[Pond, James Pond]

I hope that they do take legal action against the State.

If I sold a car knowing that it was not road-safe, but didn't disclose that I'd essentially be defrauding the potential buyer.

This is no different IMO: the authorities came to the house, no doubt knowing they effectively needed a warrant, no doubt knowing they could not take the children away, but making threats and demands all the same.

It seems to me they were relying on the the home owner giving them what they wanted despite not having to even though they (the DYFS/Police) were not fulfilling their side of the legal obligations in the process.
Something for nothing, if you will: defrauding the citizen of his rights, rather than his money.

That is unethical and surely against the State's obligations to uphold the constitutional rights of its citizens, as servants of its citizens...

It also seems to me that there are some little tin-gods in that outfit. Threatening to take someone's kids away just because they put you in your place, on the legal front, smacks of being a sore loser.

If you use your authority to get even, you shouldn't be in that job....

In the linked report the State Spokesperson said something like any allegation needs to be investigated, even if ultimately false.

Investigating can be done in any number of ways. They could just have asked the guy about the photo. They could have looked up the credentials of the family and they would have seen the hunting licence and an AR in the boy's name... It's not rocket science.

Instead they opt for the "kick door down" approach. Interestingly, those were the same tactics used by the secret police of Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Mubarak etc... Nice.