Attempted Child abduction at local park

[Summer2018]

This is a true story and is all over our local news. I live in Hershey and have friends that work at the park. It did happen.

I googled it quickly, and no less than six different news outlets are covering the story.

I’m so grateful that Disney takes customers’ safety so seriously. I always held DD’s hand when she was little, and have been known to grab her hand when we are walking through a crowded area even though she is 21. Fortunately DH was always vigilant when she was in his care. He was and is an attentive father. For those who are a little more relaxed in their parenting style, it’s encouraging that Disney is so on point with security.

 

[mom2rtk]

For anyone with strong trust in Disney security, look around online for the video of the brawl in Toontown Saturday. I have lost a lot of faith after seeing their response. I won't link it since it's pretty violent.

 

[DisneyOma]

I just read a story about a near child abduction at Hershey Park and where the staff and security basically did nothing to help.

I have heard stories about other near misses as well there and at other parks where security was horrendous.

I did some googling and have only found either false stories or people claiming there has never been a child abduction at Disney World or Disneyland. Is this accurate?

Have you ever heard of any near misses from the parks?

The 'near child abduction' is still under review - video is not showing anything so far to help the case.

 

[BrianL]

Happy ending: he didn't even know he was lost -- he was too happy wandering around mesmerized by the park! Bad things can happen anywhere, but Disney really does try hard to keep their guests safe.

There are no lost kids at Disney, only "lost parents."

I don't think there is a big risk at Disney. There is just too much security and too many people around. That's not to say that things couldn't happen, but I would say the risk is much lower than in other public locations.

 

[NotUrsula]

This news story has no paywall: https://www.abc27.com/news/local/ha...parks-response-to-reported-abduction-attempt/

Unfortunately, (from a myth-busting standpoint, not a child-safety standpoint, of course) there is no truly solid evidence that this was an attempted abduction. The teen witness says that a woman was attempting to convince a child to go to a different area of the waterpark, but there is no concrete evidence that the woman was attempting to abduct the child FROM the waterpark. It could just as easily have been a well-meaning adult who thought that the particular slide was too dangerous for a younger child. Of course, it would be optimal to find the woman and find out what her motive was, but with only this evidence, we cannot be sure that the intent was foul play.

An earlier poster on this thread told a story of escorting young children on a backtrack up Main Street to try to find their parents. If you compare that story to this one, it would be easy to make a case that the PP could have been taken for an abductor -- after all, she convinced a young child to go elsewhere in a park.

FWIW, I always told my own kids that if you are in a public place and are lost/separated (or just waiting for your adult) and a helpful adult approaches you, it is OK to talk to that person and accept his/her help, but don't *go* anywhere with that person, not so much as 10 feet. I always framed the reasoning as making it much more easy to be found by your adults if you are not also in motion, but it has the added benefit of keeping the child in the public eye. (There is an organization in the UK that has created an excellent safety program on this theme, it is called "Clever Never Goes", http://clevernevergoes.org/)

[Note that I do also tell my kids always to walk on the side of the street against vehicle traffic flow, and never to let a motor vehicle get too close if you are walking in a quiet area; better to trespass into someone's yard than to get too close to a suspicious car. A vehicle on a residential street is a very different situation than a person on foot in a crowded place. -- and much more potentially dangerous.)

 

[Searc]

This is true. Disney security seems so thorough compared to what I’ve read about other parks. The one at Hershey sounded terrible. The mom had to go through 4-5 people before she could even reach security then she had to demand they call the cops. And even then it seemed everyone treated her poorly and as if they didn’t care that the child in her care was forcibly taken before the other kids in her group fought back. I found this story though on my Facebook timeline not through the news. Same with another story I read at a local park where a dad had to pull his daughter away from a stranger and again where the park did nothing to help. Scary times.

Was the phone she more than likely had on her broken??

 

[gillep]

This news story has no paywall: https://www.abc27.com/news/local/ha...parks-response-to-reported-abduction-attempt/

Unfortunately, (from a myth-busting standpoint, not a child-safety standpoint, of course) there is no truly solid evidence that this was an attempted abduction. The teen witness says that a woman was attempting to convince a child to go to a different area of the waterpark, but there is no concrete evidence that the woman was attempting to abduct the child FROM the waterpark. It could just as easily have been a well-meaning adult who thought that the particular slide was too dangerous for a younger child. Of course, it would be optimal to find the woman and find out what her motive was, but with only this evidence, we cannot be sure that the intent was foul play.

