ABUSE: Police failed little girls

I would like to give my thanks to the concerned citizens who called the Coeur d'Alene Police Dept. on eight occasions to report small children "screaming," to Mr. Brown who witnessed and reported what he saw at the apartment where these babies resided, to the neighbor who tried to give care and comfort to the girls early on and to your reporter, Mr. David Cole for his excellent reporting of this incident.

That said - if the situation the officers witnessed at the apartment when they responded seven times previously did not meet the "criteria or standard" for abuse, then those standards must be closely reviewed to prevent this from happening again and to protect the innocent. They responded not to "babies crying," they responded to call after call of little girls screaming and in reading about the suffering those children had to endure, is it any wonder they screamed?

Was any of this reported or referred to Child Protective Services? Even on an informal basis of simply notifying them of the frequency of these calls? Was there any "exchange of information" between these two agencies on the possibility of abuse? If CPS was called by anyone involved, what actions did they or did they not take?

I am retired from a law-enforcement career. I am pro-police and routinely extend to them the benefit of the doubt on their handling of police matters. Just not this time.

CAROL PARR

Coeur d'Alene