That might be okay in the case of someone stealing your favorite fishing pole. But if someone rapes your daughter, or takes advantage of her naivete you are looking at different scenario. Or if you are a minister and find out that one of your members has misused his daughter or one of her friends. Anyone in a position of authority is liable if he doesn't report something like that.RZehr wrote:...If the police come and ask questions, answer them. We shouldn't hide, or cover up things from them. And I think if the police decide to take action it should be their prerogative and duty, not ours.
In reality, the position of letting the police just take care of it is hiding it, because if it's in the church and everyone takes that position, then we are hiding it, because they have no way of finding out.
I remember a situation like this of a man who was known for molesting his nephews. The bishop of the group was related to him and finally his conscience drove him to report the situation. It was bad enough that the perpetrator got a thirty year sentence, if I remember correctly. The bishop got a lot of flack about doing this, but finally that was the only way to stop an endless cycle of abuse.