An earlier poster on this thread told a story of escorting young children on a backtrack up Main Street to try to find their parents. If you compare that story to this one, it would be easy to make a case that the PP could have been taken for an abductor -- after all, she convinced a young child to go elsewhere in a park.

FWIW, I always told my own kids that if you are in a public place and are lost/separated (or just waiting for your adult) and a helpful adult approaches you, it is OK to talk to that person and accept his/her help, but don't *go* anywhere with that person, not so much as 10 feet. I always framed the reasoning as making it much more easy to be found by your adults if you are not also in motion, but it has the added benefit of keeping the child in the public eye. (There is an organization in the UK that has created an excellent safety program on this theme, it is called "Clever Never Goes", http://clevernevergoes.org/)

[Note that I do also tell my kids always to walk on the side of the street against vehicle traffic flow, and never to let a motor vehicle get too close if you are walking in a quiet area; better to trespass into someone's yard than to get too close to a suspicious car. A vehicle on a residential street is a very different situation than a person on foot in a crowded place. -- and much more potentially dangerous.)

I had an interesting experience with a lost child once. My husband and I had just parked our car and were walking towards the grocery store when we encountered a young child all by herself. She looked a little scared but otherwise fine. I didn't see any adults nearby and went up to her and knelt down to ask if she was lost, she said she was. I asked my husband to do a more thorough look for an adult looking for his/her kid now that we knew the situation, while I asked her who she was separated from 'mom' and if she knew her cell phone number 'she did'. While I was punching her number in and about to tell my husband that if he didn't see anyone looking he needed to go into the store to find an employee who could help. As I was doing this, and trying to be calm and friendly and not scare this child, this woman came up to me yelling and demanding to know what I was doing and if this was my child. She said it was inappropriate to not immediately walk this child back to the store and have customer service handle it, she was scaring the poor kid grabbing at her to take her back to the store and get her away from me. I was always told that if separated to stay where I was, if safe, and reach out to an adult. We were perfectly safe in the parking lot, off to the side, plus the grocery store was in a strip mall with a lot of other stores, her mom could have been shopping anywhere and this lady had no idea and didn't even ask her. I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing and wondering if it was wrong for me to stay there with the child instead of taking her into the store. My husband had located mom while I was dealing with this woman, and she was thankful to us, but the other lady was very clear that she thought what we did was inappropriate.

 

[DisneyOma]

"The families involved questioned the security team’s ability to handle crimes against children, saying they made the kids repeat their stories and suggested to separate the group multiple times."

Well, yeah, that's the way it's done - if they all hear each other saying things, then they start to repeat what the other person has said and start to think it's the way it happened.

 

[wenrob]

This is a true story and is all over our local news. I live in Hershey and have friends that work at the park. It did happen.

My bad. The OP says in post #8 they saw it on FB and not the news.

 

[NotUrsula]

I had an interesting experience with a lost child once. My husband and I had just parked our car and were walking towards the grocery store when we encountered a young child all by herself. She looked a little scared but otherwise fine. I didn't see any adults nearby and went up to her and knelt down to ask if she was lost, she said she was. I asked my husband to do a more thorough look for an adult looking for his/her kid now that we knew the situation, while I asked her who she was separated from 'mom' and if she knew her cell phone number 'she did'. While I was punching her number in and about to tell my husband that if he didn't see anyone looking he needed to go into the store to find an employee who could help. As I was doing this, and trying to be calm and friendly and not scare this child, this woman came up to me yelling and demanding to know what I was doing and if this was my child. She said it was inappropriate to not immediately walk this child back to the store and have customer service handle it, she was scaring the poor kid grabbing at her to take her back to the store and get her away from me. I was always told that if separated to stay where I was, if safe, and reach out to an adult. We were perfectly safe in the parking lot, off to the side, plus the grocery store was in a strip mall with a lot of other stores, her mom could have been shopping anywhere and this lady had no idea and didn't even ask her. I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing and wondering if it was wrong for me to stay there with the child instead of taking her into the store. My husband had located mom while I was dealing with this woman, and she was thankful to us, but the other lady was very clear that she thought what we did was inappropriate.

What you did was exactly right, and the yeller was way out of line..

