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Why the scare tactics? Austin PD hyping stranger danger

Living in Austin, I find it unfortunate when our local police department uses scare tactics and hype instead of being honest with the public. This practice did not begin with new Chief Art Acevedo, but it's continuing under his watch to judge by a new video they're promoting on APD's website titled, simply, "Stranger Danger." It's about exactly what you might expect - hyping parental fears that a stranger might snatch their child and giving parents and kids all sorts of paranoid advice, some of which I think is flat out wrong. There's an intangible but important harm done by teaching kids to fear other people irrationally and IMO this video crosses that line.In reality, how frequent are "stranger danger" type abductions? According to a 2002 national study by USDOJ, "an estimated 115 children and youth were the victims of a stereotypical kidnapping in the study year" out of a total of "58,200 nonfamily abduction victims...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on August 28, 2008 (boomark / email).