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Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 10:33 am
Posts: 3758
Location: Gary
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Date of Record: October 5, 2009
October 5, 2009
Good Morning!
ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION
We have received word that this past Friday there was an attempted abduction of a 12 year old girl in LaPorte. According to the police, the girl was returning home from school shortly after 2pm and was riding her bicycle (John and Division Streets) when a man exited a rusty car with a large dent on the hood. There was physical contact during the attempt and apparently the man gave up when the young girl began to scream.
The subject is a white male, mid 20's with average height and build. The man was wearing a blue hooded sweat shirt and blue jeans that had holes in them below the knees.
Whenever I address a group about surviving violent crime, I always stress that the most public place you will ever be with your attacker is at the initial point of contact. It is then that you must kick, scream, bite - whatever it takes to free yourself and then separate yourself from the assault. If you allow yourself to be taken, the odds that you will be severely assaulted, if not murdered, significantly increase. This young girl did just that, she fought for her life and she survived.
I have previously referred to the book "Not Me", authored by Al Horner. The book serves as an excellent reference for what you and your family need to know about surviving these assaults and attempted abductions. Take time to talk about this topic with your children, present it in an appropriate manner for their age, but make sure they know never to leave with a stranger. At all costs, do not go!
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Sexual Predator Grant
On a related note- The United States Attorney's Office has notified us that the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Orientated Policing Services (COPS) has announced that 11.4 million has been released to 26 state and local agencies under the Child Sexual Predator Program. I am pleased to learn that one of these grants is headed here to Northwest Indiana.
The Portage Police Department will join forces with several other local law enforcement agencies in the area in an organized attempt to identify and lock up child predators in our area. Over $470,000 is being sent by the Federal government to support this effort and I am pleased that we will be part of the team.
I will tell you that when I supervised the FBI's Violent Crime Program for this area that there simply were not enough agents to work these violations. You may think that these predators lurk only in the "Big City", well I have news for you, they are everywhere and they are more than willing to travel thousands of miles to meet with their victim, that is, to meet with your child.
This is yet another topic that as parents, we must make certain that our children are aware of this very real threat. Limit the personal information that they volunteer on Facebook, Myspace and other internet sites.
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Cyber Crime
Speaking of computers, October is Cyber Awareness Month and it is a good time to remind ourselves to be ever so careful when we are putting out information on the web. I have attached an "Intelligence Note" that the FBI recently produced (Cyber-FBI) When you have a moment you might want to take a look. They invite you to visit their website for more information as well (www.IC3.gov)
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Chief's Email
This email system was developed in 2008 as yet another way to keep in touch with the community, learn of what you care about, what your upset about and generally, just another way to keep in touch with what is going bump in the middle of the night. There are several hundreds of you who have joined the subscription list and we are very grateful for your interest. We value the participation of each and every one of you and so I am going to ask for your indulgence one more time.
We have installed new software that delivers the "Chief's Email" and as to be expected, there are some glitches that have arisen, in some cases not everyone has been receiving these emails. We do not want to lose you so I am again going to send today's email out both ways- the old way and the new way. If you do not receive this same email twice, then I would ask that you please hit the reply button and let me know. Give it to the end of the day for the emails to arrive, again if you do not end up with two of them, please let me know.
I would note that the new delivery system presents you with a short paragraph notifying you that a "Chief's Email" has been sent to you. In order to open and access the email it is necessary for you to click on the words "Chief's Email" that appear in blue on the notice.
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As always, if it does not feel right, it probably isn't. Trust your 6th sense and contact law enforcement and let them figure it out, that is what we get paid to do.
Contact Us!
Emergency - "911"
Routine Business - (219) 762-3122
STOP Team - (219) 764-5676
By Text - Enter 847411 then enter PPDTIP, followed by your message
We Tip Line- 1 - 800 - 78 - CRIME
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On a final and lighter note...as a child growing up in Wisconsin I became a Packer fan, so now as an adult each and every weekend I cheer for Green Bay and whoever is playing the Chicago Bears. During my Packer Backer training years ago, we were taught to really dislike the Bears, but a close runner up were the "Purple People Eaters" --- the Minnesota Vikings. Never in my life did I ever expect to see Brett Favre in a purple jersey playing my Packers, yet tonight such will be the scene on Monday Night Football.......I may have to call in sick tomorrow.
Be Safe!
Mark J. Becker
Chief of Police
Portage Police Department
Portage, Indiana
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http://calumethighschoolgary.ning.com/
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