Marion County Police Test Kids With Kidnapping Lures

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:38 am

Marion Co. Police Test Kids With Kidnapping Lures

POSTED: 2:40 pm EDT October 4, 2006
UPDATED: 4:17 pm EDT October 4, 2006

OCALA, Fla. -- On the same day that millions of children across the world walked to school as part of an international event, police in Marion County used the day to teach students a potentially lifesaving lesson.

They were showing children in Ocala how to avoid falling for predators' common lures, WESH 2 News reported.

"Come here. Can you show me how to do this game?" one undercover police officer asked a student.

Another officer posed as a drug dealer and another pretended that he had lost his dog.

"I'll just stop and ask randomly a kid who looks vulnerable, and I'll ask him, 'Hey, can you help me with this game? I'm having a hard time beating it,' or 'I don't know how this works,'" one undercover officer said.

One boy fell for it, and his mother could not believe it.

"I was sitting back here, like, jumping, and I'm going, 'Oh, my gosh, I cannot believe he's doing this.' I so wanted to say something, and I'm like, that was an eye-opener," mother Traci Rivera said.

Along the way, about every five minutes, there was another potential lure for children to fall for.

"Can somebody come help me find my dog before a car runs him over?" another officer asked.

"No, no," the children said.

"He's just trying to get me to come back into his back yard so he can kidnap me," one child said.

Fewer children this year than ever before in Ocala fell for the lures. But officers said their work will not end until every child says no.

Police said it takes constant reminders for children to understand that a stranger is a stranger, even if they appear to be friendly.

http://www.wesh.com/education/10000488/detail.html