PARENTS OF Preparatory and Primary school children are being warned to ensure their children's safety by taking time to know those who are dropping off and picking up their children from school.
Psychologist Dr. Leachim Semaj in addressing public sector employees and their children who attended the GSB Annual General Meeting last weekend said school children may well become the next target in the stream of kidnappings.
"Unless some security measures are put in place, I predict that the next target will be prep school children," he said. "Every day taxis pick up the children from prep schools randomly. There is not even a system where the drivers sign at the school so they can be identified," he said.
According to Dr. Semaj parents need to supervise their children's rides home, and schools need to put adequate systems in place to ensure that children are protected or is going to result in a new wave of the crime.
Police statistics show that for 1999 there were 21 reported kidnappings and since the start of this year there have been reports of 16.
Some parents conceded that they were getting worried.
"When I call the taxi company in the evenings to pick up my eight-year-old, I have no idea who they send most times," Janice, a customer service clerk who was attending the meeting said, "I guess I should be more careful, but who is thinking that something could go wrong? She always reaches home alright."
Her fear was echoed by another parent who was quite surprised to learn that some schools do not check to see who collects the child.
"Most times, I am so caught up with work, and you know you expect, probably irrationally that the school will check, that the school will be held responsible for your child's safety, you expect the principals to be half-gods..."
The vice-principal of a corporate area primary school who requested anonymity said that parents were being "irrational" when it came to expecting principals to ensure that their children are taken care of.
"We have hundreds of children who we have to look out for. I'm sorry to say that we don't have a strict system to ensure that everyone who picks up the children are accounted for, we would like the parents to play their part by sending trustworthy people to pick their children up."
She said that with the 'mad rush' to leave school at dismissal time, teachers are "hardly able to keep tabs on every single child."
"However," she said, "we have the phone number of every parent and enough security guards and the students are aware that they should not ride with strangers, if they complain then the matter is addressed swiftly."
Meanwhile, for the new school term which starts next week, Dr. Semaj and the police are encouraging parents to rethink their strategy to ensure that the safety of their children is realised.
"If we don't watch out, pretty soon parents are going to receive notes saying that money is being requested to return the children," Dr. Semaj said.
Victor Henry, operations manager at the police information arm, Constabulary Communications Network (CCN) said that parents should take several tips into consideration to avoid crimes like kidnapping.
"If you are sending someone to collect your children, send someone that they know, he said, "advise the principal that this is the person picking up your child giving a name and description if possible."
He explained that although there had not been any serious cases so far, "sometimes things are prevented because people raise concerns that something is about to happen."
He cautioned parents to be a part of the school system. "The school should be made aware of any changes in plans," he said, "and they should have a contact number to ensure that all instructions are followed.
