PARENTS RESPOND |
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LISMORE, ARE YOUR
CHILDREN SAFE?
Many may be aware about the
seemingly growing problem involving unusual behaviour around
children. Children are being approached, photographed, spoken to,
touched and, in the most serious of circumstances, sexually
assaulted and/or abducted. We are hearing about this problem more
and more frequently. |
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A
few days ago, Wednesday, 11 March 2015, one conscientious mother was
dropping her children off at Lismore Public School in Pound Street.
As she was doing that, she noticed a suspicious male just sitting in
his vehicle looking into the school. She believed he was holding a
camera and taking pictures of kids. She doubled back to have a
better look and found he had his rear number plate covered over so
she confronted him. She ran him off and then contacted police.
Brooke Bowen, the conscientious mother, posted the following on
her Facebook page: |
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*WARNING*
This morning I dropped my children off at Lismore public
school on pound street and noticed a silver Mitsubishi older
4 door (not a car person don't know the actual model) a man
wearing dark glasses and a grey baseball cap was sitting
across looking in at the school holding up what appeared to
me as a camera I thought this was strange when I slowly
drove passed so I turned around came back
and noticed the back of his number plate was covered up with
what appeared to be a towel coming from the boot I pulled up
along side of him and asked him wtf he was doing among other
explicit content and he shit his self and speed off .. I
followed him up Ballina rd towards Goonellebah and lost him
at the big round about as he was flying to get away!! POLICE
AND SCHOOL HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED
BE CAREFUL MAKE SURE YOU KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SUSPICIOUS
CARS OR PEOPLE ..
IF YOU SEE THIS DIRTY ROTTEN GRUB
HOLD HIM AND CALL POLICE
WHITE MALE BETWEEN 40 -45
THIN BUILD
BEARD AND MU-STASH
DARK GLASSES
GREY BASEBALL CAP
SILVER MITSUBISHI 4 DOOR |
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The Principal of Lismore
Public School posted about the incident on Wednesday later that
night. This is what he had to say: |
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Report of Suspicious Behaviour near school
This morning a parent contacted the school worried about
a person who appeared to be behaving suspiciously outside
the school. When confronted by the parent, this person left
the area.
This incident was communicated to Lismore Police who are
investigating.
The person involved
did not approach children or behave in a threatening
manner, and no other reports have been received to date.
I would encourage
parents/carers to communicate messages regarding
Stranger Danger to their children and take usual
precautions travelling to and from school, but at this
point there appears to be no need for unnecessary alarm.
I have also informed
staff of the need to be vigilant with supervision.
Martin Gill
Principal
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Another
mum was aware of the situation on Wednesday and reported hearing
about a male entering the school on Thursday taking photos on his
phone. She believed it was the same man.
Mrs Amor reported
the incident on Thursday to police and then decided to do something
about it the next day, Friday, 13 March 2015, thinking he would
return for a third day in a row. She posted the following on her
page on Friday: |
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Feeling abit less stressed,not sure if everyone knows but
there was a man at the kids school the other day and he was
taking photos of kids,yesterday he went into the school with
his phone taking photos me and Wayne were really worried so
I rang the police laatnight and we spent early this morning
hanging around the school hiding behind trees being
detectives hehe knowing hed come back,me and Wayne thought
for a second when we saw him lets do it lets just bash him lol so tempting,we stayed there called the police they came
from 3 different roads and we were sitting near the round
about,they got the scummy pedo,good fast work cops,and
thankyou to the mum Brooke who let us know about him in the
first place and even chased the mongrel we didnt do much but
couldnt just sit at home stressing lets hope they have
enough evidence to keep him locked up putrid mutt
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It has been reported that
police have followed up all reports over the last few days.
In relation to the last report, which occurred yesterday morning,
police were speaking with the person of interest at Lismore Public
School when the concern for welfare was broadcast. The outcome is
not known.
The NSW police radio broadcast of the latest
reported incident is available here: |
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So what, as a community, can we do to effectively protect our
children?
The biggest problem with what these people often do
is that the rules are inadequate, police and the courts have their
hands tied.
In Australia, generally speaking, there is no law
restricting photography of people (including children) in public
spaces as long as the images are not considered as indecent, being
used for voyeurism, protected by a court order (e.g. child custody
or witness protection), defamatory or being for commercial purposes
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Brooke is trying to use
Facebook to help confront the problem. She has created a new
Facebook page called 'Northern
Rivers Community Street Beat Protection' who
describes themselves as: |
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We are a group of parents that have joined together to
protect our children while at school from predators that
lurk around and prey on our children!
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Hopefully these guys can do
some good.
Whatever the solution one thing is for certain
... we all need to look out for each other.
Published 14
March 2015 |
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