Midland College Police Offers Education To Help Prevent Child Abduction
By: Katiera Winfrey
Updated: January 18, 2013
Midland parent asking to only go by Katarina said, "It's very scary to see she got stolen from a school I mean we trust our schools to keep our kids safe."
She was at Grafa Park with her 2-year-old son.
Midland College Police offer special training for parents looking to educate their children on strangers and potential child abductors.
Katarina's said her son it too young to recognize the dangers of strangers, "He's very friendly so he tends to go up and be nice to people."
She plans as her son matures, she'll draw from her own childhood to teach him safety.
"If someone was gonna pick me up, I was to ask them if they knew our password, and if they didn't we we're allowed to go with him," said Katarina.
Children often go missing from school and parks. Officials say there are several things parents can teach children when it comes to avoiding people they don't know.
The first thing is if someone tries to take them yell, "this is not my mom this is not my dad, I don't know this person. We've all seen the screaming kid in the grocery store who's mom is carrying him out and a lot of times we just accept that," said Midland College Chief of Police Richard Mckee.
He said don't just accept it.
"Encourage them if they feel uncomfortable or someone approaches them don't stop and talk to that person run away."
Mckee went on to say, when a person they do know, parents should come up with a special code word only shared by the child and adults with permission to pick them up.
Mckee said if they person doesn't know that code word, "Run away. Tell an adult this individual is trying to pick me up they don't know my code word."
To request the Midland College Police for special workshops for small groups and individuals, find out more information click here.
