Abuse caught on tape

WISN ^ | 2/19/04 | unknown

[Pontiac]

Police arrested a woman after a man’s security cameras intercepted images from her video camera showing her allegedly abusing foster children. William Brookins called police after he watched the images on a monitor from his home security cameras Sunday night.

Brookins realized he was intercepting another camera’s images, which showed two young girls holding their hands overhead, he said. He said after 25 minutes, the 2-year-old’s arms began to sag. A woman rushed into the picture and hit the toddler in the abdomen and the face, knocking her to the floor.

The girl then got back to her feet and put her arms overhead. Brookins said he also saw the woman in the video hit the 4-year-old on the head with an object.

Detectives arrested a woman in Brookins’ neighborhood early Monday. The girls in the video were foster children. The 39-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of physical abuse of a child, according to the police jail log.

The district attorney was reviewing the case. Six children lived in the home: the 2- and 4-year-old girls and a 5-month-old boy, all in foster care, plus her own children, ages 14, 12 and 10, police said. Investigators did not find signs of abuse on the other children.

The younger children went to different foster homes. Child welfare workers took custody of the woman’s children. Brookins said he watched as the girls stood for 90 minutes with their arms raised before they were allowed to go to bed at 10:40 p.m. ‘‘That is too long for anyone,’’ Brookins said. ‘‘I couldn’t do it.’’

Brookins gave police his tape and then went to bed. He woke at 4:18 a.m. to find his system still receiving the other camera’s picture. He said he saw the 4-year-old girl again standing with her hands up. She stood that way until police arrived around 6:30 a.m.

[Pontiac]

Do everything you can to keep your child out of the hands of CPS. Also a lesson in how using these wireless cameras can can cost you your liberty.

[smith288]

I prefer to just not hit my kid on the head with an object.

[Integrityrocks]

Its people like this that have stripped good parents of the right to give your child a much needed swat with the wooden spoon on the bottom now and then. I believe in corporal punishment, but the PARENT has to have personal discipline. I abhor child abuse.

[js1138]

The bar is pretty low. I spent seven years in protective services. I considered it my mission to keep kids out of foster care as long as I thought they wouldn't be killed or hospitalized. I encouraged relatives to step in and kick the parents asses. The more relatives involved the more people watching after the kid. In most families there's at least one functional person.

[DaGman]

God often works in mysterious and surprising ways.

[OldFriend]

You are one sick s.o.b.

[RepublicansForDean]

But why did the abusive household have cameras in their house to begin with? The camera had to be on and transmitting for the other person's system to pick up a signal.

I'd bet there are tapes to be found in the abusive household. Who knows what such tapes could contain.

[Pontiac]

The bar is pretty low. I spent seven years in protective services. I considered it my mission to keep kids out of foster care as long as I thought they wouldn't be killed or hospitalized.

That is how it should be. But unfortunately the government has set up too many financial incentives for CPS to remove children.

The biological make up of the human animal simply makes it more likely that a person not sharing genes with a child will not have as much patience with the child.

This makes it more likely that an unrelated custodian of a child will commit abuse.

[pabianice]

It Takes a Village...

[Yo-Yo]

But why did the abusive household have cameras in their house to begin with?

My first question was why was Mr. Brookins "accidentally" monitoring the wireless baby monitor in the first place? Smells to me like that couple in Florida that just "happened" to tape Newt's cell phone conversation while driving around town with a scanner that just "happened" to receive cell phone frequencies, on the mini tape recorder that just "happened" to be attached to the scanner.

[Pontiac]

Its people like this that have stripped good parents of the right to give your child a much needed swat with the wooden spoon on the bottom now and then. I believe in corporal punishment

I agree.

The same can be said of schools

Many schools are now run by the children because the teachers have no recourse to discipline that the children understand and respect.

Spare the rod and spoil the child has a lot more truth in it than many would believe (with in reason of course).

[GovernmentShrinker]

These wireless cameras have GIVEN these poor little children a chance at liberty. And nobody forced this evil woman to use a wireless camera to enhance her ability to abuse the children. If she'd been thinking a little more about the cameras' transmission range, and a little less about how to torture toddlers, she could easily have protected her privacy.

[Junior]

Why was this broad videotaping the abuse. Is she some sort of idiot?

[ArrogantBustard]

Wireless cameras, like wireless network devices, all work on the same radio frequency. I "see" my neighbours 802.11g routers (several of them) from my 802.11g enabled notebook computer every time I fire it up. I've never tried connecting to them, though if they haven't enabled encryption on their networks it would be trivial for me to do so. I've encountered similar situations with old-style cordless phones and powerline carrier intercom systems.

[GovernmentShrinker]

But why did the abusive household have cameras in their house to begin with?

According to other published reports on this story, it was so the woman could monitor the children's compliance with the method of abuse she was subjecting them to. That's why as soon as the little girl dropped her arms from exhaustion, the woman promptly ran into the room to punch her. The woman was free to move about the house and do whatever she liked, while the little girls were forced to stand in place for hours with their arms over their heads.

[GovernmentShrinker]

See my post #15.

[Bommer]

Also a lesson in how using these wireless cameras can can cost you your liberty.

Liberty? You mean the God given right to "hit a toddler in the abdomen and the face and knock her to the floor", and then "hit a 4-year-old on the head with an object." You got a sick view of what liberty is my friend!

[cruiserman]

Strangely enough the baby monitor in my son's room used to pick up my neighbor's cordless phone conversations. We moved the monitor and told my neighbor about it.

[GovernmentShrinker]

And I haven't seen any reports that she was videotaping the abuse -- just monitoring it.

[petercooper]

If you're abusing children, you just surrendered your liberty.