Friday, August 03, 2012
Very Unprecedented! But wrong.
Something highly unusual occurred around here a couple days ago. The "Emergency" "Alert" "System" was activated for an Amber Alert. That wasn't the unusual part; they confuse us with Amber Alerts every week or so.
Here's the unusual part: For the first time ever, the Amber Alert was NOT about a custody dispute. Until now, EVERY SINGLE Amber Alert has been a repossession by one parent or the other. Sometimes the "law" enforcement agencies have fudged the facts to make it sound like an unidentified stranger, but EVERY SINGLE TIME it turns out that they knew exactly who took the kid, and EVERY SINGLE TIME it was the non-custodial parent repossessing the kid from the custodial parent.
This time, it was a troublemaking 16-year-old who rather obviously faked a removal from her room, then ran away to be with a boyfriend that the parents didn't like.
At least it's a different form of fakery.
One thing we can be DEAD SURE OF: If a genuine criminal abduction ever does occur, it will NOT lead to an Amber Alert. We can be DEAD SURE of this because it already happened ten years ago. Joseph Duncan killed several members of the Groene household, snatched two kids, and wandered all over the Northwest with them, appearing constantly in stores and other public places. He killed one of the kids before he was finally caught. A public alert could have led to much quicker capture and saved one of the kids, but no public alert was issued.
= = = = =
Later the same day: Well, we're already back to Custody Dispute normal now. ¶ 4:37 AM
Here's the unusual part: For the first time ever, the Amber Alert was NOT about a custody dispute. Until now, EVERY SINGLE Amber Alert has been a repossession by one parent or the other. Sometimes the "law" enforcement agencies have fudged the facts to make it sound like an unidentified stranger, but EVERY SINGLE TIME it turns out that they knew exactly who took the kid, and EVERY SINGLE TIME it was the non-custodial parent repossessing the kid from the custodial parent.
This time, it was a troublemaking 16-year-old who rather obviously faked a removal from her room, then ran away to be with a boyfriend that the parents didn't like.
At least it's a different form of fakery.
One thing we can be DEAD SURE OF: If a genuine criminal abduction ever does occur, it will NOT lead to an Amber Alert. We can be DEAD SURE of this because it already happened ten years ago. Joseph Duncan killed several members of the Groene household, snatched two kids, and wandered all over the Northwest with them, appearing constantly in stores and other public places. He killed one of the kids before he was finally caught. A public alert could have led to much quicker capture and saved one of the kids, but no public alert was issued.
= = = = =
Later the same day: Well, we're already back to Custody Dispute normal now. ¶ 4:37 AM
