Protecting Your Children From Abductors
Meeting to protect children from child abductors offers slew of tips By: DEIRDRE NEWMAN - Staff Writer TEMECULA ---- A dog leash is the No. 1 lure used by child abductors in California, an abduction prevention expert told more than 100 people Thursday night at Margarita Middle School. It takes only about 10 seconds for predators to tell children they will pay them to help look for a lost dog and grab hold of them if they agree to help out, said Dennis Everett, a presenter with Dignity Memorial Escape School. Everett was one of the speakers at a workshop to provide parents, teachers and children with tools and information to reduce the threat of sex offenders. The workshop was hosted by Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, co-author of a package of bills, known as Project KidSafe, that addresses the prevention, tracking and sentencing of known sex offenders. The workshop enabled parents to get picture ID cards of their children and information from various agencies such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as receive tips from several speakers. Several parents said the event was extremely helpful. "We try to keep (our children's) files updated with fingerprints and pictures," said Kristin Shaffer of Temecula, who came with her husband and two children. "We just want to reinforce that they're aware of safety and how to protect themselves when we're not there." In addition to warning children about strangers looking for lost animals, Everett also told them how to differentiate between good and bad strangers ---- by their actions, not by their looks. Other tips he offered included: If a child is taken to a house and put in a room, the child should turn the light switch on and off repeatedly. This is a nationally recognized signal for help by the police, he said. An abducted child should try to get to a bathroom, roll up a sock and stick it in the toilet and keep flushing as much as possible. This will hopefully bring outside help to the house in the form of a plumber, he said. If a child is put into a car, try to get out through the door. If that doesn't work, jump into the back seat and try to distract the driver so he or she will have to stop the car and get out and open the door, providing a chance to escape. If a child is put in the trunk, the child should try to break the wires to the brake-tail lights in hopes of being noticed by police. In some new cars, there is a button inside the trunk that releases it, he said. Tips about avoiding predators online were provided by Laurie Gunn, a deputy district attorney with San Diego County. She said girls and teens are most at risk from online predators. She encouraged parents to spend time online with their children, learn to use the Internet themselves, check on their children's Internet patterns and move any computers with online access to a common area. "Teach your children that safety (online) is more important than being polite," she said. "What they're told may or may not be true." She also advised children and teens using the Internet not to give out any kind of identifying information or send or download photos or attachments without permission. Tom Freeman, executive officer for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, told the crowd that there are 3,000 registered sex offenders in the county, but no high-risk sex offenders in the Temecula area. "You should congratulate the Temecula Police Department for running such a proactive program," he said. The high-risk, convicted sex offender who has garnered the most attention recently is paroled rapist David Allyn Dokich. He was released to a group home in a residential area in Mead Valley earlier this year, spawning months of protests from concerned neighbors. Hollingsworth encouraged attendees to stay involved with the issue after they left the meeting. He is also the co-author of the Jessica's Law legislation, which has numerous goals including lifetime global-positioning-system tracking for convicted sex offenders. He is also one of the authors of a parallel initiative that would accomplish the same goals and is being circulated for signatures. This initiative could be on the June or November 2006 ballot. Contact staff writer Deirdre Newman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or dnewman@californian.com. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/11/18/news/californian/23_51_3711_17_05.txt