FCPD: Tips For Your Kid's Safety Around Strangers

Fairfax County police officers met with parents and school officials on Thursday night to discuss near on five different occasions in the last month. 

Jim Reid, crime prevention officer for Franconia District Station, gave a brief presentation on how to teach children to be safe if approached by strangers in these types of situations. Reid offered a few tips that parents should discuss with their children:

• If your children are leaving the house, make sure you know where they are going and who they will be with. “It’s not necessary for you to drive your kid to school every day,” Reid said. “But it is necessary to set up some sort of buddy system so they’re not alone.”
• Discuss a code with your children – a question that only a friend would know, for instance – so they can determine if a person they don’t recognize is in fact a stranger.
• Make sure your child knows it’s okay to say "no" to somebody if they feel uncomfortable in a situation. As Officer Reid put it, “Don’t be afraid to be rude.”
• Your children should know to run away from people who try to touch them or take them away. Also, tell your children to make noise, and shout things like, “This is not my Daddy or Mommy,” or “Help” to get people’s attention.
• Communication with your children is important. Make sure they know to talk to you if somebody approaches them or tries to touch them. Let them know they don’t have to keep secrets from you and that you love them. “You have to be able to talk to your kids about this kind of thing,” Reid said. “Run over scenarios with them so they know what to do.”
• If they find themselves in a situation like this, their rules should be to say "no," get away, and tell somebody immediately.

For the full scoop on at Clermont Elementary School, see our story.