HOW TO PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN IN AUSTIN, TEXAS, FROM WOULD-BE KIDNAPPERS

This week I re-studied a currently-copyrighted March 5, 2020, "Austin Monitor" online news story (link below) by reporter Jessi Devenyns that cited "large jumps" in "kidnappings"in northeast Austin (the "Edward Sector", as the Austin Police Department refers to northeast Austin) in the period from January 2019 to January 2020. https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2020/03/austin-police-department-sees-increase-in-violent-crime/ That alarming news about a very recent major increase in alleged kidnappings in our section of Austin prompted me to pursue some online research today. I was pleased to find one online website from the non-profit group "Polly Klaas (registered trademark) Foundation" of Petaluma, California, that offered numerous tips on how to protect a child in your household from any risk of their being kidnapped. Among those tips (see link immediately below): "Ask the police to intervene and warn the non-custodial parent of criminal consequences—family abduction is often a felony." http://www.pollyklaas.org/safe/familyabduction.html An excerpt from another section of this very informative website: "Five Things You Might Not Know About Family Abductions "Each year, over 203,000 children (78% of all missing children!) in the U.S. are abducted by a family member, usually a parent. "The biggest motive for family abduction is revenge against another parent, not the child's safety. "More than half of abducting parents have a history of violent behavior, a criminal record, or a substance abuse problem. "Children abducted by family members often suffer severe lifelong emotional and psychological damage. "Nearly 70% of law enforcement agencies do not have a written policy on how to respond to a family abduction." I plan to call the City of Austin or APD later today to find out whether APD is among the law-enforcement agencies that DO have a written policy on their own response to cases of alleged abduction of a child by a former parental-guardian of that child. According to a statement at their website, the Polly Klaas Foundation strives to promote "safety of all children, the recovery of missing children, and public policies that keep children safe in their communities. "We have helped more than 9,500 families of missing children, counseling them on ways to find their children and work with law enforcement. We make and distribute posters of missing children for these families..." The group's 24/7 hotline phone number is: 1-800-587-4357. The main e-mail address for the Polly Klaas Foundation is: service@pollyklaas.org . The link to that blog is: http://www.stopfamilyabductionsnow.org/about_us.html