Kids Outside, Cops Called: FOUR SEPARATE TIMES

Over at Reason you’ll find my story of one Ms. Gordon (no first names — she’s been harassed enough). Ms. G lives in a leafy Philly suburb, has three sons, 5, 7, and 9, and darned if she doesn’t sometimes trust them to play together, or walk a few blocks, or even stand outside WITHOUT HER RIGHT THERE. The horror! This has occasioned calls to the cops four different times. Each time, the cops have come, realized there was nothing to be concerned about, and left. Which is great. But wouldn’t it be better if the cops were allowed to — or chose to — or were encouraged to NOT BOTHER when the caller simply says, “There’s a kid outside without an adult”? And, of course, wouldn’t it be better if the 911-callers simply watched to see if the child was okay, instead of narc-ing on the mom? Incident #1 One time Ms. Gordon’s three kids were playing Pokemon Go a few hundred feet from the house. (She was in the front yard, gardening.) Someone called the cops, and they arrived at her home about the…