Stores Offer to Videotape Children as Protection Aid

A videotape showing a child talking, gesturing and laughing can be a valuable tool for police in the event the child is abducted--and three San Diego area stores are offering to make videotapes of children from Monday through Aug. 23.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock on Wednesday announced the program to help police and parents recover abducted children. Bradley was on a four-city tour of California to promote the child-identification campaign.

Concern about child abduction and exploitation is growing and child protection organizations are stressing the importance of parents keeping a complete identification package on their children.

“I urge all parents to take advantage of this program. As a parent of two small boys I am extremely aware of the need for protection,” Hedgecock said.

For $4, the wholesale price of a videotape, the Federated Group stores in San Diego, El Cajon and Oceanside will tape children as they are asked their name, height, weight and other identifying characteristics, Federated Group spokesman Gary Arnold said. Interviewers will try to bring out the child’s personality on tape, he said, adding, “A tape gives an added dimension to a child.”

The program was started in Los Angeles, where Bradley said 5,000 children have already been videotaped.

Judy Schmidt, of the California Organization for Missing and Exploited Children, stressed that tapes are only one step in protecting children. She said parents should not get a “false sense of security” from having tapes of children.

“A tape is one more identification vehicle and it is an effective one,” Schmidt said. “But it is very important for the public to know that having a tape is not a means to an end. It should be part of a larger education process.”