In response to two recent OPP reports of a male driver approaching young girls and asking them to get in his car, a local business has designated itself a safe zone for kids.
The Festing Toyota dealership, located on Centre Street North, wrote on its Facebook page on October 14, “In light of the recent situation regarding child safety in our immediate area, we at Festing Toyota have designated ourselves as a Safe Zone. Let your children know that if they are approached by a stranger in the vicinity of the dealership, they can come directly to us and we’ll take it from there.”
The incidents happened on October 4, when three girls were approached on their way home from school, and on October 13 when a lone girl was approached on Centre Street North on her way to school. Huntsville OPP believe the two incidents may be related.
“I have four kids and the one little girl, the last one (who was approached), is in one of my kids’ classes,” said Scott Festing, Sales Manager at Festing Toyota. “It’s just sad. I can’t believe no one has caught the guy.”
Festing said that parents can tell their children to come into the dealership if they feel threatened and any one of the staff there will help them out. “All the staff has been informed, we all talked about it – if any kid comes in, we’ll help them. They can come into the showroom, they can go to service, it doesn’t matter. Everyone is more than willing to help. We will contact the school and phone the police.”
The suspect was described as approximately 60-70 years of age, bald on the top of his head with white / grey hair on the sides, and possibly having a white scruffy beard, while the vehicle was described as an older grey or silver four-door sedan with rust at the bottom.
Huntsville OPP are asking anyone who may have seen this vehicle or knows who this person could be to contact them at 705-789-5551 or make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at www.crimestopperssdm.com.
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Yes cameras need to be everywhere! The police would have a license and the guy would be caught by now..if one is obeying the law then there should be no privacy concerns with cameras.
Great idea Scott! I encourage more stores to follow suit. Our kids will feel safer knowing that adults in stores will help them. I think we all know this is the case however, a ‘designated sign’ and a public declaration of “we will help” will not only keep our kids and teens feeling safe, but it might dissuade predators from coming to this area, knowing that we are a publicly declared “safety town”…that we look out for each other…just a thought..? perhaps the town hall should be considered a safe zone where no loiterers can sit on lawn chairs and harrass people as happened last year.
THANK YOU FESTING TOYOTA!!
Could there be a ‘Safe Zone’ emblem/sign/flag produced that our kids could recognize?
Any good hearted ‘graphics folks’ out there to help produce an ’emblem’?
Any other businesses around town to follow Festings great example?
In Toronto years ago, my child ran into a daycare centre for help, (as she’d been taught), when a woman with a knife tried to attack her as she “thought she was a wolf”. These things really happen.
Let’s be proactive.
Cameras around the schools would be good we gotta catch this guy.
Kudos to Scott Festing and the Toyota Staff! That was a thoughtful thing to do!
Note to School Boards and/or the Town,: – install cameras around all the school zones. These predators are Dangerous, – Big Time.