Safety for Children

Children go missing every day, and it is becoming quite an epidemic. Child safety service InstantAmber has some pretty interesting missing children statistics that highlight just how big the problem is:

In America, more than 797,500 are reported missing on average in a single year. Broken down further: 2,185 children are reported missing each and every day. Fortunately, of those reported missing, only a small percent (9%) are victims of either family abductions, or stereotypical kidnappings. Once more, after a further look at the statistics, we find that only 2% of children who go missing are subject to a non-family abductions and 7% have been abducted by family members.

Unfortunately, when a child is kidnapped those figures become increasingly grim. There is typically over a two-hour delay in the initial report of a missing child. Sadly, 74% of those that are murdered are killed within the first three hours of the abduction. There are estimated to be over 100 cases a year where a child is abducted and murdered. These children are generally low risk victims. Most of them, 74%, are girls and 80% of the time the initial contact between child and abductor is generally within 1/4 of a mile from the home.

Child safety is still a very important issue that we must remember to pay attention to.

Parents in Staten Island, New York are concerned over child safety after it was reported that a cell tower in the Huguenot area was putting off low levels of radiation into a few classrooms at Our Lady Star of the Sea school. The towers, positioned on the school’s roof, bring in a revenue of roughly $13,000 a year to the school from the cell company. There are other cell towers in the immediate area that are also being detected at the school.

Two months after learning that the towers across the street emit radiation toward the school, Monsignor Conway ordered metal screens, which will be installed on classroom windows to deflect radiation. He is also planning to ask the owner of the strip mall to turn the antennas away from the school. The antennas, which are on top of a Dunkin’ Donuts, are operated by T-Mobile, records show. In addition, a Verizon representative said the company is planning to add 12 antenna panels to the site.

Lawmakers in the area are calling for an investigation in light of the new findings and fear over the children’s safety.

8 year old Sandra Cantu is missing. Gone since Friday, mystery to her disappearance abounds. Since authorities are not quite sure what has happened to the girl, an Amber Alert has yet to be issued.

“It is our belief that she is alive and unharmed,” said Sgt. Tony Sheneman of the Tracy, Calif., police, who are coordinating a search for the girl with the FBI. More than 200 volunteers combed the trailer park and surrounding area over the weekend, and the search for the girl is ongoing.

“Until we have evidence that an abduction has occurred, we’ll handle this as a missing person,” Sheneman said.

 

Do your younger children already like using the internet? Does it worry you about what kind of content they may be seeing and their online safety? There is a new tool out there called the PG Key which enables you to easily keep track of what your children are viewing and playing with on the internet.

"The internet will never be this perfect place that’s going to be a safe place for kids to play," said PG Key co-founder Brian Lawson.

"If I pull the key, the operation is suspended," he said as he removed the USB device and the screen froze.

"It allows the parent to treat the computer as a privilege," he said.  The device can limit the amount of time your child is on the computer, record video of what they had on the screen, and will send you a text when they type certain names or words that you select.

Does your infant have a drop side crib? Those involved in crib manufacturing have proposed a ban on this style of crib after some child safety recalls and apprehension over death and injury involving the moving part.

Officials familiar with deliberations of a committee that sets industry standards say the proposal would end production of drop-side cribs — where one side moves up and down. The proposal would require cribs to have four immovable sides.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says at least three children have died in drop-side cribs in the last 18 months. The agency knows of more than two dozen incidents in which drop-sides detached from cribs.

News of the latest child safety seat recall, from WLS-TV in Chicago:

RECARO is recalling about 5,400 seats because the central front adjuster strap on some seats may slip and cause the harness straps to become loose.

The company says the affected models include RECARO Signo seats manufactured from February through September of last year.

RECARO will replace any defective seat free of charge. The company has estabilished a hotline for carseat owners. That number is 1-888-473-2290.

Alaska’s first Amber Alert was issued over the weekend, and turned out to be false. With  the report of the fake Alert comes many questioning just how much issuing an Alert costs. With the added manpower needed to search for a missing child, the time paid goes back to the police department.

While it’s impossible to put a price on life, it may be difficult to overlook the costs of running an Amber Alert.

"Most of the people who got called out especially were on overtime details," said Parker.

Using man power which included C.S.I. investigators, patrol officers, detectives, and k-9 units. Overtime dollars added up to close to fifty hours.

"All of that costs go directly to the police department because of a false report," said Parker.

Regardless, police say these calls need to be taken seriously when a child’s life is threatened.

"In terms of finding a lost child there is no cost that is too great," said Parker.

Officials say every second matters in child abductions as 74-percent of children who are kidnapped and later found murdered are killed within the first three hours after being taken. That’s why the public is very important in a finding a child.

More details are surfacing in the missing child case of Haleigh Cummings. Her brother, who saw Haliegh as she was abducted from her home, reports of a “man dressed all in black” coming into the house and taking Haleigh from her bed.

Crystal Sheffield, the children’s mother, said Haleigh’s father Ronald Cummings, Jr. and her son recounted the same story to her.

"When I see him [Haleigh's brother], all he said is, ‘I want to find my sissy,’ and he said something about somebody in black took her," Sheffield said, according to Central Florida News 13.

"He said they were all dressed in black, but I didn’t question him. I’m not going to question him."

It was not immediately clear when or where Sheffield made this statement. Haleigh apparently vanished Feb. 9 from her father’s Satsuma-area trailer home where she lives with 24-year-old Cummings, his 17-year-old girlfriend Misty Croslin and Haleigh’s little brother Junior, 4.

Family members of a missing central Florida girl are being asked to take polygraph tests in conjunction with the disappearance of the child. Five year old Haleigh Cummings went missing from her own home over a week ago and no promising leads have been found since. At this point in the search for the missing child, law enforcement is moving towards less of a ground search approach and more on following leads.

The Sheriff’s Office said they have received some 500 tips since Haleigh’s disappearance, but said some of those leads have been from people who are trying to get back at someone, for example: "An ex-wife trying to get back at a husband."

Officials said several people have inquired about Chad Reynolds, a sexual predator who disappeared from Marion County. Pape said that although Reynolds is not a person of interest at the present time in Haleigh’s disappearance, they are not ruling anything out and want anybody with information about Reynolds’ whereabouts to call law enforcement.

Have you received the following text message in the last few days? “A 7 year old girl was taken by a man driving a newer silver truck. The license plate reads 72b381 please, please pass on.” This turns out to be a known fake Amber Alert, but something that is quickly circulating across the country as a hoax.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) would ask that instead of forwarding AMBER Alert messages, the public is referred to the official locations designated by your particular state for receiving AMBER Alerts. This will ensure the AMBER Alerts are geographically targeted, they are updated, and there is a cancellation at the conclusion of the incident.

The AMBER Alert program is a highly successful nationwide effort that has resulted in 443 children being safely returned to their families. The success of the AMBER Alert program depends on the involvement of the entire community. The public has many ways to receive official AMBER Alerts via radio, television, roadway and digital signage, internet service providers, and through their wireless carriers.

To receive official AMBER Alerts on a cell phone, wireless customers can enroll in the Wireless AMBER Alerts program by visiting www.wirelessamberalerts.org or by texting the word AMBER followed by a space and their 5-digit ZIP code to 26237. Wireless AMBER Alerts is a free public service of the wireless industry, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the United States Department of Justice.