By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe has written a check for $39,130 to settle a case involving how police officers removed children from a home on the behalf of Child Protective Services.

“The officers followed the policy and practice at the time (2008), and therefore I would not say they did anything ‘wrong.’ I would say the policy and practices should have been reviewed by city staff in light of 9th Circuit of Appeals decisions that were being issued by the court since about 2007,” City Attorney Patrick Enright wrote in an email to Lake Tahoe News.

The $39,230 will be put in a trust for the children and divvied up among the other litigating parties. Who all is involved in the case has not been disclosed.

“Since it involves minors, I am limited as to what I can tell you about the case, except it occurred in 2008 and involved the removal of children in the city by CPS and the police department,” Enright said.

“The city is working with the police department to revise its policy on the removal of children for CPS and will be providing training to the officers. The new policy will be barring life-threatening conditions to the children, the officer must obtain a judicial warrant prior to removing the children and placing them with CPS except in very limited circumstances.”

This is the revised juvenile custody policy.

El Dorado County was also a defendant in the case. That settlement is still in the works, according to Enright.