According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, approximately 203,900 American children are abducted each year by a family member, while 58,200 are kidnapped by a stranger. The center also reports more than 2,000 children are abducted on a daily basis.

What measures are local leaders taking to teach elementary students how to avoid abduction? Does the material cover tips on escaping a dangerous situation if one occurs?

Delphos Police Department Child Safety Officer Kevin Klaus directs the department’s safety program, in conjunction with the National Child Safety Council.

“They usually put on a show once a year — it’s more or less the Safety Pup stuff. They come in and do a show toward the end of the year and we hand out booklets for kindergarten through sixth grade. They cover a range of safety aspects from playground safety to saying no to drugs,” he said.

Materials from the safety council feature its “Safety Pup” mascot and includes information for parents on what to do if a child becomes missing, definitions for “strangers,” “dangerous persons” and “abductors,” as well as some basic information on sexual abuse and more.

Klaus also indicates the department now takes DNA samples for students to take home to parents, with prior parental consent. This is done in place of fingerprinting.

Aside from parents teaching their children how to avoid and escape abduction, St. John’s Elementary Principal Theresa Kemmann says being aware of strangers is part of the general curriculum.

“We incorporate the stranger and how we treat people and all this throughout the entire curriculum. It does hit into our health, our science, our social studies. Primarily, we touch on awareness and safety precautions. In our religion classes, we’re able to do that every day and then teachers also give reminders to students on what the procedure would be if there’s a stranger that they see if someone approaches them and then there are periodic reminders over the P.A. system since we do keep our doors locked,” she said.

Offering the information at Franklin and Landeck Elementary schools is the responsibility of Guidance Counselor Quincy Kiracofe, who is in her first year in the position.

“We talk about good strangers and bad strangers; who you can trust and who you can’t. The police being good strangers and the emergency squad and the fire department. We also address complete strangers asking them to get in their car or have them do something for them, so those kinds of things are addressed at the kindergarten and first-grade levels,” she said.

Kiracofe speaks with students class-by-class and will talk with the youngest grade levels in the last quarter of the current academic year. She plans to teach basic abduction- prevention techniques, such as not letting a stranger get close by running away or shouting and screaming to draw attention. She is also considering expanding to include tips on how to escape a threatening situation. She believes it would be beneficial to have more involvement from those who are trained to think as criminals do.

“We don’t know what kinds of things the kids may encounter. We can’t hit every possibility, because we don’t think the same way an abductor would. But someone who is trained to do that would probably be able to bring out things that even parents don’t consider; no one wants a child to be safe more than a parent does.

“I don’t think you could go wrong in having someone who could present it at their level. That’s the thing, because you don’t want to scare the children. You want to come in and present it to where it’s not scary, but is informative,” she said.

Because most child abductions are perpetrated by someone the child knows, tips on avoiding “bad” strangers may not apply to every possible scenario. While Franklin Elementary Principal Tim Larimore indicates the school complies with all court-ordered decisions which may prevent a parent from contacting a respective student, there is no program in place to educate students beyond prevention.

Bob Stuber is a former California police officer who tours the nation conducting his Safe Escape show, offering assertive tips on how children can protect themselves.

“All the way along in a crime like this, there’s these little windows of opportunity and if the child knows what to watch for, it really only takes about two of these choices to get them out of danger,” he said.

The techniques children can use to prevent being put inside an abductor’s car include not letting go of a bicycle, if the child is riding one when approached.

“If a would-be abductor attempts to grab a child off a bike, the child can “hug” the bicycle, making abduction difficult, if not impossible,” he said

If the scenario includes passers-by, Stuber says a child should grab hold of a nearby adult.

“This involves the adult in the situation in a manner that forces participation,” he said.

Stuber also teaches kids how to handle themselves if they find themselves inside an abductor’s vehicle.

“Children need to make a lot of noise at the very beginning of this whole process and if it’s a four-door car, the child can jump into the back seat and go out of the back door very quickly,” he said.

An abductor will have a difficult time kidnapping a child the abductor cannot control. Unless the abductor has a partner or the child’s trust, containing an out-of-control child can be difficult. Therefore, an abductor may be tempted to try to force the child into a car’s trunk.

Stuber advises children placed in a trunk to disconnect the taillights by finding a panel in the back corner of the car.

“Anybody can pull that panel off. Inside are the wires; if you pull those wires, you disconnect the brake lights and taillights. Now, you have increased the odds by 50 percent that the police will pull the car over because it has no brake or taillights. Then they will hear you inside,” he said.

Some cars may also have a lever that folds down the back seat, making escape possible.

Parents, schools and law enforcement can teach children these useful tips and more to equip them if a dangerous situation occurs.

If an abductor cannot start a car because the tip of a pencil or crayon has been forced into the ignition switch, the possibility for escape is enhanced.

Though the kidnapper is intimidating, Stuber says a child need not fear when first confronted.

“The abductor wants to get out somewhere by himself. He may threaten the child, but he’s not going to hurt the child right there. That’s not what this is about. That takes place later,” he said.