I agree, they are very different topics. The unpalatable issue isn't the fact kids do get abducted / abused / hurt, but the paranoia surrounding unlikely risk.
There are malcontents the World over but it leads ad absurdum to the situation where I can't stand and watch kids in a playground without having a worried mother herding her little ones away from the gaze of the 'strange' man. Really, this happened recently. (Yeah, I am strange, but not a paedo, FFS ). I love watching kids play, but this is inappropriate now, it seems.
The fear of the scraped knee, the hidden danger, the Evil Piper all enforces the mindset in others and more dangerously, their children, that the World is a place of fear and suspicion and promotes a tendency for over-reliance on the apron strings. We need less fear and Mummies Boys and more common-sense about what the real dangers to our kids are.
I know that was a joke, but Quod erat demonstrandum ...
No they are all part of the same topic. A child who is sheltered from the real world, not allowed to climb trees or walk anywhere on their own for instance, is not going to be able to or be allowed to aquire the skills they need to deal with life. A child who has never been put in danger through play or sport or whatever would have much less of a chance to fend off an abduction attempt than a child who has learned that life can hurt sometimes.
With this perverse logic - and it is perverse - nobody would get in plane because planes can crash; it is exactly this which is contaminating public trust and your argument is fuelling the fire.
Don't believe the hype. Brian Eno once decried the lack of awareness of how the media manipulates non-inquisitive minds and suggested all students have an element of Media Studies to educate them that what they see isn't always what they get. He has a very good argument, IMO...
A women in Wollishofen came home at 5.30 in the morning to find her 4 year old daughter missing. She informed her neighbors who phoned the police. Within a very short time both City and Cantonal police, fire -service men and emergency helicopter services where mobilized. Also according to the report Military help was on stand. Luckily the little girl was found at friends of the family a kilometer away from her home. She was reported being seen walking alone through the street by another neighbor at 3.15. The neighbor thought she was following her mother, who she had not seen! Neither of these people phoned the police.
Obviously the report of a missing child does seem to be taken very seriously. The mother will face an investigation of child neglect and may even have to contribute to the emergency services costs.
Seems that there is already a kind of Amber alert "Swiss style" alive and kicking.
Probability of 1x10**-6/flying-hour or less of a common mode fault leading to catastrophic failure. Chances of being abducted....a lot less, even by aliens...
My guess is, if the child was a cute blond, blue-eyed girl or boy, then yes there'd be news bulletins all over the place. Yet how many amber alerts or mass emails do you ever get about missing hispanic or black children in the US?
I know, I'm opening up a whole other can of worms here, but you have to admit there is a definite bias in what news gets reported, and what stories you actually hear about. I'm curious now about the number of abductions in a city like LA.
We also got an alert from my daughters school in Geneva about an attempted abduction in Geneva in this weeks news letter.
It just helps us to be more cautious. I don't agree that these kind of posts cause false alarm. As a mother of two small girls and knowing that all kind of weirdos and freaks live in this world ( I don't thing Swiss land is totally devoid of druggies, paedophiles etc.!!), it does not do anyone any harm by being a little more careful and teaching our children not to talk to strangers etc. I think the world is becoming a more dangerous place to live in than vice versa and we need to be more careful about our childrens safety.
No one is suggesting that a parent be anything but careful and exercise common sense with strangers. The other side is that as well as the weirdos and freaks you mention there are also many wise, friendly and helpful people whom children may never have the opportunity to meet when they are older because their fear of meeting people or experiencing anything different was instilled at an early age.
Omnipresent media coverage, 24hour news channels hype up what is a very small risk.
A word of warning - children in schools in this area are being warned about 'strangers'. Apparently a man, possibly coloured, has been seen driving slowly around schools, in a plain white van with blacked out windows & a French number plate. We have also been told that sweets have been left on the ground, which have been drugged & would then affect anyone eating them, making abduction easier. Our local school is aware, & so I believe the police are also aware but as yet I cannot find out any more information. Take extra care, & do pass on this information to anyone you think may need it, as this also affects the wider area in Montreux, La Tour de Peilz, Blonay etc. Thank you.
i live and work in the area and have heard nothing of this- interesting to have further info but i think we would have heard of drugged sweets and possible abductions by someone- i can't even touch the colored bit-
Here is a new Swiss SMS alert system for abducted children.
I suggest those of you who have concerns about creating a hype etc. ignore my post, while those of us who are parents of small children may be quite pleased.