There is no doubt that police have a duty to react – and quickly – to any report of a child kidnapping in progress. But whether police responded properly to a call regarding a possible kidnapping on Feb. 10, involving well-known criminal justice blogger Scott Henson and his 5-year-old granddaughter, has become a subject of debate. Henson wrote a lengthy blog complaining that he had been surrounded by Austin police while walking home with his granddaughter after a roller skating outing and suggesting that he was only stopped because he is white and the girl is black. This is actually the second time this has happened in the last several years. But things really turned nasty after Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told the Austin American-Statesman that Henson was a “liar” because he said he was approached by police with their Tasers drawn, which didn’t happen; Henson corrected his original post and has noted that it wasn’t a lie, but a trick of memory in a stressful situation. You can read Henson’s entire account of the incident on his Grits for Breakfast blog, at www.gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com.
This article appears in February 24 • 2012.