When an attorney (or family member, etc) is showing concerns over her client's well being & calls 911, then the police need to detain the person at the station to be evaluated by a professional.</p>
Everything at some point starts with the police on calls like someone being unstable. With John Jonchuck, the police were there with him for 20 minutes and determined he was stable.
Attorney's are "officers of the court" and that alone should have been enough for the police to bring John to the station based solely on the attorney's concerns, and her female intuition.
Clearly John was not stable and got ticked off even more as he started calling the attorney.
The attorney was left with nothing to do but to call the Child Abuse Hotline, of which, felt the situation didn't warrant an investigator. Clearly calling the police again would end up the same way as her earlier call, IMO, and chances of finding him again would be challenging.
I felt the very same way when Ebony Wilkerson drove her mini van into the ocean. Her sister called 911 as she was concerned over her sister's well-being with the children in the van. The police stopped and talked to Ebony and felt there was no danger, and then Ebony takes a drive right into the ocean.
Thank goodness all of Ebony Wilkerson's children, including the unborn child at that time were safe, HOWEVER, precious Phoebe Jonchuck is NOT!
I do not know the training police officers receive to determine the stability of a human's mind, and based on just two situations its clearly not enough.
Unstable people don't have to look crazy, or even speak crazy, however, since this man was already speaking crazy to the attorney, chances are, he should have been detained.
I respect law enforcement to the highest degree when it comes to keeping us safe, however, I question their ability in determining the stability of a person's mind.
Even if the Florida Department of Children and Family (DCF) services changes their policy on Child Abuse Hotline calls, it still would take 4 hours for an investigator to show up, but then, the investigator would have to go and find the person to speak to.
Now if DCF was called to the scene while the police officer is speaking to the "unstable" individual, maybe things would work out better, OR detain the individual until DCF's investigator can arrive within the four hours.
Clearly something has to be done first with the police departments called to evaluate the situation.
My words come from deep within me SOLELY for Phoebe Jonchuck who no longer can speak to the police.
Cops Questioned Dad Hours Before He Allegedly Threw 5-Year-Old Daughter Off a Bridge
http://www.people.com/article/police-interviewed-john-jonchuck-before-phoebes-death
