West Virginia Tracking Kids Connected to Drug Cases
They thought of the children
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Law enforcement officers know what to do when they find suffering children in the home of a drug suspect: Call Child Protective Services. But what about when they find an empty car seat, a pacifier or a stuffed animal in a vehicle that's become a mobile meth lab?
In Putnam County, sheriff's deputies no longer need to agonize over whether to call child-welfare workers in the middle of the night based solely on suspicion of a threat.
Starting Thursday, the department will enter any drug-related cases where a child's safety could be compromised into the new Drug Endangered Child Tracking System.
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I see potentially more harm coming from this than good. Kids will get labeled and the database will inevitably be used for future background checks by law enforcement agencies, security clearances, etc.
I can see it now, "oh I see here from our background investigation that your parents and/or brothers and sisters were potheads."