No kidnap attempt: Police

[Shin Orochi]

Jun 14, 2010
No kidnap attempt: Police

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While a police report was made by the child's mother about the incident at the Turf City earlier this month, a police spokesman said last night that they now believe the case to be one of 'mistaken identity'. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

THE police have assured the public that a reported kidnap attempt of a child, that has been making the rounds in the expatriate community here, was not true. While a police report was made by the child's mother about the incident at the Turf City earlier this month, a police spokesman said last night that they now believe the case to be one of 'mistaken identity'.

'Police confirm that investigations thus far have shown the recent allegation of a female subject attempting to abduct children at Turf City to be unsubstantiated,' said police spokesman Yvonne Edwin. 'The police would like to assure the public that there is no established cause for concern.' She added that the police are still trying to locate the female subject to 'shed more light on the subject'.

The Straits Times understands that the area where the child had been approached had a lot of children waiting to be picked up by their parents. It appears that the woman approached the six-year-old boy and asked if he was someone. The child's maid, who was there with the boy then, later told his mother about the incident, prompting her to make a police report.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.

 

[Shin Orochi]

Beef up protection


Jun 14, 2010
SECURITY IN SCHOOLS
Beef up protection

THE article ('Kidnap claims worry expat parents', last Friday) and the recent MRT vandalism incident highlight how complacent people and businesses have become with regard to security. As a mother, I am concerned about the lack of security measures in schools and enrichment centres. I can enter pre-schools and wander along their corridors without being questioned. I saw three- to six-year-olds going to the toilet by themselves.

A kidnapper could easily get into these schools and nab a child on the way to the toilet. I have also seen pre-schoolers leaving enrichment centres to go to public toilets by themselves. This presents opportunities for kidnappers and sexual predators. Some pre-schools release a flood of children to a crowd of waiting parents without ensuring that the children's parents are actually present. Primary schools also do not monitor who picks up the children from school.

Child kidnappings do occur and child slavery syndicates do operate in Asia. Paedophiles do exist and child abductions by estranged parents do happen. My friend's former husband abducted their daughter and fled to America. She spent three years trying to locate her daughter. With the growing number of international divorces, such cases may increase. At my daughter's pre-school, Montessori For Children, all access to the school and playground are locked.

Visitors are accompanied by staff, and all staff can recognise and call parents by their child's name, for example, Bill Chan's mummy. At dismissal, all 120 children are handed over to the parents, one by one. The extra effort takes less than five minutes. If the parent is late, the child is held within the locked school until the parent arrives. In other words, the school ensures there is no possibility of a child landing up in the wrong hands.

Businesses that expect parents to leave their children with them should have such security procedures. Enrichment centres are especially lax in this regard. Some overseas department stores and game arcades immediately lock all doors once they are informed of a missing child. This prevents the escape of a kidnapper if he is still on the premises. The fact that the crime rate in Singapore is low does not mean our security measures are tight.

Margaret Tang (Madam)

 

[Watchman]

Re: Beef up protection

http://www.spf.gov.sg/mic/2008/080606_appeal_alexia.htm
http://www.spf.gov.sg/mic/2008/080606_appeal_alexia.htm

http://sgms.internet.gov.sg/Search....ult&proxystylesheet=default&output=xml_no_dtd

Police are appealing for information to locate the girl
in the picture below. Alexia was last seen by her parents
on 20 May 2008 around 10.00pm along Eastwood Terrace.
She is 15 years old, about 1.69 metres tall, slim build and sporting blonde shoulder length hair.

Anyone with information on the girl should call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
06 June 2008 @ 8.45pm