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| TOP COP IN WEST MEMPHIS BLASTS DHS FOR FAILURES |
Captain Joe Baker with the West Memphis Police Department ("WMPD") vented frustrations about the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services ("DHS/DCFS"), to the news media last week.
This was after the WMPD couldn’t get DHS/DCFS personnel to assist with a baby found in a Krystal restaurant parking lot on Wednesday, November 16th.
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Baker, who oversees all enforcement operations for West Memphis police, said finding the baby Wednesday was just the latest of his department’s “chronic problems” with the Department of Human Services that span years.
“At ground level, it is a horribly run organization,” said Baker.
On Wednesday, officers were called to the Krystal at 1804 N. Missouri St. around 2:20 p.m. on a report of a baby being left in the parking lot. The restaurant’s manager and a customer brought the baby, who was in a carrier, back inside and waited for police, Baker said.
According to Rose Love, the manager, the couple initially left the baby in the restaurant and came back in to get it. Once outside, the left the baby in the parking lot.
Video from the restaurant shows the baby carrier left on top of a table and the parents coming back to get it.
Officers determined the two and a half month old baby boy in the carrier was unharmed but found a prescription pill with him in the carrier. The parents, who had realized they left their child behind, called the restaurant to see if the baby had been left there and arrived at the restaurant after police had arrived. Baker said both Savanna Loggains, 20, and Chris Poindexter, 19,were taken into custody and face child-endangerment and drug charges.
As the parents were arrested around 2:55 p.m., police began calling numbers on a list that the Department of Human Services had given them in September. Dispatchers tried two numbers that were unsuccessful, and Baker’s calls to the area director and local DHS office also went unanswered.
“At that point, we kind of ran out of options,” Baker said.
Police then managed to contact to baby’s grandmother, he said, and determined she could care for the child in lieu of his parents.
Amy Webb, a Department of Human Services spokesman, said the four employees on the list were each unavailable when West Memphis police called Wednesday. One of them was on leave, another was in Little Rock without cell-phone service and the last two were busy in an interview.
Webb refused to say how the people responsible would be held accountable.
Two and a half hours after the baby was found, Cyndi Rowlett, the area director, was able to speak with Police Chief Donald Oakes.
“We’re working to address it so we don’t have this issue again,” Webb said. “The process just didn’t work in this situation.”
That process was instituted after DHS officials met with West Memphis police in September. Baker said he, Oakes, Rowlett and Division of Child and Family Services Director Mischa Martin were there to implement the agency’s phone-call system.
According to Rose Love, the manager, the couple initially left the baby in the restaurant and came back in to get it. Once outside, the left the baby in the parking lot.
Video from the restaurant shows the baby carrier left on top of a table and the parents coming back to get it.
Officers determined the two and a half month old baby boy in the carrier was unharmed but found a prescription pill with him in the carrier. The parents, who had realized they left their child behind, called the restaurant to see if the baby had been left there and arrived at the restaurant after police had arrived. Baker said both Savanna Loggains, 20, and Chris Poindexter, 19,were taken into custody and face child-endangerment and drug charges.
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| SAVANNA LOGGAINS & CHRIS POINDEXTER - MUG SHOTS |
As the parents were arrested around 2:55 p.m., police began calling numbers on a list that the Department of Human Services had given them in September. Dispatchers tried two numbers that were unsuccessful, and Baker’s calls to the area director and local DHS office also went unanswered.
“At that point, we kind of ran out of options,” Baker said.
Police then managed to contact to baby’s grandmother, he said, and determined she could care for the child in lieu of his parents.
Amy Webb, a Department of Human Services spokesman, said the four employees on the list were each unavailable when West Memphis police called Wednesday. One of them was on leave, another was in Little Rock without cell-phone service and the last two were busy in an interview.
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| DHS DIRECTOR CINDY GILLESPIE AND DHS MOUTHPIECE AMY WEBB |
Webb refused to say how the people responsible would be held accountable.
