Queens Ledger: Community discusses child safety after luring incident

Queens Ledger wrote about the Town Hall Meeting organized by State Senator Jose Peralta and Assemblymembers Michael DenDekker and Francisco Moya to discuss public and student safety. 

This is the article: After the attempted luring of a 10-year-old girl in Jackson Heights in late January, community members are seeking answers on how to protect their children.

State Senator Jose Peralta and Assemblyman Michael DenDekker organized a town hall on March 3 at the Renaissance Charter School with local law enforcement and community leaders to discuss best practices and tips.

“They’ll get to hear, hopefully, some pretty productive things, some positive things on how they can not only protect their children,” Peralta said, “but also protect themselves from the uptick in slashings that have been occurring.”

Police have arrested 29-year-old Jaminton Carela for trying to lure the young girl. Peralta said Carela, from North Carolina, is being charged with second-degree harassment, which is punishable by up to a year in prison and a maximum $5,000 fine.

Peralta added that the suspect had five prior arrests, including for criminal mischief, grand larceny, disorderly conduct and theft. Carela is due back in court on April 5.

Peralta said when Carela tried to lure the 10-year-old girl across the street, it took a bit of street savvy and a crossing guard’s actions to save the day.

“She was able to go to the crossing guard,” he said. “The local crossing guard protected her.”

That crossing guard, Angela Kostalo, received a citation from Peralta for confronting the suspect, causing him to flee.

DenDekker and Assemblyman Francisco Moya also briefly discussed child safety. DenDekker spoke about a couple of laws he has proposed that would add crossing guards to every corner of every school and make it a felony to hit a crossing guard.

He also brought up the importance of having video surveillance in these cases. DenDekker passed a bill, signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, that created a voluntary surveillance database.

He encouraged community members to install video surveillance systems in their homes or apartments and register them so law enforcement can use them if needed.

“If an event happens in an area, they would be able to access the database and find out where cameras are that maybe they didn’t know about before,” he said. “That would be a very important tool that, as you can see by how quickly this particular perpetrator was caught because of video surveillance.”

Officials from the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau gave a presentation on how parents can engage their kids in conversations about safety. Detective Angela Ellerby said it often comes down to parents just talking and communicating with their children.

“Teach your children, don’t talk to strangers,” Ellerby said. “Pay attention to details. Know where you are.”

Ellerby said she regularly gives presentations to schoolchildren. She told stories of how often she hears that children don’t know their home or school addresses or even the name of their parents.

“I had another child in the third grade, he did not know his mother’s last name,” she said. “All he knew was her name was 'mommy.' I can’t find mommy, we need a name.”

She encouraged parents to sit down, turn off the television and practice these details with their children. She said roleplaying is a good method as well.

Officer Edward Soto added that many children walk around with keys around their neck. He said it’s important for them to take it off because the keys are noticeable and many kids walk home alone.

“If you have the strap around your neck, take it off and put it inside your pocket or inside your shirt,” Soto said.

He also advised kids to have their keys out by the time they reach the door of their home.

“They should wait about 15 steps before they get to the door and take out their keys,” he said. “Look around you, make sure no one is watching you.”

In addition to child safety, Peralta also brought up the recent slashing incidents citywide, including one that happened nearby on 25th Avenue and 79th Street.

Peralta cited that slashings are up 21 percent citywide. In 2016 alone, more than 670 people have been slashed or stabbed, according to Peralta’s office.

“People are concerned,” he said. “People are very worried.”

In the 115th Precinct alone, there have been 34 slashing incidents this year compared to 15 last year at the same time, according to Deputy Inspector Brian Hennessy, the commanding officer of the precinct.

With Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s announcement that more police officers would be added to the subways to deter slashings, Peralta said it was a good step, but it needs to go further.

“It’s happening beyond the subway,” he said.