Home»"America's Most Wanted" Host John Walsh gives inspirational speech in Reno
"America's Most Wanted" Host John Walsh gives inspirational speech in Reno
Page Last Updated: Tuesday July 27, 2010 12:32am PDT
Walsh asked the question, how can the United States have put a man on the moon so many years ago, but still have problems tracking what he says are 100,000 convicted sex offenders who fail to register with police? So there's a lot of work ahead, but meantime, he's getting his messages out to everybody, especially to groups of people like the one he spoke to at GSR.
John Walsh says he's still angry. He and his family waited 27 years before the man who abducted and murdered his son Adam was identified.
"I know the pain of waiting for 27 years, there are tens of thousands of unsolved cold cases, we can catch these guys; they're driving around in your community," said Walsh.
But Walsh has turned much of his pain into passion. And it is both his pain and passion which struck nerves inside the Grand Sierra Resort ballroom.
If you looked closely, you could find people wiping away tears.
"Very touching, very frustrating, I can only imagine," said Robin Norton, who works in a Lowden County, Virginia school district.
Many in this audience are bus drivers. They're the first and last people to see your children each school day, besides you. And Walsh truly believes they are vital toward protecting your children's safety.
"I believe in being proactive... be proactive, saddle up and say we know these things can happen," Walsh said.
"We're a family," said Bonneville County, Idaho School District 93 employee Todd Hicks. "We monitor society and monitor the students we transport."
"We are the front lines, somebody has to be out there and it's us," said Norton.
The front lines against a disturbing reality. John Walsh calls it "bus surfing" -- pedophiles who follow buses and prey on children at bus stops.
The bus drivers here say they're aware this goes on. And they say John's presence here serves as inspiration to constantly be on the watch and report any suspicions.
They know their neighborhood routes well, so they say they look out for cars who linger behind buses or people who seem out of place. And they say they're not afraid to report suspicious activity to the police.
COMMENTS
No one is opposed to keeping our kids safe but Mr. Walsh has made a well paid career out of scaring parents with perils that are so statistically small that we waste more energy on those than the real threats. Strangers stalking your kids sounds scary and makes good press but those are very very rare even though they are what catches the media attention...thus Mr. Walsh's interest in the "very rare" over what is really helpful.
As far as his concern about tracking 100,000 released offenders, part of the problem are his own actions in preventing them from finding jobs and homes. How can you track someone who is forced to go homeless and jobless? Laws and fear of being harassed and attacked when their faces appear on line drives many underground. Who really needs to know where they are the most, you and I or the police? By making their faces and addresses and places of employment visible to everyone, they flee. Not only do you and I not know where they are, neither do the police.
Add to the fact that 95% of offenses are NOT committed by former offenders but by people who have never been caught. People who are far more likely to be someone the child already knows including family members and other children. All Mr Walsh's outrage about tracking those least likely to be a threat over shadows the necessary education to make children more "crime proof". Fact is we simply cannot protect every child all the time. Life has risks...we do our best.
The Department of Corrections in New Jersey did a study a couple of years ago and came to a couple of conclusions we all need to keep in mind. (1) 65% of those on their registered offender lists posed little or no risk to the public and (2) No study has ever shown that the internet and registrations list have resulted in any reduction of sex offenses.
Parents are overwhelmed with huge lists and no means to know who is really a thread. Lists are becoming useless because they are filling with non-threats.
The costs to the taxpayers for these registries is very expensive...many millions of dollars a year. Vigilantes have used them to find and murder people including innocent bystanders. Homes have been fire bombed etc. With a zero showing that they actually protect the public, can we afford them? Should we at least restrict them to only those persons who represent a risk? The really bad people remain in prison and those on the list have a lower recidivism rate than most other crimes.
Why do I post this? I have been a criminal justice advocate for a quarter century and have seen too many cases where politicians write knee-jerk laws they perceive as good for getting votes with little regard to the value of those laws. Once written no politician wants to go on record to remove or amend them.
Protecting the public is important. Doing so in a manner that makes sense, produces results and does not cost a fortune makes more sense. Some of these laws simply do nothing to make us safer.
Unfortunately, John Walsh is far more concerned with revenge and making money. Of course he wants people to support the Adam Walsh Act, because when it is funded, he'll get millions of dollars in kickbacks through the NCMEC. The NCMEC paid him millions to lobby the AWA, a law which allows children as young as 14 to be registered. Stop the fear mongering and learn the truth. Oncefallen dot com
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Home»"America's Most Wanted" Host John Walsh gives inspirational speech in Reno
CHARLOTTE F.
July 27, 2010 12:25pm PDT
Mark as Offensive
http://www.justyellfire.com also has many safety tips for women and children. Two 15 year old girls teach on this site. Murder On The Silver Comet Trail has many safety tips written in a campy large print novel, only on Amazon. Thank you John Walsh. Let's make kidnapping extinct!