If it takes a village to raise and protect a child, then school bus drivers are important members of that village. During Tuesday’s webinar, “School Bus Drivers: Ensuring Total Child Safety,” presenter Dr. Duane Dobbert discussed the nature and behavioral patterns of “stranger child predators” and outlined the school bus driver’s role in identifying youth who are victims of child abuse.
“Each year we have over 100,000 children that are missing and exploited, and an additional 700,00 children per year that are abused, neglected and sexually molested in their own families. So it’s a very serious problem,” Dobbert said. “In terms of stranger abductions, over 200,000 children are taken every year.”
With a 42-year career in criminal justice education, Dobbert has consulted on hundreds of law enforcement cases. The professor of forensic studies at Florida Gulf Coast University also has numerous publications, including School Bus Drivers: The First Line of Defense Against Sexual Predators. He has also presented at the STN EXPO in Reno, Nev.
“Only 1 to 5 percent of stranger-abducted children live longer than 24 hours. This is why it is critical that, when there is an Amber Alert…we drop whatever we are doing to move to that location where the child was abducted,” Dobbert said, adding that student transporters must get involved with Amber Alert systems.
He went on to describe the paraphilias, including exhibitionism and pedophilia, noting that these lifelong, chronic conditions mainly occur in men. According to Dobbert, child predators choose their victims and stalk them in areas such as bus stops and schools. He shared one example of a school bus driver reporting an offender who was masturbating in his car while watching adolescent girls going into school. Though an area-wide alert was issued, the offender got away.
“The leopard won’t change his spots — however, he will change his hunting territory if his activity is suspected,” said Dobbert. “Child sexual predators are not opportunistic. A true child sex predator is premeditated in his activities.”
Far More Offenders than Those Registered
There are 600,000-plus individuals listed on the national sex offender registry yet, Dobbert noted, this total doesn’t include sex offenders who have not been arrested or those charged with a sex crime whose plea bargain kept their name off the registry.
“We firmly believe there are over two million child sexual predators in the U.S.,” said Dobbert. “After 42 years in this business, I can tell you that registered sex offenders do not practice their trade in their community. It’s very easy for child sexual predators to move across county or state lines.”
Dobbert concluded with a reminder that student transporters can also help to identify those children being abused by someone they already know.
“School transportation personnel are the ones who see the child first thing every day. They can see when a child is crying or looks hurt…they can see the hand mark on their face and ask what happened,” he said. “They can see when [children] are acting out their aggression from their abuse.”
Bus drivers can give them a kind comment to make them feel better, suggested Dobbert, and then contact dispatch or the school principal after the kids have exited the bus.
“You are my heroes — you are on the front lines,” Dobbert said. “Just remember, when you see a behavioral change, something has produced that change. Maybe they are ill, but on the other hand, maybe they have been abused.”
The webinar is archived on the STN website for free, 24/7 viewing and sharing.
