Just Wondering

[Anonymous]

I am just wondering what anyone here would do if they happen to be around when escorts are tryig to transport a child. Would you get physically involved to help a child that escorts are trying to transport?

[Helena Handbasket]

On 2005-03-14 17:50:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I am just wondering what anyone here would do if they happen to be around when escorts are tryig to transport a child. Would you get physically involved to help a child that escorts are trying to transport?"

I don't know about physically, but I'd have my phone in one hand and a gun in the other, telling the cops it was a kidnapping in progress.

[Anonymous]

i would shoot the escorts, and call the cops and tell them i spoted a child aduction. Later on if they say i shot escort who knew they was escorts? I didnt? ALL I SAW IS SOME ADULTS TRYING TO KIDNAPP A HELPLESS KID.

[Anonymous]

i would shoot the escorts, and call the cops and tell them i stopped a child aduction. Later on if they say i shot escort who knew they was escorts? I didnt? ALL I SAW IS SOME ADULTS TRYING TO KIDNAPP A HELPLESS KID.

[Anonymous]

Hi, it was me who started this topic. I am Jennifer, daughter of BSarro. I was just curious what someone would or could do in a sitation like the topic I started.I mean my mother is really like on the bandwagon of these types of programs.She is even talking to other parents , telling them that their teens might need to go to a program for small things like this guy's son coming home half an hour late. I mean it was his first time being late. Sometimes buses run late.Someone here asked me my age. I forget who it was but I am 17.Well, I had some free time and my mother is out with the so called leader of our family at Macy's, so I figured I would write a quick entry.Please keep up the fight for those who can fight for themselves.

[Antigen]

How would you know if you saw a kid being escorted to a program? How would you tell the difference between a teen escort situation and legitimate law enforcement transporting an inmate? Or even bounty hunters bringing in a fugitive? Are you going to question someone who may well turn out to be a cop w/ no sense of humor and arrest powers?

I'd like to think I'd help a kid in that situation any way I could. I think the best help, though, would be to keep it friendly like and get some info, like the kid's name, the adults' names. Maybe try and bring what's going on to the attention of whoever's around, maybe set up a situation where the kid could bolt and the crowd wouldn't help them catch him or her.

My initial response was to sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized that I had no character.
-- Charles Barkley, on hearing Tonya Harding proclaim herself "the Charles Barkley of figure skating"

[Helena Handbasket]

I was going on an image that was painted for me - three mutant looking guys climbing out of a beat up, rusted out van.  That doesn't scream "legitimate" to me.  

Now maybe if they identifed themselves properly, I'd not draw the weapon.  I'd certainly get plate numbers - names if possible.

[Anonymous]

i still would shoot them, Unless they can show me badges that look very real. And are also driving a police style car (not some 4 door car with safty locks). Any one can say they was hired by the parents to escort the kid. How am i to know they are escorts or not. Any documentation can be forged or made up. Unless they are cops and belive me i will know and the kid is wanting help there will be some dead escorts, thats the bottom line. By the way i have a conceal carry permitt!

[Nihilanthic]

If I just saw men with no identification in some shitty van I'd run them over or just attack in all likelyhood. I doubt they'd have a weapon on them besides mace and I have

Is it the dumb thing to do? Yes. But, I'd be emotional as hell, and honestly have no way to tell them from a fucking kidnapper.

Now, if I could see them looking "legit" with a uniform and a marked vehicle, I'd either attack out of passion, or try to weasel my way. Block the road, intentionally crash so they have to stay at the scene for a few hours, etc...

Honestly, I dont know. I dont really sieze up out of fear in those situations, so much as get really, really worked up. I'd hope I could keep my cool but I know I could not live with myself letting something happen knowing how bad it could be for that kid without at least stalling them :sad:

If we had been born in Constantinople, then most of us would have said: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." If our parents had lived on the banks of the Ganges, we would have been worshipers of Siva, longing for the heaven of Nirvana.
--

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I probably wouldn't do a thing.

Sorry if that makes me a bad person.

I just wouldn't know if the kid being transported was actually dangerous to himself or others.  What if I helped the kid get loose and and he went right out and threw himself under a train?  Or went off and killed somebody?

No, the way I've decided to try to deal with this is to try to reason with parents that I encounter who have their kids in programs or are considering programs to get the parents to do the kind of reasonable checks that will tell them if a particular program is really bad news.  And I try to talk with parents to help them explore any options less restrictive than lockup programs that they maybe didn't know were out there and hadn't tried yet.  And I try to encourage parents to avoid placing their kid in a program that is inappropriate for that child.

Beyond that, I'm trying to build a grassroots groundswell to get the laws that need to be changed changed, and to see that the laws that need to be enforced get the penalties, enforcement agency tasking, and funding to actually get that enforcement done.

Sorry if it's a bad thing, but I *wouldn't* just jump into a situation and assault somebody based on my personal prejudices.  You never know what you're really looking at when a situation comes at you suddenly like that, and jumping to conclusions can not only get you in huge legal trouble, it could seriously, irreparably harm innocent people.

I'm less of a direct action kind of person and more oriented towards changing hearts and minds and laws and implementation/enforcement of laws.

*You* may be sane, but *I* am certified nuts.

I would be too afraid I was unstable that day and missing cues that would tell a sane person that what I was about to do was a *very bad idea*.  And I would be *right* to be that afraid.

So I personally avoid direct action in favor of working on people's opinions, conveying information, and working on fixing the rules.

Timoclea