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Police in West Memphis say calls went unanswered

The Arkansas Department of Human Services is performing a review after West Memphis police officers couldn't reach agency personnel to assist with a baby found in a restaurant parking lot last week, an agency spokesman said Saturday.

On Wednesday, officers were called to the Krystal at 1804 N. Missouri St. about 2:20 p.m. after a baby was left in the parking lot. The restaurant's manager and a customer took the baby, who was in a carrier, inside the restaurant and waited for police, Capt. Joe Baker said.

Officers said they determined the boy was unharmed but found a prescription pill with him in the carrier. The parents, who had realized they left their child behind, arrived at the restaurant after the officers did, according to police. Baker said Chris Poindexter, 19, and Savanna Poindexter, 20, were taken into custody and face child-endangerment and drug charges.

As the parents were arrested at 2:55 p.m., police began calling numbers on a list the Department of Human Services had given them in September. Dispatchers tried two numbers but were unsuccessful, and Baker's calls to the area director and local department office also went unanswered.

"At that point, we kind of ran out of options," he said.

Police then contacted the baby's grandmother, he said, and determined she could care for the child.

Baker, who oversees all enforcement operations for West Memphis police, said the situation 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," he said Saturday.

Amy Webb, a Department of Human Services spokesman, said the four employees on the list were all unavailable when West Memphis police called Wednesday. One of them was on leave, another was in Little Rock without cellphone service and the other two were in an interview.

Two and a half hours after the baby was found, Cyndi Rowlett, the area director, spoke 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 for reaching an agency official was instituted after 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 took place after a Sept. 19 situation 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 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, paramedics decided to take the boy to Forrest City Medical Center in St. Francis County -- out of the caseworker's jurisdiction.

It wasn't the first time West Memphis officers had to care for children. Baker said officers and dispatchers in recent years have been forced to baby-sit for hours, sometimes even buying diapers and food with their own money.

Police decided to keep the September issue private, but after the process failed Wednesday, Baker and Oakes publicized their displeasure with the Department of Human Services in an attempt to force action.

"We're to the point where they have to do something to make some changes," Baker said.

The department is reviewing Wednesday's situation, and administrators "understand [officers'] frustration," Webb said.

She added that Rowlett will visit the West Memphis area more often, and the department is looking to hire additional caseworkers.

Baker said West Memphis police want to partner well with the department, saying he was "cautiously optimistic" upon seeing its response.

Metro on 11/20/2016

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