Awareness.
Awareness by parents and children helps avoid kidnappings, said
Capt. Bob Brooks with the Hollister Police Department.
Awareness.
Awareness by parents and children helps avoid kidnappings, said Capt. Bob Brooks with the Hollister Police Department.
While news stories about abductions remind parents how precious their children are, too many children are easy targets.
“Prevention is awareness,” Brooks said. “Kids need to be aware of what’s going on around them. But parents can’t make their children so afraid to go to school tomorrow.
“It’s important to instill awareness, not paranoia.”
While the county hasn’t seen a kidnapping in years, people still approach children, Brooks said.
In cases where a child has not been specifically targeted, before and after school are the prime times for abductions, Brooks said.
“When a lot of kids are out, there’s more potential for victims,” he said.
Students should stay in groups and walk home and to school through populated areas – and not talk to strangers.
Parents should stay aware of cars driving around or parked by schools. Any vehicle that doesn’t look familiar should be suspicious to parents, Brooks said. He suggests parents write down the license plate number.
There have been cases when a child was targeted and taken from their own home. For this reason, Brooks said children, even pre-teens, shouldn’t be left home alone.
“Parents should be aware of where their kids are even when they are teens. People think of teens as safer, but they can become victims too,” Brooks said.
County Sheriff Curtis Hill also advises that parents not leave kids home alone. Going one stop further, Hill suggests making sure kids are playing in groups when they play in front yards. It’s even better and safer when parents are outside with their children, he said.
“When children are in vulnerable positions, people will try to exploit that,” Hill said.
Hill even suggests a “radical” approach – locking all doors, even when at home. More and more, abductors are rushing the house – going inside to kidnap – like the kidnapping in San Jose over the weekend, Hill said.
The San Benito County Child Alert has tips on how to prevent kidnappings and keep children safe.
Parents should “never put their child’s name on any article of clothing, lunch box, backpack, etc. … a stranger should never be able to call a child by their name,” according to a pamphlet supplied by Phyllis Swallow, co-founder of SBC Child Alert.
Parents should use a secret code word and instruct children “never to go with someone who cannot supply the code word,” according to the pamphlet.
Another form of awareness is having a good relationship with people in the neighborhood so that everyone can look out for one another, Hill said. This allows more eyes on homes and children. Anything suspicious should be reported to the police immediately, Hill said.
Even though teachers and parents will teach “never talking to strangers,” Brooks challenges the old adage because many child abductors are not strangers to children. Once kids are introduced to someone, they don’t think of them as strangers, Brooks said.
Parents should be specific about who their children can take rides from – this shouldn’t be everyone the child knows.
In case a child is being pursued, Brooks said yelling something like “fire” would get more attention than yelling for help.
“Instead of yelling ‘help,’ which can confuse, they should yell ‘fire,’ but only when they’re really, really in trouble,” Brooks said. “Everybody comes because they want to see the fire. People will come running.”
When children are approached, Brooks advises that they keep moving and politely tell the person that they don’t want to talk. If the person pursues the child, that’s when they know to run, he said.
In the event of an abduction, parents can expedite the return of their child by having current photos and getting their children fingerprinted.
“Fingerprinting is not prevention. It’s a good thing to do, but it’s preparation to locate children after the fact,” Brooks said.
Also, Brooks stressed parents knowing where their children are at all times both prevents kidnappings and speeds up the retrieval process.
For more information on SBC Child Alert, call 637-1232.