 

[wenrob]

This news story has no paywall: https://www.abc27.com/news/local/ha...parks-response-to-reported-abduction-attempt/

Unfortunately, (from a myth-busting standpoint, not a child-safety standpoint, of course) there is no truly solid evidence that this was an attempted abduction. The teen witness says that a woman was attempting to convince a child to go to a different area of the waterpark, but there is no concrete evidence that the woman was attempting to abduct the child FROM the waterpark. It could just as easily have been a well-meaning adult who thought that the particular slide was too dangerous for a younger child. Of course, it would be optimal to find the woman and find out what her motive was, but with only this evidence, we cannot be sure that the intent was foul play.

An earlier poster on this thread told a story of escorting young children on a backtrack up Main Street to try to find their parents. If you compare that story to this one, it would be easy to make a case that the PP could have been taken for an abductor -- after all, she convinced a young child to go elsewhere in a park.

FWIW, I always told my own kids that if you are in a public place and are lost/separated (or just waiting for your adult) and a helpful adult approaches you, it is OK to talk to that person and accept his/her help, but don't *go* anywhere with that person, not so much as 10 feet. I always framed the reasoning as making it much more easy to be found by your adults if you are not also in motion, but it has the added benefit of keeping the child in the public eye. (There is an organization in the UK that has created an excellent safety program on this theme, it is called "Clever Never Goes", http://clevernevergoes.org/)

[Note that I do also tell my kids always to walk on the side of the street against vehicle traffic flow, and never to let a motor vehicle get too close if you are walking in a quiet area; better to trespass into someone's yard than to get too close to a suspicious car. A vehicle on a residential street is a very different situation than a person on foot in a crowded place. -- and much more potentially dangerous.)

I’ve taught my kids the same things. NEVER go to another location.

I had an interesting experience with a lost child once. My husband and I had just parked our car and were walking towards the grocery store when we encountered a young child all by herself. She looked a little scared but otherwise fine. I didn't see any adults nearby and went up to her and knelt down to ask if she was lost, she said she was. I asked my husband to do a more thorough look for an adult looking for his/her kid now that we knew the situation, while I asked her who she was separated from 'mom' and if she knew her cell phone number 'she did'. While I was punching her number in and about to tell my husband that if he didn't see anyone looking he needed to go into the store to find an employee who could help. As I was doing this, and trying to be calm and friendly and not scare this child, this woman came up to me yelling and demanding to know what I was doing and if this was my child. She said it was inappropriate to not immediately walk this child back to the store and have customer service handle it, she was scaring the poor kid grabbing at her to take her back to the store and get her away from me. I was always told that if separated to stay where I was, if safe, and reach out to an adult. We were perfectly safe in the parking lot, off to the side, plus the grocery store was in a strip mall with a lot of other stores, her mom could have been shopping anywhere and this lady had no idea and didn't even ask her. I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing and wondering if it was wrong for me to stay there with the child instead of taking her into the store. My husband had located mom while I was dealing with this woman, and she was thankful to us, but the other lady was very clear that she thought what we did was inappropriate.

No, you did nothing wrong. On the occasions I have helped a lost child, I’ve never touched them and have never led them anywhere. I say something like “let’s wait here for your mom” and then flag down an employee while I keep an eye out for a frantic parent.

 

[ShayBells]

Was the phone she more than likely had on her broken??

A lot of people commented that they would have called 911 right away, but you’d think the first person she talked to could have radioed security right away but didn’t.

My bad. The OP says in post #8 they saw it on FB and not the news.

I did only see it on FB. I am not local enough to catch it on my news or at least not that fast, if it goes on mine at all. And with all the stories it’s hard to tell what is true and what is simply exaggerated as well.

 

[ShayBells]

For anyone with strong trust in Disney security, look around online for the video of the brawl in Toontown Saturday. I have lost a lot of faith after seeing their response. I won't link it since it's pretty violent.

I just saw this. That was beyond horrible.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't quite know exactly what to think. On the one hand I understand feeling like your situation isn't being taken seriously enough on the other hand I'm sure a process/procedure was already being used (or at least I hope).

I can't say that it's entirely wrong to not immediately (I stress immediately because that's what it seemed like the people in the article wanted to happen) call the police if there's already a procedure in place and being followed regarding this but I don't know what that procedure would be.

