This is just a sad article, because everyone in it is awful, the writer, the parents, and the police. And while it's not a great look for police, they're the least awful people in the story.

If you spend a moment examining the photo, you will see harmful contraband such as: Pampers diapers, Huggies diapers and baby wipes, Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo, All laundry detergent, Irish Spring soap bars, Tylenol, Mucinex cough syrup, and body wash.

It's an odd window into the writer's mind for them to think police only arrest people for stealing "harmful" things. If someone steals my bike, are they not allowed to arrest the thief?

Theft is wrong, not just because "God says so", but because it hurts everyone. Those stores paid for those products, and now they'll have a little harder time making ends meet too. If theft gets bad enough, those stores go out of business, and now both regular customers and thieves have no source of merchandise.

It's sad that parents are stealing these things, and that speaks to larger problems in our society. But that doesn't mean theft is good.

On social media, the backlash was immediate. “On TV, NYPD are fun goofballs who get into prank wars and stop murderers. In reality, NYPD arrest parents who are at[sic] desperately trying to get diapers and formula for their babies,” reads one tweet. Another asks for praise for "the brave, handsome nypd officers who bravely cost taxpayers a ton of money confiscating soap and diapers from infants so they could turn around and bravely throw them away anyway."

I agree with their sympathies for parents trying to provide for their kids, but it's silly to suggest these arrests cost "a ton of money" or that the merchandise was thrown out. It was either returned to the stores or sold at auction if the original stores couldn't be identified. Police do sometimes waste a ton of money, but not in this case.