Jaycee Dugard's interview with Diane Sawyer

http://abcnews.go.com/US/jaycee_dugard/jaycee-dugard-interview-diane-sawyer-future-surviving-philip/story?id=14040269

I felt compelled to voice my opinion on this tragic and unbelieveable story, for several reasons. I just want to say that I am appalled at the incompetance of law enforcement and the legal system for their outrageous, lazy, and disgusting disregard for the ability to even attempt to do their jobs. There were so many unbelieveable reasons that this little girl was allowed to endure the horrible years that she lived with the two monsters that kept her captive, simply because of the laziness, inadequacy, and unbelievable conduct of the very system that is supposed to be designed to protect innocent children such as this girl.

As I watched this interview she did with Diane Sawyer, I sometimes wanted to scream. The irony about this entire story; however, is that for all that this young woman that she is now, as she looks back, is the most inspiring person I have ever seen in an interview in my life. She does not hate the man who did this to her, as a matter of fact, she made an effort to let people know that she would not allow him to have that hold on her ever again. I think that the public is more angry than she is, and I say good for her! Most people who had been through the things she has been through would either, never had survived, or would be screwed up for the remainder of their lives and use drugs, alcohol, or any other excuse to wallow in their own self pitty. She came across as a remarkable young woman who, even though she has two children from the monster that took her, she does not see him in them, and refuses to be anything except a wonderful mother and loves them as if they had never been conceived under the circumstances for which they came into this world. It amaized me how positive she was and was the one that was trying to help her mother move past it and live for the future.

I could go on about Jaycee as a person forever; however, I want to express more so my opinion on the system and how it let her down.

This little girl was taken when she was 11 years old. These people took away 18 years of her life, her childhood, her ability to play with friends her age, to have boyfriends in school, to go to her prom, her graduation, and so many other things that most of us take for granted. While most of us were having sleep overs with our friends, talking about boys, going on our first date, selecting dresses for our first dances, proms, graduations, and participating in school activties, she was being tortured, raped, and having babies in unmentionable conditions.

How did the prison system, the sheriff's department, the repeated visits by the parol officer, and the calls by neighbors, repeatedly allow this girl to remain in these conditions for 18 years? In studying to be a Paralegal, I find all these things terribly disturbing. Every single part of this story, when it comes to her being discovered by law enforcement agencies does not make sense to me at all. Every single person in the law enforcement community that was envolved in allowing her to be kept captive should be sent to jail, in my opinion. There were even videos of visits to the Garrido's home that show blatent incompetence on law enforcement's part.

What are they doing about it? From what I have read so far, the blame is being pushed around to someone else, depending on who is being interviewed. Why are these people who are supposed to protect us, getting away with excuses? The law certainly does not work the other way around. There is no excuse for the mistakes, the ability for the Garrido's to limit the areas that were searched by authorities on their property, or for the sheriff's department to ignore repeated calls from neighbors saying children were living in the back yard, that knew he was a sex offender, to be ignored and not be investigated. There were so many times that if they would have just gone into the backyard instead of taking only five or ten minutes to walk through the house without even noticing things that were obvious. What excuses are we as people and the government going to allow to let those involved, such as the sheriff's department and the parole officer who was responsible for monitoring Mr. Garrido going to do to make sure something like this never happens again? Why when Mr. Garrido had on his ankle tracking device, did no one check it to see that he spent much more time every other place on the property other than in the house? In this case and how many other cases, is the point of the ankle monitor, if no one actually checks it?

I could go on about this forever; however, I will not. I will however, stay up to date on any changes in the case. Just because the Garrido's are in jail, that does not mean that this should be over. I feel this is one of the most horrible failures of our system of law in this country and something has to be done.

Nothing can change what happened, or how it happened, but we can put pressure on authorities, and make attempts to not allow something like this to happen or for so many failures, one after the other, to ever happen again.

God bless you, Jaycee, for surviving, and thank you for your enspiring story. And furthermore, I am so glad you refuse to allow that monster to continue to take anything away from you ever again. I pray that you will have a wonderful life and keep the wonderful attitude you have!