Property owners pay taxes. Tax bills are sent to the owners and not necessarily to the property. The local tax assessor can identify the owner quickly from the address. Not asking the owner for permission to search, which in this case the owner would probably have granted, is negligence.
If I lost a small child, I would want to know that she was not at the bottom of any neighbor's swimming pool immediately, while there might still be time to resuscitate her. If I had been the parent in this case, I would have been conducting my own search independent of the police. And they probably wouldn't like it.
If a law-abiding homeowner simply told me to beat it, that the kid was not there, that is one thing. But to ignore a house for three days is incompetence on the part of the police and the parents.
In regards to David Waters's Sept. 3 Faith Matters column ("A case for curtailing rights"), I find his reactions to the death of Tyra Knox over the top and a little out of line with current laws.
(The body of 7-year-old Tyra was discovered in an empty house across the street from the child's Frayser home on Aug. 25, two days after she disappeared while playing on the sidewalk. A former neighbor has been charged with first-degree murder in Tyra's death.)
Last time I checked, there is little issue with the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
I cry over the death of Tyra Knox, like the rest of the community, but instead of writing that the police should ignore the Fourth Amendment, because it is "for the children," there could be a better evaluation by those who were involved to see where there was a breakdown in communications between the community and the police, and see how this process can be streamlined, or amended, where people can search in a more effective manner.
I would hope that instead of spouting ineffective reactions to the horrible death of one so young, Mr. Waters would work to evaluate what did go wrong, and assist the local authorities in devising a solution so that no other children or their families will have to suffer the actions of one so vile. I would hope that this death will not be in vain.
(Maigrey)
Memphis