The RCMP is asking parents to give their kids a refresher course on personal safety after three incidents involving strangers and local kids.
On Nov. 25 a 10-year-old girl was leaving school in the Grandin area when a man approached her and asked if she would like to see some kittens in his car.
The young girl said no and repeated it when the man asked again, before running back into the school.
The man was a white male in his 30s with long brown hair and he was wearing a black hoodie.
He was driving an older model, large blue four-door car with a dent in the driver’s side door, with rust on the fender and tinted windows. After the girl went back inside the school, the man drove away.
The second incident took place in the Woodlands area on Dec. 17. Three 11-year-old girls noticed a man wearing a black balaclava standing near a red or maroon van.
A second man was sitting inside the van. The men didn’t approach the girls but they found it odd the man would be wearing a balaclava on a mild day and reported it to school authorities.
The most recent incident occurred Jan. 8 when a 12-year-old boy was waiting at a bus stop in Erin Ridge and a man in a newer white van came up and asked him if he wanted to warm up in the vehicle.
The boy said no and told his parents later that day and they reported it to the RCMP.
The man was described as being about 55 years old and of medium height and build.
Const. Janice Schoepp with the St. Albert RCMP said officers at the detachment are glad the children took the proper course of action.
“The message has been getting out to children and I am really encouraged that they have been going to parents and telling someone that they trust what happened.”
In the last instance, the child came forward sometime after the incident. Schoepp said it’s important to emphasize with children that they tell someone right away.
“The children in some of these instances haven’t been that upset by it and they waited until later in the day to tell someone and they should be telling someone right away.”
Schoepp also said the more information parents can get from their child about the person who approached them, the better the chances the RCMP can locate someone.
Normally the RCMP alerts local schools when isolated incidents like this occur, but Schoepp said that due to the number of reports, along with other cases in Edmonton it seemed like a good time to remind the public.
“The most important thing is for parents to communicate with the children about this before it occurs so the children do know what to do.”
Schoepp said the RCMP has many helpful booklets at the detachment and also recommended the website www.childfind.ab.ca