I am trying to figure out the events that led up to what was described as "Witnesses say a woman repeatedly tried to separate a boy from his group." in the non-paywall article. Were any of the witnesses able to say what happened before that? I feel like that would help out in understanding the events.

 

[ShayBells]

I don't quite know exactly what to think. On the one hand I understand feeling like your situation isn't being taken seriously enough on the other hand I'm sure a process/procedure was already being used (or at least I hope).

I can't say that it's entirely wrong to not immediately (I stress immediately because that's what it seemed like the people in the article wanted to happen) call the police if there's already a procedure in place and being followed regarding this but I don't know what that procedure would be.

I am trying to figure out the events that led up to what was described as "Witnesses say a woman repeatedly tried to separate a boy from his group." in the non-paywall article. Were any of the witnesses able to say what happened before that? I feel like that would help out in understanding the events.

From the FB post, the mom was with her group of kids on a water slide line, ages were not given, but it was her daughter and her friends, a woman in front of them told a boy in their group that he could go in front of her and the mom there said no cause she didn't want their group separated. The group went and the mom went last. When she came down the teens in her group told her what happened that the woman tried to convince the boy to leave with her and go to another water slide and when he said no she grabbed his arm to try to drag him away. Her daughter pulled him back and the lady ran off I guess. After that the mom tried to go to the first "cast member" she saw and they didn't help so she went somewhere else and so on. It is a confusing series of events with alot of he said she said from different point of views, and me telling it second hand probably doesn't help.

As far as the group being separated during questioning... I can see being angry at this as a parent I would not want my child separated from me to be questioned. I even thought this was illegal without permission from a parent, that a parent had to be present for any questioning.

But I wasn't there so I don't know the truth. It sounds like a scary situation. I've been in that water park where I let my kid go down before me or in the "kid" area where he's gone and played on his own while I waited at the bottom. I probably will never allow this again...

 

[kidshop]

Was the phone she more than likely had on her broken??

maybe no phone on her. I don't bring mine on the slides.

 

[Summer2018]

I had an interesting experience with a lost child once. My husband and I had just parked our car and were walking towards the grocery store when we encountered a young child all by herself. She looked a little scared but otherwise fine. I didn't see any adults nearby and went up to her and knelt down to ask if she was lost, she said she was. I asked my husband to do a more thorough look for an adult looking for his/her kid now that we knew the situation, while I asked her who she was separated from 'mom' and if she knew her cell phone number 'she did'. While I was punching her number in and about to tell my husband that if he didn't see anyone looking he needed to go into the store to find an employee who could help. As I was doing this, and trying to be calm and friendly and not scare this child, this woman came up to me yelling and demanding to know what I was doing and if this was my child. She said it was inappropriate to not immediately walk this child back to the store and have customer service handle it, she was scaring the poor kid grabbing at her to take her back to the store and get her away from me. I was always told that if separated to stay where I was, if safe, and reach out to an adult. We were perfectly safe in the parking lot, off to the side, plus the grocery store was in a strip mall with a lot of other stores, her mom could have been shopping anywhere and this lady had no idea and didn't even ask her. I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing and wondering if it was wrong for me to stay there with the child instead of taking her into the store. My husband had located mom while I was dealing with this woman, and she was thankful to us, but the other lady was very clear that she thought what we did was inappropriate.

Similar thing happened to me in a parking lot. A child no more than two was wandering between cars. I saw her as we were walking to the store. I asked her where Mommy was and she pointed at her car. No mother to be found. I stood with her by her car while my husband walked to the store. A police cruiser was parked out front and he got an officer to come over. I got a lot of weird looks, but I was not moving.

The child’s father had just gotten arrested for shoplifting and her mother was screaming. She had told her child to wait by the car! The police officer handled it from there, but I was so shaken up afterwards.

 

[JaxDad]

For anyone with strong trust in Disney security, look around online for the video of the brawl in Toontown Saturday. I have lost a lot of faith after seeing their response. I won't link it since it's pretty violent.

Dang! “‘Scrappiest’ place on earth...”

 

[LilyWDW]

I think of it this way... if the Children's Museum I used to work at had a lost child system in place, then I am 100% sure Disney does as well. I am also sure that they practice it over and over and over again and it is second nature. Some days we would have 5-10 lost kids so Disney must have a lot more then that in a day!

 

[monsterkitty]

maybe no phone on her. I don't bring mine on the slides.

Exactly - most people don't take phones on the rides with them at a water park.