‘Don’t let them walk alone,’ Amber’s mom warns

Amber Dubois was walking to school alone on an unfamiliar route when
John Albert Gardner III drove over “and told her to get in the car or
it’d be a lot worse for her,” Carrie McGonigle, her mother, said Monday.

“She had nowhere to run,” McGonigle said. “She was stuck.”

McGonigle shared details of the abduction for the first time in a
nationally televised interview on ABC’s “Good
Morning America,” three days after Gardner, a
convicted sex offender, was sentenced to life in prison without parole
for raping and killing Amber, 14, of Escondido and Chelsea King,
17, of Poway.

McGonigle closed the interview by telling parents to make sure their
children never walk to school alone or leave without saying which route
they’ll take.

The advice seemed poignant, even in a modern age when parents
chauffeur children to school or take more drastic steps, like the
families in London last
year who hired security guards to escort children home from school.

Robin Young, a program manager at the National Crime Prevention
Council, said child safety starts with parents.

“You have to talk to your children,” Young said. “You know best your
child’s responsibility level.”

David Banda, a Mira Mesa father of three, said Monday that his
youngest son, 11, was just 8 or 9 when he first talked to him about
staying away from strangers.

“It’s sad, but I have told him, told my children, that if someone was
to try and take you, you have to assume that they are going to kidnap
you and kill you,” Banda said. “It’s important to instill a certain bit
of fear and urgency so they will react properly or as best they can.”

Now Banda, 49, won’t let his youngest son ride his bike, let alone
walk, to school a couple of miles from home.

“We’re living in a day and age where innocence is a luxury,” he said.

In the United States, the Department of Justice reports that
strangers abduct or kidnap children about 100 times a year. Attempts,
however, are much more common.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has verified
with law enforcement 4,202 attempted abductions from Feb. 1, 2005, to
March 31, 2010.

Thirty-eight percent of those happened while a child was going to or
from school or a school-related activity, said Nancy McBride, the
center’s national safety director.

Sixty-eight percent of the attempts involved someone driving a
vehicle. Sixty-nine percent of the cases involved girls, and 38 percent
of the targets were 12 to 14.

That means a typical victim looks just like Amber.

In Escondido, where Amber was abducted 15 months ago, Danny Perez is
focused on keeping children safe — and walking.

The emergency medical technician hoped to start a public school
program this year to safeguard children from gangs and drugs by
strategically stationing parent volunteers along their walk home.

After Amber’s abduction, he moved the launch date up. It’s now been a
year since the program opened at five schools with 120 volunteers.

“In the schools that we had surveillance, the rate of gangs and drugs
decreased drastically right at the beginning,” Perez said. “A lot of
people think this is when we don’t need it anymore, but this is when we
need it the most.”

Walk San Diego
executive director Ken Grimes said his heart goes out to
Gardner’s victims and their families, but he said the country needs more
children walking to school, not fewer. His group is a nonprofit
organization that has promoted walking and pedestrian safety since 1998.

“The risks from sedentary behavior in terms of diabetes
and obesity, which are reaching epidemic proportions among our
young people, are greater than the risk of being harmed by a stranger,”
Grimes said.

He also noted that walkers can look out for each other.

“The more people who are using our streets, the less crime there is,”
he said.

McGonigle used her nationally televised interview Monday to reach
other parents.

“Don’t let them walk alone,” she said of children.

“Know where they are going,” she said to parents.

“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said of Amber.* * * *





Tips



Children

• Don’t walk alone.

• Stay in well-lighted areas.

• Never take shortcuts.

• Never go into isolated areas.

• Be aware of surroundings

• Observe all traffic rules.

Parents

• Walk the route to and from school with children, showing them where
they can go if they need help.

• Teach children to trust their feelings and immediately get away if
they feel scared, uncomfortable or confused.

• Instruct children to never accept money or gifts from someone
unless parents say it is OK in each instance.

• Instruct children to leave items and clothing with their name on
them at home and not to be fooled or confused if a stranger calls out
their name.

• Teach children about tricks someone may try to use to confuse them
or engage them in conversation. Teach them they do not need to be polite
if approached and to get out of the situation as quickly and safely as
possible.

SOURCE: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

My heart breaks for Ambers family. I don't think not allowing a child to walk alone at that age is the answer though. Being professionally taught to always be aware of what's going on around you, and arming them with the knowledge to NEVER EVER get into a car no matter what the stranger threatens and being taught self defense would make a difference. We can't wrap our children in cotton wool. And besides, even with that intention a child may find themselves alone for whatever reason and arming them with self security/defense techniques means they are better equipped to handle whatever situation crops up. JMO