Safety

Hard to believe when you hear a story like the one I heard this morning about a young mother leaving her new born baby in the vehicle while she went to the mall!

Absolutely nothing justifies leaving a defenseless baby not only exposed to heat, cold and lack of oxigen, but also with a lack of safety. I am not going to make logs out of the fallen tree, but I must say that there is a complete absence of common sense among young people on these days.

Children having children and going through a transition between high school and parenthood with no life skills or simple logic.

And it is true! More car accidents among teenagers are caused by text messaging and not paying attention to the road than driving under the influence. However, just because technology is available doesn't mean we have to use it inadequately. It also takes some common sense to utilize this technology in a safety mode.

Not only teenagers are at risk of suffering a terrible accident while trying to drive, talk and text messaging at the same time while driving, a lot of adults do the same thing! Just put your hand over your heart and say: "I have never done such a thing!" It is very rare the driver that is not talking on the cellular phone while going home from work, and I'm sorry to say this but women are the master multi task when is about brushing their hair, apply make-up and turn in a 180 degree position to return the pacifier to the baby's mouth while behind the wheel.

You protect your child not letting him (her) go out to play without supervision, you drop and pick your kids up when they go to parties or to school. However, as soon as they get home they open the window to the world and they turn into potential victims again. The internet allows your kid to interact with those strangers you fear so bad. They play games together and predators can disguise to establish a "relationship" with their victims right under the parent's nose!

Years ago, when the television started, another kind of "window" was created. One where millions of people from everywhere around the world were influenced by other people's thoughts and experiences in life. Movie after movie, our society changed for ever! In a way, every one, somehow, became affected by a specific movie hero for good or for bad.

That's it! The year is almost gone and believe it or not Christmas is closer than we wished. This is the time when we regret not saving enough during the year and with the economy as it is we can expect not only a really skinny Santa Claus this year, but also crime everywhere. Don't let these holidays surprise you unaware and unsafe. Fight crime before it hits you. Here some safety advises you will never regret:

- Leave your small children safe at home with your spouse, your mom or a reliable baby sitter. Crowded stores are ideal to get distracted and leave your children unattended. Remember predators are always looking for the opportunity, don't take any chances with your kids!

Before you go out in a "spooky" night screaming "Trick or Treat" with your kids,  stop for a second and listen to this healthy advise. No, I am not a "Party pooper", just a concerned citizen who has gather together certain facts which I want to share with all parents. In case you haven't heard yet there is a new bacteria (I cannot even pronounce the name) which attacks the immune system and it is transmitted through touch! It is invisible and can even cause death.

It was detected in Texas and it has spread all over certain schools. However with people traveling all the time there is a good chance we might get it here in Florida pretty soon. Nothing more convenient for this type of bacteria to spread than the giving away candy to our kids, even if it is wrapped and looks all right it might be infected already. Paranoiac? Maybe! But "Better safe than sorry!"

How many more schools shooting our country has to go through to understand that the problem starts with some kids "bullying" other kids pushing them to the edge and sometimes making them a wrong and terrible decision: a need for revange. These incidents are nothing but the fatal combination of abuse, lack of communication, indifference and easy access to weapons!

The "bullying" that you and me went through, while we were going to school is history now. Some "today' bullies" not only humiliate classmates to the tears and make them hate to go to school, they also also use threats to force the other kids to give them money and other items like food and goodies. They push them in the halls and wait for them in the bathrooms to beat them up. They literally make their lives a living h@#&*!

One more time a predator gets away from punishment! It was on the news tonight: a 9 year old boy was brutally raped by a predator and now this criminal is walking free on the streets again!

No names were revealed but does it really matter? It could have been your child or mine! It is an every day new in our communities, one more child, one more life ruined for the victims and their families.

What is it going to take to stop these monsters from hurting our precious children? No precautions are enough to prevent a tragedy like that family on the news tonight. Some predators even have the audacity of entering the victim's homes to abduct them!

As a police officer, one of my duties is to inform and protect the children in my community. I have been giving presentations for the kids at school since 2003, and I can see how their safety guard has changed from a naive attitude to an awareness against predators. I believe that everything we can teach them is worth, especially if these teachings might save their lives one day.

About a week ago I came across Ms. Pamela Bennett who is the Victim Advocate , Section Chief for the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit in Jacksonville. She works for the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Florida and I knew through her that an enormous effort is taking place at this time to catch these criminals and remove them from the streets so our children can live without fear.

Someone had the great idea to make the hand taser available for everyone! Like if there is not enough violence on the streets now they are going to make this device available not only to regular people like you and me, but also to criminals and even teens!

What make these people believe that the existent crime will be less if you carry a taser (more like a stun gun) with you? The true is that although this device was created to subdue criminals to law enforcement, they are also a "knife of double blade" which means that if it falls in the wrong hands it could cause serious injuries to others depending on the body area where they are applied (head, eyes, genitals). And I am not a doctor but it doesn't take a genius to figure that out either!

Finally! We will be able to know who is who when is about the safety of our children. In case you didn't know here is a tip for you:

The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle has issued as August 1Th 2007 new Driver Licenses and ID's for sexual predators and sex offenders. A number appears on the lower right corner of their DL (943.0435 F.S. for predators and 775.21 F.S. for sex offenders).

This information will make much easier to recognize these criminals in a traffic stop and will alert Law Enforcement in the event that the predator is accompanied by a minor.  In the past there have been cases  when a predator had been stopped for a traffic violation while the abducted child was a passenger in the vehicle. Can you imagine how many lives will be saved by this new way to identify these monsters? Anything is worth to save our children's precious lives!