A flawed system?

Hello again. I just woke up and felt the need to post! Plus Jessica told me that I needed to. =) I guess it has been a few days but it has been a long week and I’m so glad it is the weekend. Plus it is Easter weekend which is really cool. I’m looking forward to church on Sunday to see and hear some great music and words from Pastor Steve.
Well if I have to title this week I would have to call it "white trash week". I don’t call it that to be demeaning in any way because I do not think badly of people that don’t have things or are in bad circumstances. What I am talking about is a state of mind, a way of life based on continual bad decisions even when faced with truth. I’m talking about how the household is run or lack thereof for that matter. Unfortunately, I am talking about three single moms on welfare that appear to be abusing the system. I personally think that there is nothing wrong with welfare or even being on it. It is a great system designed to help those in need, especially children. I am even a product of the welfare system. But there are those out there that feel that they are entitled to everything under the sun because they don’t have. They want free rent, free food, free clothes and free money. To those truly in need they should get some or all of those things. But I’m going to tell you a story about a group of people that test the limits of my Christianity. They test my limits as a parent, and they test my limits as a police officer.
For several months we have been dealing with a group of kids with ages ranging from 9-12. Somehow, and I don’t want to know how, they are all related or interrelated. They live in an apartment building that is smaller than a shoe box. The parking lot is so small that my patrol car barely fits in it. It more looks like an old motel with only a few rooms. It sits across the street from a new business project that is fun for people to visit, shop and eat. But these kids run amok over there and are causing problems. They first came to our attention when one day they went into a business and slapped a cashier on the butt and then ran out. So we tracked them down and spoke to their parents, which only consists of their mothers, and learned that the families recently moved to Kent and were “placed” in the apartments. That’s clue #1.
We are specifically dealing with 3 of the apartments all next to each other. The mother lives in one with her kids, her adult daughter lives in the third one with all of her kids, and the middle apartment is the aunt with all of her kids. Each woman has different kids from different fathers. They all smoke, drink and sleep all day while their kids are running the streets. They also have people living with them who are in the same situation. To make matters worse the toilet in one doesn’t work, the shower in the other doesn’t work, and the sinks in the third doesn’t work. So they are all constantly going in an out of each other’s home to do what they need to do. Well this is starting to take a toll on their patience and they are all now fighting and accusing each other of stealing things. It is a complete mess and the kids are caught up in the middle. So why not get CPS involved you might ask? See clue #1, they are already involved.
The other day the kids got kicked out of the library because they were all running around playing tag and knocking things over. Could you imagine taking your own kids to the library and having to deal with these kids running around? Well at first they refused to leave and when they finally did they knocked over the tables that have all the tax forms and booklets because they were mad. That’s when I was called. Needless to say they picked up everything! Two days ago they were throwing rocks at other kids at a park so I had to kick them out of there too. Unfortunately they are too young to commit a crime, too young for juvenile detention, and the only option is to take them home. And really, it’s not their fault. They are products of their parenting. The kicker is that they really aren’t being “neglected”. They have food, clothes, shelter and education. All provided free by the taxpayers. Of course they don’t live in the best of situations, but it’s legal. So now the CPS and DSHS (welfare) systems have only been enabling the families to be right where they are. No accountability, no expectation to move up.
Back to the moms…. A few weeks ago one of them wanted to report their Quest Debit card stolen. This card has replaced food stamps, and it is pin # specific so you need the pin # to use it. Just like a real debit card. So I get her story and she says that it was stolen the day after payday and someone used it at a local store and all the money is now gone. She tells me that she needs a case number from the police so she can get a new one, with new money, so she can feed her family. I ask her how the “thief” got her pin # and she said that she doesn’t know. Yeah right! This is a common scam by the way. And she is telling me this as she is puffing away on a cigarette. You know how much money she would save it she was just quit? Anyway, so here is the dilemma… I know that she is lying but if I don’t give her the case # her kids might suffer for a few weeks. So what would you do? Well last week the other adult calls and says that her prescription meds are stolen. I already know the answer because this is another common scam but I ask her what kind of meds it was and she says “Oxycontin”. This is a good drug but addictive and sells on the black market. She also needs a case # so she can get a new bottle of pills, on taxpayer’s dime of course. What would you do? Tough choice, huh?! Not for me!
My week finally ends with a call back to the same families where they are fighting in the parking lot. I get there and all of the adults are yelling, swearing, and going off at each other and right in front of their kids. They were dropping so many f-bombs that every other word was an expletive. After several requests to please stop yelling and swearing, my partner and I had to basically tell them all to shut up! The sad thing is that is how they respond to things. Please and thank you just doesn’t work. So we get it all settled and send them all to their rooms so to speak. But I know we will be back there next week when I return from my days off. It is sad to see a mother, her daughter, and their kids to live like this. You can just see the effects of generational sins and curses being passed along. It is a reminder that I was once not too far away from being in a situation like them. But I have made a decision to take stand! A stand to break the mold of my forefathers and not be like them. A new generation starts with me. It will be a generation of people who love God. The sins and curses of my father and his father stop here with me! I am a man of God who will raise my family in a new light. That is my stand! I just hope I can impart that on these families as well.
This is just a typical call and one of many we deal with daily. I can see why cops get so cynical after long careers dealing with this type of stuff, not to mention all of the other things we see. But thankfully I have Jesus to help me out with this stuff. He keeps me grounded. Without Him I would probably say things to these people that should never be said. I took this job to help people, to be a light in a time of darkness. So if you ever get a chance, pray that for me. Pray that I see the Jesus in people and they see Him in me.