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Florida Legislature 2005 (click for ongoing coverage)

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Senators take up bill on school abductions

The bill would require photo IDs for people who pick up children from Florida schools and day care.

TALLAHASSEE - A bill designed to make it more difficult for kidnappers to abduct schoolchildren by requiring photo IDs for anyone picking up a child from a Florida school is headed toward a final vote in the Senate.

Less than two months ago, a convicted child molester was charged with kidnapping an 11-year-old boy in Dunnellon and taking him to Georgia after he picked the boy up from elementary school.

The bill is intended to prevent that from happening again, its sponsor said Thursday.

"(It's) more important that parents know their kids are going to be safe in school, that anybody can't just come up there and call somebody's name out," said Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville. "People who work there will have access to the records. They might see four names and they might just call one name out and say I'm that person and how are you going to know unless they show that ID."

Some school districts already require photo identification, although there is no blanket requirement for proof of identification when picking up a child.

Osceola County schools spokeswoman Dana Schafer said they require a Florida driver's license or federal photo ID. But Palm Beach County has no such requirements.

"No one is going to argue with the need for additional security," said Palm Beach County schools spokesman Nat Harrington. "In this day and age it's to be expected additional security is being thought about in Tallahassee."

Hill's bill (SB 246) would require a valid state driver's license, state ID card or valid military ID and would take effect July 1, 2006.

A similar proposal in the House (HB 1027), sponsored by Rep. Joyce Cusack, D-DeLand, has yet to be heard by several committees.

The bills apply to all public schools and any school or day care program licensed by the state.

Senate President Tom Lee said the proposal should get a full hearing before lawmakers if there's evidence that it would make kids safer at school. The bill had a second reading in the Senate on Thursday.

"We ought to do everything we could do to try to make sure that we protect children from abduction," Lee said. "If there is evidence coming out of the system from schools and people that are involved in law enforcement that this would be an improvement ... then I think we ought to give it full consideration."

In the Dunnellon case, Frederick Fretz picked the boy up from an elementary school Jan. 18 and told him his father had been arrested and they were leaving the state, officials said.

[Last modified March 11, 2005, 01:23:21]