Why aren't police officers allowed to follow through on citizen's tips of criminal miscond

First off, family court of Phila.%26amp; De.Co.Pa. ordered my 2 year old to live with her pot smoking grandmother just because dad lives there, not because I ever did anything wrong. So what would any of us do in a situation like this? Go to the police and ask them to get your kid out of there. They told me they can't do that even though grandma is breaking the law. So I asked if they could watch her closely to see where she's buying her pot from so they can nail the guy, and the police said no. Then I asked if they could go in her home and inspect it hoping they might find pot lying around some where, and they said no. They told me to get a lawyer so I asked the lawyer what I could do to get my kid out of there and he said get a hair strand test done. So I looked into it calling all over the place and only 1 lab does it in the US %26amp; it's not easy to get. If judges and police refuse to help our kids what hope do we have? Lawyers? Are they the only ones who can help us? Scary, don't ya think?

Why aren't police officers allowed to follow through on citizen's tips of criminal misconduct?

You have a really good question but your Yahoo name worries me a little since it contains the word vengence in it...not sure what that's all about.

But...and as other posters have already said:

I have to tell you I'm a little suspect of your comment about the court ordering your child to live with the father, even though you didn't do anything wrong. If that's the case, I can't help but wonder why the court would make such an order...but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, because it really isn't pertinent to your question.

I agree with your comment about what most people would do under these circumstances...they'd want the police to intervene, and remove the child from that environment. However, I'm not sure that's really what you want, because if the court has not allowed the child to live with you and the police remove the child from the grandmother's home, what's next....foster care?

Grandma "breaking the law" by smoking marijuana is probably not a legitimate reason in any state to remove the kid. It certainly is not in California. Child Protective Agencies regularly allow children to stay with parents who are drug addicts and worse, provided the parent(s) are providing proper parental care and supervision for the child. Just because Grandma smokes marijuana does not mean she's unfit for your child to be around, even though you and I would both agree that your child is better not being around that. You didn't say, and I don't know the law in the state where Grandma lives, but several states now have "medical" marijuana laws that make smoking marijuana basically legal - which would obviously not give anyone cause to do anything about a child living in the home.

Asking the police to watch Grandma to see where she's buying her marijuana from is, I'm afraid, an unreasonable request. A marijuana-smoking grandmother is simply not going to be very high on any law enforcement agency's list of things and people to do. If you believe that needs to be done, you're going to need to hire a private investigator who can devote the kind of resources needed to conduct such an intensive investigation (and who will bill you through the nose).

The police in this country cannot simply inspect someone's home just because you ask them to. Without a number of predefined reasons to do so, police cannot just enter a home to inspect what's laying around. Your say-so that grandma smokes marijuana isn't enough to force an entry into the home, and personal use marijuana cases are probably at the lower end of the spectrum of crimes to investigate in grandma's jurisdiction.

I don't know why a lawyer would recommend a hair test. I absolutely believe you when you say grandma smokes marijuana. I bet the cops you talked to believed you, too. But that alone isn't cause to remove a child from a home, in my opinion (and evidently in the opinion of others).

How do you know grandma isn't "responsible" in her use of marijuana? In other words, how do you know she's smoking it around the child? What threat do you think it represents to your child...any more so than alcohol would?

Look - I'm totally in support of your desire to keep your child away from marijuana. I wouldn't want any of my kids around it. But this is one of those things which, given what you've said, you're just going to have to learn to live with until such time as the facts change. If your kid were to test positive for marijuana (as already suggested), I agree that would be all it would take to get the child out of there. But until that happens (assuming you have access to your child), I don't see where you're going to accomplish much by worrying about this. Given all the various things that can happen to children today, and the various things they can be exposed to, if the very worst your child has to deal with right now is a grandmother who smokes marijuana...count your blessings.

Good luck - I hope this eventually works out in your favor.

Why aren't police officers allowed to follow through on citizen's tips of criminal misconduct?

I am sorry for your situation, but without proof, they can do little, your opinion or telling them has little value because you are appearing to be trying to get back at an "ex" over a custody issue.

And in our society a grandma smoking alittle pot is not considered a major deal. Courts have given custody to hooker moms where the court knew what they did.

Next the police do not have the manpower or the money to follow someone for merely pot smokng, and your statment about the drugs is not enough for a search warrant

Why aren't police officers allowed to follow through on citizen's tips of criminal misconduct?

take your kids for a piss test if theres drug in his system from second hand smoke its an open and close case

Why aren't police officers allowed to follow through on citizen's tips of criminal misconduct?

Police are limited as what they can do without probable cause. They would have to have a search warrant to search her house. Police have to be cautious of entrapment laws. The other reason is because someone could say you are committing a crime because they are mad at you. So police have to have more the mere suspicion, they must have probable cause.

Why aren't police officers allowed to follow through on citizen's tips of criminal misconduct?

Dont really believe court ordered the child to go because you did nothing wrong! But if you say so.....