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Cop question again


Alpo

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What was the police do if they found an abandoned baby?

 

I was reading a blurb this morning - a quick synopsis of a novel.

 

>Four years after Deborah Jenkins’s disappearance, everyone assumes she’s long dead. But when a DNA test proves an abandoned newborn is actually Deborah’s daughter, the race to find her begins… This page-turning crime novel is sure to keep you guessing.<

 

 

Now my understanding is it DNA testing is kind of expensive. Would the cops run a DNA test on an abandoned baby, hoping that somewhere in the DNA files would be a relative?

 

Just seemed like a strange premise for a story.

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Okay, retired, mandated reporter here. In Illinois, DCFS would be called and the baby placed in their care. A DNA swab is taken and checked against known DNA possible matches IF there is a good suspicion of a match. This has to be Court ordered as the files are on convicted felons.

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Call DFACS and turn the child over to them.  The Juvenile Court intake officer will have to be notified and approve taking custody, which they would for an abandoned child.  Fill out an incident report and back to the donut shop.  DFACS would coordinate with CID later on if there was any criminal investigation necessary.

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DNA testing is cheaper for some departments because they have spent the money on a lab / technician to perform them.  The upfront cost is high, but the long term expense is much lower.  My department used to do DNA only for homicides and sexual assaults.  Then they invested in the lab / technician.  Now they're doing it for everything -- I once took a burglary report (no violence, victim not home) at a crappy, drug-infested apartment complex.  It was on the ground floor, with the front door and window facing the main sidewalk through the complex.  I could see -- with my naked eyes -- the smudge on the window where the intruder (or someone) had placed their forehead against the window to look inside to see what sorts of valuables the occupant was going to give away that day.  

 

I took a DNA swab and submitted it to the lab.  Keep in mind,  looking through a window does not put them inside the apartment.  It puts them outside the apartment.  But I also threw fingerprint dust everywhere inside and lifted a bunch of usable prints.  Many of the prints belonged the occupant, I'm sure, but what are the chances of getting one of the suspect's?  You never know until you submit them all to the lab.  

 

So, all that to say, DNA testing is becoming more prolific and less expensive.  

 

As to the child you asked about, we would not have bothered.  Call Child Protective Services and turn over the baby to be placed into a foster home.  Call detectives and see what else they want done, which is usually nothing.  Let the detectives handle it beyond that.  What did they do with it?  That's a pretty routine investigation they may or may not solve.  

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WC Watch Commander here also

Detectives assigned in the Juvenile unit will determine submitting dna to the lab. Through normal investigation will try and find mother. If no luck place dna sample into the system maybe a hit today, maybe years down the road.

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WC here is "Wing Chief" to the RCAF types and is a very senior NCO in the command structure.

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As a watch commander, I wasn't nearly as concerned about an abandoned child as I would be for a missing child.  Especially a very young one.  We would activate the dog and helicopter show for a missing 4 year old.  

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8 minutes ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

As a watch commander, I wasn't nearly as concerned about an abandoned child as I would be for a missing child.  Especially a very young one.  We would activate the dog and helicopter show for a missing 4 year old.  

Dang right.  A missing kid was a "call everybody and get them here now".  

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36 minutes ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

I've said this before, not everyone is privy to all your special acronyms! Type them out so we understand whats being posted.

 

IDK, IMHO YMMV :P ;) :D

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8 hours ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

As a watch commander, I wasn't nearly as concerned about an abandoned child as I would be for a missing child.  Especially a very young one.  We would activate the dog and helicopter show for a missing 4 year old.  

 

A missing child is not the same as one abandoned but found.  In this scenario, the cops already have the kid, so he / she is not in any kind of danger.  In fact, putting them back in the home of someone who abandoned them might be criminally negligent. 

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In texas we have a baby moses law where it's legal to abandon your baby in certain places.  I think fire stations, emergency rooms, and maybe police stations are the allowed places.  Shortly after that law went into effect there was a story about a baby being found in a dumpster and a DNA test led them to the mother.  I think the baby was alive and I think the mother was under 18, but I'm not sure.  I looked for a story on it but all I found were stories of them using DNA to find the mother of dead babies or the grown up baby using ancestry sites to find their birth family. 

 

The story I remember was probably in Houston, so it could be a thing only big cities can do. 

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