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Live
Secure in the 'Burg
By Clint Van Zandt, former FBI serial profiler
For
those of you new to the local Fredericksburg area, it's been almost
4 years since the 1996 murder of young city resident Sofia Silva
and the 1997 murders of Spotsylvania County sisters Kristin and
Kati Lisk were solved with the death of suspected serial killer
Richard Evonitz. All three young girls are believed to have been
kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by Evonitz, himself a local
resident at that time. A dark cloud of fear hung over our community
for six long years until June 2002, when Evonitz was identified
in the kidnapping and assault of yet another young girl and committed
suicide when he was ultimately confronted by police.
Each year over
one million children are the victims of sexual assault with 15%
of the victims younger than 12. There are ten's of thousands of
sexual predators in the United States, 750,000 of whom are on the
Internet on daily basis looking for new victims. The "average"
offender commits 380 acts of molestation over his lifetime. A 63-year-old
child predator was recently arrested in a western state. His extensive
hand-written records revealed that he had molested over 36,000 victims
in at least 10 states and in a number of foreign countries! A study
of a group of 250 known offenders found that this group had molested
20,000 known victims over 55,000 times. The state of California
has acknowledged that it can not account for over 33,000 known violent
sexual offenders. "They're just gone" said one official.
The Commonwealth
of Virginia is fighting back against these predators, stalkers and
molesters. In April, Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced
a new and far reaching sexual predator legislative package that
had been signed into law by our Governor, making Virginia the leader
among states taking a strong stand against these career criminals,
predators who go after our most vulnerable citizens, our children.
These new laws include a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life
for certain offenses committed against a child; mandatory GPS monitoring
of released offenders; safety zones around schools; mandatory DNA
samples from such predators; background checks on child care workers,
and laws that allow the state to go after those who trade and profit
from Internet child pornography.
What can we
do as parents, grandparents, and caregivers? We can become informed
and educated regarding the risks to our children and those who might
threaten them. We have established a free access website at www.LiveSecure.org.
This website offers critically important information concerning
child, home, and travel safety. We have also provided a link to
every known state and local sexual predator database. FYI: There
are 119 known local predators listed by name, photograph, and address
in the greater Fredericksburg area alone. LiveSecure.org also contains
information concerning our new DVD, "Protecting Children from
Predators," which is 45 minutes of what every parent and grandparent
should know to protect their children from such individuals. We
don't want our children to be paranoid, but we do want them to be
aware and know how to respond to a threat to their personal safety.
It's our job as caregivers to teach our children to be safe and
to live secure.
Clint Van Zandt
LiveSecure.org
Children Need to Know the Following:
1. Do not get into any car unless your parents personally tell you
to do it.
2. Stay away from anyone who follows you on foot or in a car. You
do not need to go near a car to talk to the people inside.
3. Grown-ups and other people who need help should not be asking
children for help; they should be asking older people.
4. Grown-ups should not be asking you for directions or to look
for a "lost puppy" or telling you that your mother or
father is in trouble and that they will take you to them.
5. Quickly get away from anyone who tries to take you somewhere
and yell or scream: "This man (or woman) is trying to take
me away," or "This person is not my father (or mother)."
6. You should use the "buddy system" and never go places
alone.
7. Always ask your parents' permission to leave the yard or play
area or go into someone's home.
8. Never hitchhike or try to get a ride home with people unless
your parents have told you it is okay to ride with them.
9. People should not ask you to keep a special secret. If they do,
tell your parents or teacher.
10. Tell anyone who wants to take your picture, "No,"
and tell your parents or teacher.
11. No one should touch you on the parts of the body covered by
your bathing suit, nor should you touch anyone else in those areas.
Your body is special and private.
12. You can be assertive, and you have the right to say, "No"
to someone, to include adults and even relatives and friends who
try to take you somewhere, touch you, or who makes you feel uncomfortable
in any way.
13. Many parents use a special code word that only the child knows
to convey a message should someone other than a parent ask a child
to accompany them anywhere.
The Yell!
Practice a "Special" yell. It is low, loud and long. It
tells the person trying to hurt the child, "I know what to
do! I'm not an easy victim!" It tells everyone within the sound
of the child's voice, "I need help!" It gets the child
going, it breaks the spell. A child should not panic and freeze,
thereby becoming immobile in an emergency. When you yell you take
a deep breath, thereby getting oxygen and energy to your brain and
muscles. Your own yell can give your courage and get your feet moving
when you must run away!
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