Good cop - Bad cop

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Is a plea from one of our members whose mother has been taken by the guardian and hidden from her.


Please stop by and leave your comments of support for her and also your suggestions. And those of you with Facebook or Twitter, please post this plea on your pages.

http://nasga-stopguardianabuse.blogspot.com./

On a related note, I spoke at length yesterday with a retired police officer on this very issue. This member (featured today on the blog) had been to the sheriff and the sheriff said he couldn’t help because the mother was under guardianship.

The police officer I spoke to gave me two good clues to pass along:

First, when one goes to the police station to report this kind of thing, take documentation. The first thing the police will (or should) ask for is the guardianship papers. They will be looking to determine if it’s a full guardianship or a limited guardianship.

And second, it’s important to convey not only a sense of urgency, but a sense of worry and imminent danger for your loved one. In other words, it’s more important that the police see you scared and worried about Mom being in danger rather than see you upset about the fact that the guardian is withholding information. You want to convey that the guardian did this act in total secrecy and Mom was taken against her will and possibly is being retained or held against her will, that she’s scared, etc.

I will add to the suggestions that when you take your documentation, I think it’s a good idea to take a copy of the complete court docket, so the police can see right there and then that there is no restraining order against you -- or no order preventing your visitation in the records.

Also, I think it’s important to read your state statutes before you go to the police to determine if the guardian has the power to move your loved one without court approval. The general rule from state to state (and it could be different in your specific state) is the court must be alerted if the ward is being moved out of its jurisdiction. So, the court records may reveal where Mom was moved to. You want to check that out before going to the police, so that when you go, you’re going to them after you’ve done everything else in your power. Also, some state statutes may require that next of kin be notified. If that’s the case, then you can also go to the police with a copy of that statute as well.

Of course, we all realize there are good cops and bad cops. And you can do everything right and be unfortunate enough that you happen to go to the police station and get a hold of a bad cop. But maybe not. And if you get one of the good guys, it will help even more if you’re better prepared.