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Sheriff to train bus stop sentries

Officials want adult volunteers to keep an eye on kids in hopes of warding off sexual predators.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published June 7, 2005

TAMPA - Recent child murders and abduction attempts in the Tampa Bay area have cast a worrisome pall over public parks and neighborhoods, where pictures of sex offenders and predators are posted as a constant reminder to children and parents.

Now, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office will train adult volunteers to be on the lookout for suspicious activity at public school bus stops.

Sheriff David Gee said "Operation STOP WATCH: Eye on Safety" is a response to the concerns of parents and other residents who see the county's more than 30,000 bus stops as easy targets for criminals in search of young victims.

In an open letter posted on the Sheriff's Office Web site, Gee writes that the STOP WATCH group will "assist us in keeping our children safe from the thugs and criminals who want to prey on the innocent."

Coming seven weeks after search crews found the body of missing Ruskin teen Sarah Lunde, STOP WATCH is the latest in a flurry of anxiety-filled moves aimed at keeping youngsters from the clutches of sex offenders and other suspicious people.

Hernando County commissioners last month voted to post in county parks the pictures and addresses of sexual predators.

Parents are decorating their refrigerators with the pictures of sex offenders living nearby so their children will know who to run from. They are enrolling their children in self-defense classes that teach them how to fend off kidnappers.

Lunde, who investigators say died at the hands of sex offender David Onstott, was not assaulted at a bus stop. Neither was Jessica Lunsford, the Citrus County 9-year-old who authorities say was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and buried by sex offender John Couey.

Statistics show that most children are kidnapped by relatives or other acquaintances, not randomly at the hands of strangers.

Still, there have been reports in recent months of men stalking and attacking children at or near bus stops. A 15-year-old New Port Richey girl was raped while walking to her stop in January. The same month, a Tampa man was arrested amid allegations he stalked a girl for months and tried to coax her into his car.

"Many parents are afraid to leave their children, especially the younger ones, alone at their stops," said school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe. "So we welcome the help. But they've got quite a task in front of them. We have a lot of bus stops."

Gee said he wants to train as many STOP WATCH volunteers as he can by August, when classes resume. He said he is most concerned about protecting bus stops in remote areas.

"If we can get 100 people, that would be great," said sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway. "If we can get 1,000, even better."

The Sheriff's Office will do background checks on all applicants, calling references and looking for any prior arrests or convictions.

Volunteers will wear white T-shirts with reflective lettering that identify them as STOP WATCH volunteers.

Maj. Ron Spiller stressed that the Sheriff's Office doesn't want volunteers to be vigilantes.

"They'll be encouraged to report anything that they deem to be suspicious, and to be a good witness for us," said Spiller. "And they'll be a deterrent just by being there."

[Last modified June 7, 2005, 02:15:48]