Two and a half hours after the baby was found, Cyndi Rowlett, the area director, was able to speak with Police Chief Donald Oakes.
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| DONALD OAKES - WEST MEMPHIS CHIEF OF POLICE |
“We’re working to address it so we don’t have this issue again,” Webb said. “The process just didn’t work in this situation.”
That process was instituted after DHS officials met with West Memphis police in September. Baker said he, Oakes, Rowlett and Division of Child and Family Services Director Mischa Martin were there to implement the agency’s phone-call system.
That process was instituted after DHS officials met with West Memphis police in September. Baker said he, Oakes, Rowlett and Division of Child and Family Services Director Mischa Martin were there to implement the agency’s phone-call system.
The meeting came after a Sept. 19. incident in which police found a 15-year-old boy who had been hit in the head with a pool cue by his mother, Baker said. The boy had a cut that needed stitches.
It took 17 calls — 22 minutes — to contact the Crittenden County’s Department of Human Services caseworker who didn’t want to drive to West Memphis to help take the boy to a hospital in Memphis, Baker said.
After 41 minutes, the paramedics decided to take the boy to Forrest City Medical Center in St. Francis County — out of the case worker’s jurisdiction.
It wasn’t the first time West Memphis officers were taken off the street to care for children. Baker said officers and dispatchers in recent years have been forced to babysit for hours, sometimes even buying diapers and food.
Police decided to keep the September issue out of the public eye, but after the processed failed Wednesday, Baker and Oakes publicized their displeasure with the Department of Human Services in an attempt to force action.
State Senator Keith Ingram had a stern message for employees of DHS, "either do your job or find something else to do," Ingram told reporters.
"There is no excuse for an employee of DHS to not respond immediately.
This isn’t a single instance here. This is a pattern for a while,”
Ingram added.
Ingram contacted DHS Director Cindy Gillespie to express his concerns about the DHS Crittenden County Office and said, "I’ve been assured by the DHS director Cindy Gillespie that this will be taken care of and will be done."
In a hearing held on Friday, November 18th, Poindexter's grandmother told the judge that he was grieving the death of his brother when the incident happened and was very remorseful.
The meeting came after a Sept. 19. incident in which police found a 15-year-old boy who had been hit in the head with a pool cue by his mother, Baker said. The boy had a cut that needed stitches.
It took 17 calls — 22 minutes — to contact the Crittenden County’s Department of Human Services caseworker who didn’t want to drive to West Memphis to help take the boy to a hospital in Memphis, Baker said.
After 41 minutes, the paramedics decided to take the boy to Forrest City Medical Center in St. Francis County — out of the case worker’s jurisdiction.
It wasn’t the first time West Memphis officers were taken off the street to care for children. Baker said officers and dispatchers in recent years have been forced to babysit for hours, sometimes even buying diapers and food.
Police decided to keep the September issue out of the public eye, but after the processed failed Wednesday, Baker and Oakes publicized their displeasure with the Department of Human Services in an attempt to force action.
State Senator Keith Ingram had a stern message for employees of DHS, "either do your job or find something else to do," Ingram told reporters.
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| STATE SENATOR KEITH INGRAM (D) - WEST MEMPHIS |
Ingram contacted DHS Director Cindy Gillespie to express his concerns about the DHS Crittenden County Office and said, "I’ve been assured by the DHS director Cindy Gillespie that this will be taken care of and will be done."
In a hearing held on Friday, November 18th, Poindexter's grandmother told the judge that he was grieving the death of his brother when the incident happened and was very remorseful.
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Cyndi Rowlett, the DHS/Division of Children &Family Services Area Manager was sued by a former Crittenden County DHS/DCFS worker who was fired after the worker expressed concerns that her supervisor, Doreen Brown did not take the appropriate action to take a child into DHS custody and the child died a short while later. More on that story in a future post.
