn’t, that’s not their doing, that’s the doing of the girl who called in and she should be dealt with appropriately for making a false report, especially since this isn’t her first offense.
The caller stated that she was in a situation of abuse, where the kind of abuse she described is know to have happened. Warren Jeffs is in jail for those kinds of charges. Why would you expect the LEO to not take it seriously? Shouldn’t they have?
If they hadn’t and harm had come to the girl, the LEO would have been shredded for laziness and callousness. Sneers like *When seconds count, the police are only minutes away* would be made.
I’ve seen too many threads where the police are condemned for not responding quickly enough and someone gets hurt. Now they respond and they’re criticized for going too fast and not having all the facts. Must someone die before enough facts to demonstrate wrongdoing are present? If someone is aiming a gun at someone, do you wait till they shoot to act or do you try to prevent the shooting?
They got the second warrant based on what they encountered in the compound looking for the girl. What did they do wrong there? They are legally permitted to act if they find evidence of a crime in the course of performing their other duties. Should they just close their eyes to signs of child abuse and let it continue?
That remains to be seen. I'm certain that the entire warrant procedure will be gone over with a fine toothed comb, there are some shysters out there who would be glad to make themselves a name by getting the FLDS off the hook, and then suing the hell out of the Texas taxpayers for the big payday.
It is horrible, awful, and detestable to me what the FLDS do to their children. But know that a lot of liberals feel that way about parents who home-school their children, too, and the 4th Amendment is set up to protect us all from fishing expeditions that end up ruining the lives of innocent people. Finding out about this Swinton woman, and the possibility that she faked the call to give an excuse for the authorities to start the raid really makes me question this whole "end justifies the means" attitude I had about this situation.