Would you intervene in a possible child kidnapping?

As described, yes.

@snowberry How would you get involved then? Would you just walk up to the guy and say let him or her go? What if the child is lying?

Absolutely. I’d physically intervene and get more information about what was going on. If I was unable to do that, I’d scream and make a scene, call 911 and then take as many pictures as I could.

I would also physically intervene while dialing 9–1-1.

One girl in my little town was forcibly abducted, raped, sodomized and killed by a fleeing ex-con, and since then I promised myself I would never walk away from anything suspicious.

Yes. And then call 911 and have the police sort it out.

Not knowing exactly what was going on and on the possibility the man had a gun, I would not confront him. I’d yell for help and dial 911.

@KNOWITALL You witnessed that? That is horrible….but why I asked this question is that I just watched a video on You Tube where a police unit staged an event where they had a little girl be faked abducted by a man who is part of the police in plain clothes in public. The hidden camera showed people just looked at the screaming girl and walked by. To me it is not an easy thing as all of that to get involved, but it is how to get involved in that situation that I am questioning.

The problem for me is that there is a large percentage of false allegations of child abuse. I’ve known people who have been faslely accused, and it’s no fun at all, and it can wreck your life and your career.

About every week I hear a little kid kicking and screaming in a store while the parents or whoever they are walk out of the store with them.

@Eggie No, I didn’t witness it, but it happened just a few miles from my home, and I live in Mayberry where this kind of thing doesn’t happen to a single woman driving at night.

I think about my niece and her girlfriends who think strolling around Mayberry at night is cool, and then I think about Ms. Morton and how innocent she was, and the pain and humiliation and anger she experienced. It makes me sick to my stomach.

I think that I probably would – confront, ask for details, tell someone to call the police (or do it myself) if sufficiently fishy, and if necessary, detain him.

Absolutely. I would get right in the middle of that situation – physically, if necessary. As a parent myself, I would understand if someone intervened in such a situation between one of my kids and myself. Better safe than sorry.

Of course I would. It wouldn’t have to be a child being abducted either, if I witnessed anything happening I would do what I could to intervene or at the very least notify the police.

…I mean I am Batman after all, can’t go letting crime occur in my neighborhood :P

I would hold up my cell phone and say “I’m taking pictures. Let the child go and wait for the police”. If he is an abductor, he will leave.

I live in Canada I would intervene physically and then I would get put in jail for it. :/

It’s not just that the child is screaming and protesting. The kid is saying “You’re not my father. Let me go.” So, yes I would get involved because this is one of the key phrases that kids are taught to say to make it crystal clear that the person trying to control them is NOT their parent.

In a normal situation if a kid is just being bratty and not obeying the parent they don’t typically yell out “You’re not my parent” that’s what kids being abducted by strangers say and it should be heeded.

The police will be able to determine the truth of the matter in short order.

I would let the adult involved know that I’ve just dialed 911 and I’m taking a photo of their license plate. That should be sufficient to get an abductor to scram. And hopefully there are other people around and I’d be yelling up a storm to get as many of them involved as possible.

Absolutely I would. I’d rather be wrong and it is the child’s parent than ignore a child crying for help. I would be making a lot of noise myself to encourage other people to help. People will quite often resist being the first person to get involved. If they see someone else step up, then they’ll follow.

@snowberry

You mention that you frequently see kids kicking and screaming in a store and being carried out by their parents and it pretty much is treated as rather unremarkable which is understandable.

Just for curiosity, have any of those protesting kids ever said clearly “let me go. I don’t know you. You’re not my father/mother” ? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess, no. I think that would surely get the attention of most people just observing.

But, as cited above, maybe not. That’s unfortunate.

@Buttonstc Nope. Never.

But sooner or later some kid will learn the lingo and just to get their own way or to act out, will learn to say the “I don’t know you, you’re not my dad/mom” to a parent dragging them out of a store. That will really be a mess then.

My 13 year old granddaughter did her own version of that (acting out), and although the accusation was unfounded, to protect herself, her mom (my daughter) arranged for her to go back to live with her mentally ill father because she cannot risk another false allegation. In addition she refuses to be in the same room alone with her until she turns 18. The authorities in their area seem to think that two false accusations of child abuse equal a real one.

That’s really unfortunate for your daughter to have to deal with. I’ve heard of similar cases where a wise-ass kid uses falsified accusations of abuse because they think it gets them out of trouble. In the long run, they always end up regretting it but sometimes its one of those impulse type of things where the kid doesn’t really think out consequences before acting.

But, as a bystander, I’d still take the risk and let the police sort it out rather than leave a kid to the fate of being abducted. And if it were a kid being a wise-ass and the parent were foolish enough to make a court case out of my “interference” I’m sure the judge would have a few choice words for the kid about the real world consequences of “crying wolf”.

If a child were in a state of panic I doubt there would be wherewithall to clearly say “I don’t know you.”

It’s too long and awkward and not one of the phrases drilled into heads like “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Or “Fire” When in a panic the brain can cognitively shut down and reacts according to fight or flight. Often muscle memory and practice can help protect.

But yes such drilling can be used inappropriately. In my day that was rare. The gravity of pulling the fire alarm or the reports of stampedes etc were instilled in us. I don’t think I remember even one person doing this in my formative years. Things are probably different now.

I would call 911 immediately and let them assess to situation. Meanwhile I would attempt to allow the adult to leave with the child.