Quote Originally Posted by Fugitive
There was no probable cause ! Probable cause means its probable, not probably, not a phonecall and excess cover up by the media.

The government can just say fuck the law alltogether and do what ever the hell they want, if they're found guilty of kidnapping (which is what happened) they'll just say oops guess we have to give the kids back and nobodys held accountable.
Do you mean probable cause for the raid or cause to remove the kids to protective custody?

So far no one has disputed the probable cause for the raid --- maybe that will come up in the eventual trials. They had warrants and continue to get permission for further searches, siezing records, taking DNA samples, so they must have proven enough probable cause to convince a court to allow them to go that far.

As for removing a kid to protective custody, I don't think the same legal rules apply as do for warrants. I don't think child protective services usually have ro PROVE that abuse has already occured in order to remove a child. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think the same standards of "probable cause" apply in cases of child safety and removing a child from a hazardous environemt.

One thing is sure, the authorities in this case were in a bad spot. On the one hand, if they err on the side of safety and remove the kids, they might get caught overstepping their authority --- which is what the court has said. On the other hand, if they suspected the kids were in danger but still just let them stay in the compound, and another little girl got raped, then right now we'd be all over them for sitting on their asses and not protecting the kids.

I think they did the right thing by removing the kids. As this thing unfolds, I think we are going to see some real depravity come to light.