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Parents receive advice to stop child abduction
By BOB MACPHERSON
| Article published on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/013107_bhb-01.jpg) |
| From left are Dawn DeSanti, Neighborhood Watch Program chairperson; Vice Mayor Leslie Peck-Epstein, Cpl. Denise Nestor, Commissioner Anna Yadevia and sheriff’s Deputy Vic Pavone. Redington Beach officials are sponsoring seminars on child abduction prevention. |
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REDINGTON BEACH – According to the National Center for Missing Children, one in three girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before reaching adulthood.
The average molester of girls commits 50 plus molestations before being caught while the average molester of boys commits 150 plus molestations before being caught. For every known predator there are an estimated 12 that have not been identified.
Cpl. Denise Nestor of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said 1,250 registered sex offenders live in Pinellas County; 40 of them are women.
Pinellas County has the dubious distinction of having the fourth worst predator problem of any county in the country and ranks first (worst) in Florida. Those disturbing statistics were presented by Nestor last Thursday at a public meeting in the Redington Beach Town Hall.
Nestor’s talk centered on the Sheriff’s Office program to prevent child abduction. The briefing emphasized the motto “Live Safe” and was directed at parents and the things they can do to make their children aware of the danger of child predators.
“Children should be taught to look for clues, for red flags,” Nestor said. “For example, big people do not ask little people for help. So children should not talk to anyone who is asking for directions or asking to help find their dog. Avoid anyone who makes comments about your physical appearance or is hanging around where you and your friends are playing. When a predator tells you ‘don’t yell’, he is telling you what would mess up his plans,” she said. “So yell!”
Nestor said 90 percent of sex offenders know their victims. The predator’s modus operandi is to first gain access to the child and then test the level of trust, and then he commits the child to secrecy. Abduction soon follows.
Nestor said the true pedophile deals in certain ages of children or hair color, color of eyes and other specific characteristics. The known predator romances or woos a child while the stranger predator uses clever lures to get close to the child then abducts the child.
Parents should never leave children in cars unattended or in arcades, movie houses, public libraries, public restrooms, skating rinks, public pools or in shopping carts, Nestor told parents.
“Public places are good places to find them,” she said of predators.
Parents should never tell casual acquaintances or strangers of their routine. Nestor told of a tragic situation where an intoxicated woman told a stranger in a bar where she lived and that she jogged at five o’clock in the morning. Three days later the man entered the woman’s unlocked home at a little after five in the morning and made off with her young son.
If a child has to walk by themselves tell them to walk against traffic since it is more difficult for a predator to follow the child in his vehicle. Plan an escape route in the home should a predator break in.
“Dance around a shopping cart; wrap yourself around your bike if need be to keep the predator at bay,” Nestor said.
Make sure children know their parents names, address and telephone number.
Jennifer Tennant, a Redington Shores nurse with four children ranging from age 5 to 14, said she was disturbed by what she heard.
“I want to get my kids the best tools that they have because these child crimes are on the rise and I don’t want them to be a victim. I’m going to spend all week talking to them.”
An abduction prevention program for children and parents is Friday, Feb. 9, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Redington Beach Town Hall, 105 164th Ave.
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Article published on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007
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