It grieves me to tell you that we have lost another child in Florida. Seven-year-old Somer Thompson was last seen on the afternoon of Oct. 19, running ahead and away from the other children on their mile-long walk from school. Her body was found two days later north of the border in a Georgia landfill. The FDLE CART (Florida Department of Law Enforcement Child Abduction Response Team) for the region was involved, but as the terrible statistic haunts us, only 1 to 5 percent of stranger-abducted children live longer than 24 hours.
Despite the death of the child, I must compliment Clay County, Fla., Sheriff Rick Beseler for “asking for help.” The FDLE CART and the FBI were involved and 155 registered sex offenders were interviewed immediately as is the solid CART protocol. Communities that have not implemented a CART, or whose law enforcement commanders are too arrogant to request assistance from other public safety professionals, endanger the children of their communities.
Training school bus drivers to assist by watching for suspicious persons loitering at schools and bus stops is a very successful proactive approach to protecting our children. However, the abduction and death of Somer dictates that communities cannot rely entirely on law enforcement and school districts to protect their children. Community activists, terrified of crime, form neighborhood watch programs. Unfortunately, too many communities are complacent, believing that a child abduction will never happen in their neighborhood.
It is time for society to pull their aggregate heads out of the sand and recognize the reality that child sexual predators do exist and they live in every neighborhood in the United States. Further, a child predator commonly preys upon children outside of their own neighborhoods. Let’s not be surprised to find that this child murderer lives in another community, county, or perhaps even the bordering state of Georgia. In closing, I reiterate my pride in the law enforcement agencies that collaborated in this effort, rather than ignorantly not be willing to share the “collar,” and invite a group of well-meaning, but untrained nonprofessional volunteers to assist in a criminal investigation.
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Communities: Be Activists. Demand to know what is your law enforcement agency’s protocol on child abduction and their willingness to ask for additional professional assistance. If a protocol doesn’t exist, demand they develop one that meets community approval. If the command officer is unwilling to utilize additional professional assistance from other agencies and jurisdictions, REMOVE THEM FROM OFFICE!
The message is simple: don’t watch your children, watch who is watching your children. Further, I am confident that this abduction was not opportunistic, this predator has been watching these children.
Another Florida Tragedy.
It grieves me to tell you that we have lost another child in Florida. 7 year old Somer Thompson was last seen Monday afternoon running ahead and away from the other children on their mile long walk from school. Her body was found two days later north of the border in a Georgia landfill. The FDLE CART for the region was involved but as the terrible statistic haunts us, only 1 – 5% of stranger abducted children live longer than 24 hours.
Despite the death of the child I must compliment Clay County, Florida Sheriff Rick Beseler for “asking for help”. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement CART (Child Abduction Response Team) and the FBI were involved and 155 registered sex offenders were interviewed immediately as is the solid CART protocol. Communites that have not implemented a CART, or whose Law Enforcement Commanders are too arrogant to request assistance from other Public Safety professionals, endanger the children of their communities.
Training school bus drivers to assist by watching for suspicious persons loitering at schools and bus stops is a very successful proactive approach to protecting our children. However, the abduction and death of Somer dictates that communities cannot rely entirely on law enforcement and school districts to protect their children. Community activists, terrified of crime, form neighborhood watch programs. Unfortunately, too many communities are complacent, believing that a child abduction will never happen in their neighborhood.
It is time for society to pull their aggregate heads out of the sand and recognize the reality of child sexual predators do exist and they live in every neighborhood in the United States. Further, a child predator commonly preys upon children outside of their own neighborhoods. Let’s not be surprised to find that this child murderer lives in another Community, County, and perhpas even the bordering state of Georgia. In closing I reiterate my pride in the law enforcement agencies that collaborated in this effort, rather than ignorantly not be willing to share the “collar”, and invite a group of well meaning, but untrained nonprofessional volunteers to assist in a criminal investigation.
Communites: Be Activists. Demand to know what is your Law Enforcement Agency”s protocol on child abduction and their willingness to ask for additional professional assistance. If a protocol doesn’t exist, demand they develop one that meets community approval. If the Command Officer is unwilling to utilize additional professional assistance from other agencies and jurisdictions, REMOVE THEM FROM OFFICE!!
The message is simple; Don’t watch your children, watch who is watching your children. Further, I am confident that this abduction was not opportunistic, this predator has been watching these children.
Duane L. Dobbert, Ph.D
