Students of both New Day Primary and Junior High and Shortwood Practising Junior High schools participate in a peace march, in the community of Grants Pen, that was organised by the Violence Prevention Alliance in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, recently. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Concerned with the number of abductions and violence against the nation's children, several suggestions have been put forward to ensure that our children are safe.

Sergeant Tommy Lee Chambers from the Kingston East police division said parents should ensure that their children are transported to school safely. She noted that parents who cannot afford transportation or those who are unable to take their children to the schoolyard should ensure that there is an adult in the community to walk them to school.

She also suggested that these adults could take turns in accom-panying the children to school.

If this cannot be facilitated, she noted that parents should advise their children to walk in groups, especially with older children.

Meanwhile, Winston Wright, chairman of the Portmore Citizens' Advisory Council, said citizens should ensure that they take note of the licence plates of taxis that children travel in, as this could be the starting point of an investigation, if they go missing.

But Valeen Calder, assistant superintendent of police, contended that the biggest misconception about the danger of a child being abducted is that abductions are only carried out by strangers.

She noted that in a majority of cases, children are abducted by a person they or their parents know.

POSITIVE Parenting