Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Parental abduction wisdom, pt 2: The police won't help you

by Sean Cruz

Portland, Oregon--There are strict laws on the books regarding child abduction, Oregon statutes that might serve as a deterrent to child-snatching were it not for their lax enforcement.

The non-enforcement of these laws has several causes, but the most important among them, and the most disastrous to a family severed by a kidnapping, lies in the attitudes of policing agencies, the legal profession and the courts towards the issue of parental and family abduction itself.

These attitudes shape what is possible in the real world, when your child vanishes with a family member or with the connivance of a family member.

Local law enforcement generally will not take your claim that your child was kidnapped seriously, and despite the fact that the 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law, fathers are far less likely than mothers to see a priority status attached to a police report. They are going to assume that you, the father, did something wrong….

This fact alone shapes the attitudes of others (if the police aren’t concerned, why should I be?) and cuts your options down severely.

When your child disappears, the first thing you do is call 911, which brings a response of some sort from local law enforcement.

There is no statewide policy regarding how these cases are handled. It is all up to local law enforcement and the district attorney.

If you call the Oregon State Police or the FBI, they will refer you back to local law enforcement. Makes no difference if the child has been taken out of state. They will want to see a report from local law enforcement (which isn’t likely to be issued).

Under Oregon statute, in order to trigger the custodial interference laws that govern non-stranger kidnapping, one must demonstrate that the person intends to take the child “permanently, or for a protracted period of time.”

It may be clear to you that this is an actual kidnapping, clear to you that your ex will never willingly allow you to see your child again, but try telling that to the police.

They are going to want to wait, to see if either “permanently” or “protracted” takes place, even though there is no general agreement, no legal definition, on what these terms mean in terms of time, in terms of your life or your child’s life, which is slipping away….

Both terms can mean “forever.”

Parental and family abductions are the only crimes on the books with a built-in, open-ended waiting period.
If your ex stole your car, the police would be right on it, and they would haul in everyone who conspired to steal your car, and anyone who acted after the fact in a criminal capacity (more on this in a later post), and those people would be going to jail.

Despite the fact that my four children had been taken out of their schools and away from their home with me, in clear violation of a joint custody order, I was never interviewed by a detective.

In order to trigger an Amber Alert, you have to convince local law enforcement that a crime has taken place, and you need a physical description of the vehicle.

Shortly before she kidnapped my children, my former wife bought some kind of mini van, painted white. That’s all I knew, not enough information for an Amber Alert, and local law enforcement wasn’t going to look for my kids anyway.

At the time of the kidnapping, the Pacific Northwest was in the grip of a major storm, and many roads leading out of the Portland area were closed due to flooding, avalanches and downed power lines. I-84 eastbound and I-5 northbound were both cut by floods.

It seemed impossible that she could have driven anywhere, and it was unthinkable that she would have taken the kids out on the road in these hazardous conditions—but that’s exactly what she did.

Weeks passed by before I learned that my children’s abduction had been carefully planned and carried out by a group of Mormon church leaders living in three states, and I learned later still that they would stop at nothing to ensure that the abduction was permanent, and that their own roles in the crime would remain hidden (more on this in later posts).

If they had stolen any of my personal property, then the police would have gotten involved and my family would still be whole, my son alive today.

But all these criminals did was cause my four children to disappear and hide them in another state, and that leads to the issue of attitudes, for the laws are already on the books.


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Coming next: Child abduction wisdom, pt 3:

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Sean Cruz writes Blogolitical Sean at www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com, and Aaron’s Law at www.aaronslaw.blogspot.com

2 comments:

Unknown said...

My name is Michelle and my daughter has recently been kidnapped from Portland by her biological father and taken to Arizona state. He has made it clear there is nothing I can do, and he will never let me see her again. We are still married and I do not know what to do.Can anyone help me?
My email is;MichelleMcCafferty10@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

My name is Tisha and when my sons father, my son, and I moved up here from another state in less then 30 days my sons father took my son and locked him away from me. The family members had me trespassed off their property and threated to have me arrested. I had to leave the property without my son. I called the police and they would not help me since the father was the biological father. We have no custody orders so I was told that the police won't help me. Repeatedly the father threatens to have me arrested, 2 months later my son is in the hospital with broken ribs, child services gets involved. By then the father of my son has told so many lies to keep my son away from me. Still no one will help me with my case. The police and the child services still don't believe me when I tell them what happened. The father has made it even harder my contacting all the lawyers in town thus creating a conflict of interest for me to get help. I have filed child custody paperwork, I fear that the father will get away with what he has done to my son and I. I feel violated from the justice system and no one will help me without a huge sum of money which I do not have. Please if there is anyone who can help me please contact me at tisha40elio@gmail.com When we moved up here the father was not on the birth certificate and he didn't have a paternity test either to prove that he was the father. Still law enforcement allowed him to keep my son from me. Please I pray that someone will hear my voice out there and help me.