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  Using a Dose of Fear to Stop Kidnappings

New York Daily News [New York]
December 12, 2004

WORKERS AND VOLUNTEERS for the Diocese of Brooklyn gasped and groaned as they watched nationally renowned child safety expert Ken Wooden lure children from a playground. As diocese members observed a polite, soft-spoken Wooden trick kids one-by-one, recruiting their help to find a supposedly lost puppy, they were shocked at how easily he gained their trust.

Some kids held Wooden's hand and others grabbed the leash he handed them as they joined in a chorus of shouts calling out the puppy's name.

"I believe by teaching these lures we won't have this awful scandal rain down on us again," Wooden said to parishioners after they watched his video presentation.

About 250 diocese youth workers gathered Monday at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston to hear Wooden, the author of "Weeping in the Playtime of Others: America's Incarcerated Children," explain ways to keep children safe from predators.

The discussion was part of an introduction of the Child Lures program the diocese has put in place to help prevent sexual abuse, abduction, Internet crime, drugs and school violence. The program is part of an initiative begun by U.S. bishops in June 2002.

"This is a very friendly program. You can teach it the way you feel comfortable. But look them in the eye. It's the essence of communication," said Wooden, who has trained State Department employees to protect dignitaries and diplomats from kidnappers.

Wooden said that 1.3 million children a year are lured off by predators. Two-thirds of sexual predators sentenced to prison were convicted for crimes against children, and about 90% of them look no different from the average person.

"Kids will say, 'hello' to me and they don't even know who I am, just because I'm on the premises," said Jack Demers, a bookkeeper at St. Bartholomew School in Elmhurst. "If I were a predator they wouldn't know it."

And children aren't the only targets of predators. College students can be just as easily duped by someone passing himself off as a talent scout or an emergency responder.

"It's a horrible subject but we had to hear about it," said Peg Walter, director of religious education at St. Pancras Parish in Glendale.

Educators were given a large packet of reading material to prepare them for their own presentations. They also received a parents' guide so they can effectively explain what and how they will instruct their children.

Sister Jane Scanlon, vice chancellor of the diocese and chairwoman of the committee for education toward awareness and prevention, said 25,000 members of the diocese have daily contact with children in Brooklyn and Queens.

"I think they're motivated and they have an overall sense of the program," Scanlon said.

"The timing was right," Wooden said of the diocese. "They're now ready to do something and we have the solution that works."

 
 

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