Police Investigaton: No Abduction Attempt
A Barrington police investigation into a report of a "strange" man trying to pick up three boys on Oct. 3 turns out to be an attempt at a good deed.
There was no attempted abduction in Barrington last week. That does not mean children should ever accept offers of a ride with a stranger.
A Barrington police investigation into the complaint lodged on Oct. 4 by the mother of a boy who said a “strange” man asked him and two other boys if they wanted a ride home turned out to be an attempt at doing a good deed.
The boys, all pupils at Hampden Meadows School, had just been dropped off at a school bus stop at Mathewson Road and County Road.
Barrington Police Chief John LaCross said the use of the term “abduction” was probably too strong a word for the incident because the man did not attempt to force or lure the boys into his car.
Typically, the police chief said, someone who attempts an abduction will use candy or ask a child for help in finding a lost puppy.
“But the kid did the right thing,” LaCross said. “He reported it as he should have.”
As it turned out, the police chief said, the so-called stranger in the vehicle was known to at least one of the other boys. He was simply offering them a ride home on a rainy day, the chief said.
“We found the person in the vehicle,” LaCross said. “He was just a neighbor who knew the boys from his neighborhood.”
No one knew that, however, when the “suspicious condition” was reported to police, and the mother asked for a watch on that same day to see if anyone returned.
tricoxet
11:48 am on Friday, October 12, 2012
This is not a surprising outcome from what was actually reported to the police. You chose to take information that you read from a police report and sensationalize it so that you could get people talking about what they read on the "Patch". Using words such as "strange man" and "attempted abduction" were never used or written in the actual police report at all. Instead what was reported was that a boy was offered a ride by a man that he did not know. Could the other kids have know him? Maybe. Does this mean "attempted abduction"? Hardly. It is sad that in this day and age, the media takes a story and twists it for their own gain. Yes, you got people talking but you also caused a lot of aggravation and unnecessary fear.
JBO
7:21 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
The "real crime" is that the news reporting is so damaging and irresponsible. There have been countless instances of this. The community needs to stand up and say that this policy of turning over police reports to an irresponsible media gravely jeopardizes our safety. They would tell you - it is public record and you have a right know. But - I think our community should strenuously challenge that. We need to be able to go to law enforcement and expect honest and responsible action. Who will call with a problem or concern or anything that simply needs to be looked into a little further if they know it will end up in the Times and on the Patch regardless of the outcome? Do we not see that this utterly self-serving relationship between the news and the media creates and tremendous lack of trust and stability? Our police department is going to be the last place anyone calls if they want fair and responsible treatment. The process needs to be examined and remedied.
Concerned & confused
2:42 am on Monday, October 15, 2012
The Patch once again spins a normal scenario about a good Samaritan into a scary situation in the name of attracting attention..why would you want to make a safe, suburban community seem dangerous? Isn't that against your interests, and also untrue? As a resident of Barrington, I don't understand why you would want your town to seem like an unsafe place.
Someone needs to straighten out their priorities...