Saturday, August 8, 2009

Keeping safe this summer

I received the following information from a very reliable source and believe the information to be accurate. Please read below but also know that I have not personally verified this information.
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Hi there, all. You know that I'm a pretty laid-back parent, but I feel I have to pass along something that happened today, prefacing it with a conversation from this weekend:

My cousin from KC told me Saturday that the daughter of one of her friends was recently targeted by a group who were taking pictures of kids in their native environments, then posting them on a website, then if they got a BID (yes, I said BID) on a particular kid, they were poised to go back and take him/her. I know. Sick.

Just this afternoon, an SUV approached our house slowly and stopped in front. The driver was talking on the phone, then put it down, and snapped a picture of Lexx and his friend, Stephen, who were sitting on our front porch steps. Then he sped away down the circle toward Boulevard Sports. The boys came in the house and told us directly. I dialed 911 and the dispatch took all of the information (saying that they've had other similar reports), talked to the boys, and sent out a patrol car to look for the SUV and one to our house. In the meantime, I loaded the two boys up and went looking up and down our streets for the SUV -- I was going to ram him with the Hummer and ask questions later. When Stephen's dad and the police arrived, we came back home and the boys answered the officer's questions. Brandon said it might have been an assessor. So I called the Polk County offices. I learned that assessors and appraisers don't generally take photos with people in them... especially kids. Plus, the assessor's office said they had no one in our neighborhood and no one with a car fitting that description.

The boys said it was a dark silver-ish metallic SUV -- larger, like a Durango
White male with fuzzy black hair, mustache and beard, wearing a black sweatshirt

Pass this along to others in the neighborhood -- I don't have everyone's address handy and I wanted to get this out ASAP. I'm going to look into what it would take to get a Neighborhood Watch Program in place. We're in the primetime for crime: Full moon + empty wallets = crazies going crazier. We must be on the lookout.

P.S. As you know, there is some safety in numbers. I always tell Lexx and Pierce that "two is too few," but it's a heckuva lot better than one. If our kids are playing together, let's make sure they are TOGETHER.

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