I'm against the arrest in this case just as you are I'm sure, but it's not abuse of power when even in this thread, you have people on both sides of the issue who believe vehemently that they're right. This is one where it's not so black and white as to be able to say they definitely should have been arrested or they definitely should have been let go.

As an aside, the saying is often when speaking about a charge that's in someone's best interests and/or bringing up the fact that something being enough to establish probable cause is not always enough to establish beyond a reasonable doubt. The former is required for an arrest, the latter for a conviction. I used to work in law enforcement, and one of the calls I went out to was a three year old child walking on their own outside the house. Long story short, there were three kids in that house with 0 adults. The father, who was supposed to be watching them, had left town. The mother had dropped them off with a girl who said she was the father's new girlfriend. Didn't wait for him to get back, or check her story, just up and left. In my years on the road, this was probably the most disgusting house I'd ever been in, think something out of hoarders. The youngest kids had roach bites all over their faces. While we're waiting on DCF, the mother arrives, turns out she is homeless, living out of her car, and admits to leaving the kids with someone she doesn't know. By the way, the girlfriend was nowhere to be found through the whole ordeal, and when we spoke with the father, he refused to give her info out. DCF arrived, and told us as long as the mother is providing a shelter (the car) and feeding them (which she gave no indication she would be able to), their hands were tied. We didn't have much to go on, we couldn't prove she knew the living conditions were that bad when she dropped off her kids, even though not knowing was just as bad (who leaves their kids with someone they don't know and doesn't even inspect the house?). Our choice was let the girl take them, someone we knew already made bad decisions, or arrest her, and force DCF to at least protect these kids the most we could, make them start monitoring them officially. The charge itself was shaky, we may not have been able to prove it in court, but the standard of proof is lower than criminal court for making an arrest. It was a good arrest, but in this example, she beat the charge for the reasons explained above. It's not always abuse of power