This appears to be one sheriff pushing a personal agenda.

Unfortunately it's not - there's a whole "child safety" department behind them, ready with a "safety plan" and even an app that they're going force the poor kid to install. This kind of stuff doesn't happen without the coordination of external bodies, and decades of societal shift in favor of this kind of control-oriented parenting (and blind faith in technical solutions toward this end), also at institutional levels:

  A few days later, DFCS presented Patterson with a "safety plan" for her to sign. It would require her to delegate a "safety person" to be a "knowing participant and guardian" and watch over the children whenever she leaves home. The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son's phone allowing for his location to be monitored. (The day when it will be illegal not to track one's kids is rapidly approaching.)

Against this backdrop - it's quite likely the Sheriff wasn't pushing her own agenda at all, but simply following the procedures provided by her department.

I don't know if that's true. the assistant DA refused to drop the charge, and the compromise that they offered was some CPS-based safety plan.

but the ADA who owns the case could drop the charge tomorrow and it all goes away.

and Sheriffs don't prosecute or dismiss charges, they simply take them to the DAs and supply evidence. someone called them and said there was a kid walking alone and they looked abused, and the sheriff took it to the courts and DAs.

> This is a news story and a controversy because it's a weird thing that happened.

This kind of thing has been going on for decades now, e.g.

Florida mom arrested after allowing 7-year-old son to walk to park alone (2014): https://fox4kc.com/news/florida-mom-arrested-after-allowing-...

Maryland family under investigation for letting their kids walk home alone (2015): https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/contests/maryland-f...

11-Year-Old Boy Played in His Yard. CPS Took Him, Felony Charge for Parents (2015): https://reason.com/2015/06/11/11-year-old-boy-played-in-his-...

Mom Arrested for Letting Child, 10, Shop Alone at Lego Store (2017): https://www.freerangekids.com/mom-arrested-for-letting-child...

It's proof that there's a legal framework that allows this abuse, let alone promotes it, and that it's leading to real-world harm.

How high should N be before we care to plug such legal holes?

That Assanges are rare doesn't mean there shouldn't be outcries about it.

If it were one sheriff, the person driving by in their SUV wouldn't have called the cops. This is a wider phenomenon than you're letting on here

It's not just one sheriff, it's:

- the busybody who called the cops in the first place

- the sheriff

- the Assistant District Attorney

- the Department of Family and Child Services

The latter 3 all know it’s wrong, but also don’t to be liable at all.

There's an old saying about how difficult it is to convince someone differently when their paycheck depends on it...

There are other stories like this, so the issue is at the least a common attack vector for law enforcement officials pushing agendas.