What would you have done?

[Michelle68]

This is what happened--- my DB acquired a used cell phone from some guy he knows who works at a T-Mobile store. This phone was a return. My brother already has two phones, so he gave it to us. It's a camera phone and when my husband tried it, the reception was crummy. We were looking at the gallery feature and noticed that there were some photo files that had been deleted. There were also some audio files that were still intact. Plus the guy who had previously owned the phone also had some numbers in the phone's memory. One was for "Warrants" and another for an "Officer Morales".

We started listening to the audio files and, at first they were pretty funny. It was some young African-American man recording himself and talking about the police and stuff. The last few files, though, were different. Seriously, it sounded like the guy was performing sexual acts with kids. I won't go into details, but it was very graphic and you could hear the kids talking and another child crying. It was very disturbing. We decided to call the police and spoke to the dispatcher who said a patrolman would come by. About an hour later a patrolman showed up and let the guy listen to the files. Now this is the part that kind of p***es me off. Basically the cop pretty much blew off our concerns. He said "Well, he sounds like he might be rapping. You know how these kidsget when they're rapping." Uh...NO, this guy DID NOT sound like he was rapping. Then the cop says, "Well, he might have been having sex, but I don't know if it's with a kid. They just sound like they might be in the same room." WHAT?!!

Anyway, he sounded like we were basically overreacting and he told us that he would take it to the substation and put it in the property room and maybe someone would check it out tomorrow.

You know I really thought we were doing the right thing. I'm just wanting to get some opinions from others out there. Would youhave done the same thing? Did we overreact? I'm a bit upset about this.

Thanks in advance for any opinions.


--Michelle

[ktsmama]

I would have done the same thing as you did. If the officer is pretty much blowing it off, I might try to call his supervisor and relay the events as they transpired.

Better to be safe than sorry!!!!

[REJB]

Maybe you could call and ask to speak with an investigator. The sheriff's dept or city police dept where you live should have an investigator (or they may be called detective - depends on the agency).

[nodmicks]

I would have done the same thing as you did. If the officer is pretty much blowing it off, I might try to call his supervisor and relay the events as they transpired.

Better to be safe than sorry!!!!

I agree! You did the right thing.

[lwlynch]

You did the right thing.. there are too many bad things going on these days to over look anything. I think also I would talk to a supervisor.

[Cricket1]

I think you did the right thing. You could go above his head as others have suggested.

[baxjul]

I would have done the same thing!

[many houseapes]

Michelle - i would have called the authorities too...what you heard on the phone was so not right and I would've been alarmed too.
What makes me mad is the way the officer reacted to it...I know that hind site is 20/20, but I probably would have turned it over to Internal Affairs at the police station & let an IA superior listen to it first hand. I hate to say this, but sometimes-w/ some police departments, if an officer is doing something "questionable" the other officers try to help cover it up. I hope this isn't the case here & I hope that it is dealt with appropriately.

[crr38095]

I agree with everyone else. I would have done the exact same thing. If you really feel in your heart that the officer who responded did not take the matter serious enough, then I would also call the police station and ask to speak to a supervisior in charge and explain your concerns and ask them to investigate the matter further. When it comes to the safety of children I just don't believe there is such a thing as being too careful or safe. And if you still don't feel its getting the attention it deserves, then you can always go over the supervisors head to the Chief of Detectives, or even the mayors office. It's really not hard in this day and age to track a cellphone owner and verify the safety of whoever owned the phone before. The part that concerns me is the saved #'s for warrants and what sounded like a parole officer. Normal law abiding citizens don't generally have #'s like that in their phone and I would have THOUGHT that would be a serious red warning flag to the responding officer.

[Dancing Lotus]

I would have done the same thing.

[FrugalMomof3]

I agree with everyone else, I would have done the same thing. Also, if you feel you need to speak to the officers supervisor, chief of police or whomever, than do it.

We're talking about investigating the alligations of possible child endangerment.

[annymoll]

Let DFS listen to it.

[SammiesMammie]

You did the right thing...What about calling the number you have for either the Parole Officer or Officer Morales?? Seems to me they might be able to get ahold of the person who owned it by doing a search for the phone number in their system?..Just a thought

[Missy]

You did the right thing...What about calling the number you have for either the Parole Officer or Officer Morales?? Seems to me they might be able to get ahold of the person who owned it by doing a search for the phone number in their system?..Just a thought

That is what i was just thinking too.

I'd go over the officer (who came out) and around the agency if i had to. Eventually they'd look into it just to shut me up.

Or failing that I'd make a letter to the editor, and a call to the local news station. Embarrassment does much to get things in gear.

[PAVallygrl]

When he took the phone (probably to voucher it) did he give you a receipt? Is so then I'd leave it at that. You did what you were supposed to do and that's the end of it. Not a good idea to be going over some cops head on something, I've seen some of them become almost harrasing to citizen's that have done that.

Should something ever come of it, you would have a receipt to prove you handed it over and then the problem becomes his for not following through on it.