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Personal Safety for Children – Part 2

Multi ethnic kids having a great time playing together.

Multi ethnic kids having a great time playing together.

This is the second of a three part series on personal safety for children. It’s put out by Seattle Police Department’s Crime Prevention section. Establishing a system of family rules about personal safety can be a good way to teach children to distinguish between safe and non-safe situations. Part 1 was a set of suggestions for ‘inside rules’. Part 2 is ‘outside rules’, and part 3 will be ‘bad guy rules’.

Outside rules –

  • Establish a system of accountability. Learn the full names of your kids’ friends, their parents’ names, addresses and phone numbers. Check to verify the accuracy if you get the information from your kids. When your kid is at a friend’s home, who else is present? parents? older kids? other neighbors? no one?
  • Know your child’s routes to and from school, play and errands. Insist they stick to the same route – no shortcuts! If you have to look for them, you will know where to begin.
  • Kids should be taught never to go anywhere with anyone without parental permission. This includes getting permission a second time if plans change and calling to check before going from one friend’s home to another location.
  • Kids should never play in isolated areas of parks or playgrounds, and should avoid public restrooms, building sites and dark or lonely streets.
  • Teach kids alternatives; if they are bothered or followed on the playground, walking to friend’s home, school or store, where do they go? Walk these common routes with your child and look for choices. Can they go back into the school, into a store or business (kids are reluctant to enter a strange store or business unless you give them permission), into a fire station or approach someone doing yard work?
  • Knocking on the door of a stranger is a last resort. If they have no other choice they should look for a house with a light on (at night) or toys in the yard if possible and ask the homeowner to ‘Please call the police; someone is bothering me,’ but not to go inside the house.
  • Kids’ best defenses are their voices and their legs. Teach them to run away from someone who is bothering them while yelling to attract as much attention as is possible.
  • Teach kids not to approach cars that stop to ask for help. Most legitimate adults would not ask a young child for directions anyway. If the car follows them or the driver gets out they should run away and yell.

Northgate Community Center Birthday Party

Save the date for a birthday party July 8th! There’s live music, hot dogs, cake and more. See flyer below.

Northgate9thBirthday

Pinehurstfest Music 2015

We’re got the music lineup for this year’s summer festival, Pinehurstfest set. And another reminder to save the date! Saturday, July 18th, 2-5pm.

  • Brian Butler
  • Papa Bear Band w/Jack Cook
  • Buffalo Clancy

2015Pinehurstfest

Pinehurst Picks

The square hole in this huge hedge has always fascinated me. Do you know where it is?

Please feel free to send in photos of art – or anything unexpected and fun – you see on your walks around the neighborhood to info@pinehurstseattle.org.

HedgeHoleBehindPinehurstPub

June 24th Pinehurst Community Council Meeting

Join your neighbors for a Pinehurst Community Council Meeting on Wednesday, June 24th from 7-8:30 pm at Pinehurst Shelterhouse in Pinehurst Playfield.

Wednesday, June 24
at 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Pinehurst Playfield: 12029 14th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98125

Agenda:
Pinehurst School Safety Project
Northgate Pedestrian/Bike Bridge
Pinehurstfest 2015
NE 130th Street LINK Light Rail Station

Personal Safety for Children – Part 1

Multi ethnic kids having a great time playing together.

This is a three part series on personal safety for children. It’s put out by Seattle Police Department’s Crime Prevention section.

Establishing a system of family rules about personal safety can be a good way to teach children to distinguish between safe and non-safe situations. Many families already have rules about bedtime, TV watching, chores, etc. By adopting rules about personal safety, parents can teach good habits through reinforcement and repetition without generating excessive fear. Part 1 is a set of suggestions for ‘inside rules’. Part 2 will be ‘outside rules’ and part 3 will be ‘bad guy rules’.

Inside Rules –

  • Kids should know their complete home address, telephone number, including area code, and parents’ first and last names.
  • If kids are old enough to answer the phone, they should know how to call police 9-1-1. Practice with receiver button taped down.
  • Kids should be taught never to reveal any personal (their name, school, age, etc.) or family information over the phone unless permission has been given by parent.
  • If kids are home alone and answer a phone call for the absent parent, they should say “She can’t come to the phone right now,” and take a message or tell the caller to try later. Don’t make excuses – they sound phony.
  • It’s ok not to answer the phone, or to work out a code (ring twice, hang up and call again) so a parent can check on a child that is home alone.
  • Kids are old enough to answer the door when they are old enough to check the identity of the person at the door WITHOUT opening it.
  • Kids should help their parents make sure doors that should be locked are locked.

Volunteer at North Helpline

North Helpline is struggling to fill many volunteer positions this summer.  Unfortunately hunger doesn’t take a summer break.

NorthHelplinePoster

May 2015 Pinehurst Crime Report

Here is a partial picture of Pinehurst property crime for the month. Click on the map to enlarge it.

You can see ALL the types of crime at http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/policereports.aspx. Select the North neighborhood and enter a date range.

2015-05CrimeMap

Lake City Farmers Market

Ready for our local farmers market to start? It’s coming this week!

FarmersMarket

Keeping the Block Watch Going

Below are tips from Seattle Police for keeping your Block Watch going. If you want to start a block watch, get information here.

We encourage Block Watch members to get together at least once a year, on a formal or informal basis, to maintain acquaintance, update the block map, select a new bloc captain if necessary, and to get to know the new neighbors on the block.

The first thing to do is to determine what type of meeting to have. Here are a few possible types of meetings:

A. General Meeting: Examples are maintenance meetings, where the block meets to refresh themselves with crime prevention tips and the services available to assist in crime prevention efforts. Often this is just an informal get together with an SPD Crime Prevention Coordinator.

B. Problem Meeting: If there is a problem on your block (lighting, vacant house, traffic, etc.) neighbors may want to get together to try to solve this problem. You may want to invite speakers from public or private agencies who can provide information or assistance. Often neighbors get together to discuss projects they can do to improve the neighborhood, such as litter pick-up or graffiti paint-outs, or projects they can do for each other.

C. Agency Meeting: An example is a meeting where you learn about other agencies and organizations that are available to help you and your neighborhood. The Fire Department, City Light, SDOT, Emergency Management and others have educational or informational programs they can present to a group.

D. Community Meeting: Often, there are issues that impact an entire community, not just one block. In these cases, many Block Watches have gone to the surrounding neighborhoods to communicate with other Block Watches and generate a community meeting to address these concerns.

E. Annual Night Out: Night Out is an annual event, usually held on the first Tuesday in August, where neighborhoods show their active involvement in crime prevention by getting together as a neighborhood, and have a party. Block-wide picnics, barbecues and potluck suppers, parades are just some of the activities done on Night Out. This is a fun way to keep the Block Watch going and meet your new neighbors at the same time. Most blocks are allowed to close down their street for free this evening.

After selecting the kind of meeting you want, choose a place to hold it. Set a convenient date and time, and invite all the neighbors in person with the invitations.