How would you have handled this situation?
Woman and daughter are legal immigrants, living in America. they are from Somalia. mother speaks just fair English. she calls the police about her unruly 15 year old daughter. i arrive and the woman tells me her daughter constantly runs away from home, by escaping through her bedroom window. her daughter was not home and i began to make a police report. about ten minutes later, her daughter walks in the front door. at first, i started to arrest her as an unruly child. i changed my mind, once i heard her story. her daughter tells me the reason she runs away. its not a boyfriend…..its the beatings given to her by her mother. i then called for a female officer to meet me at this address. the female officer raised the girls shirt to reveil bruise marks on her back. the marks resembled the round end of a spoon. i looked around the house and located a 10” wooden spoon on the kitchen table. i compared the spoon to the marks on the girls back and it matched. i took photos of her injuries. what should have been my next action to take?
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16 Answers
Arrest the mother for suspicion of child abuse and/or call in Child Services for your area. .
Call Children Family services??? Is this a pop quiz? I didn’t study law enforcement.
Is this a test or do you really not know?
Aren’t you a police officer?
Perhaps the next step would be to arrest the mother.
Definitely Arrest the mother
Oh I know ! I know! Fill out paperwork!
Of course i know the answer, since i arrested the mother for child abuse. the mother, like all other legal immigrants in America, have got to conform to our laws. they may beat their children in Somalia, but not in the United States.
I was beat senseless. However, I think it did me a lot of good. I might not be the stunning picture of maturity I am today if not for that and lots of ritalin.
@plethora… wait… if they are illegal immigrants aren’t they already breaking the law? Hence the word illegal? This is another test isn’t it? …scratching my head
you guys missed my first sentence. they were legal immigrants. when i arrived, i was first given the mothers green card and drivers license.
I don’t see how this would have been a difficult decision to make. There are some cultural practices that would be of questionable lawfulness in America, but abuse is right out.
@escapedone7 Good point. They should be arrested. But that would really upset Janet Napolitano. She doesn’t like law enforcement officers hassling future voters.
@iphigeneia I don’t think he was having a difficult time making the decision. At least that is not my impression.
@plethora I know, I just don’t see why he asked the question if the answer (to me) is blindingly obvious.
@iphigeneia Well that’s because you are blindingly brilliant…:) We sluggards are just catching on.
The whole immigrant part was a red herring I suppose. In this case I am sure you took the mother into custody and called social services to pick up the child. I bet you were a good cop, John.
@davidbetterman‘s approach would at least bring in social services and would provide an opportunity for the mother to be educated on how to better deal with problem adolescents.
An assessment of the child would identify any medical or psychological problems that might help her cope better.
Single parenting an adolescent is tough enough but with intercultural problems and the stress related to relocation makes life tougher for both mother and daughter.
Tell us what you actually did in this case.
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