Community Crime Prevention Tips - October 2013

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Halloween Safety Pointers for Parents
Halloween may be a fun holiday for kids, but for parents, trick-or-treat time can be a little trickly. Conerns about children's safety - whether they are out in the neighborhood or back home with bountiful bags of goodies - can darken the day more quickly than a black cat. But not to worry! Following a few Halloween safety tips will be a "howling" good time for all.

Consider this: Parents and kids can avoid trick-or-treating troubles entirely by organizing a Halloween costume party with treats, games, contests, music, scary stories, and much more. Make your Halloween party the place to be! Schools, fire stations, libraries, or civic groups in many communities organize "haunted houses" and other festivities for families.

Make Sure Your Kids Dress Up Safely

• Check that the costumes are flame-retardant so the little ones aren't in danger near burning jack-o-lanterns and other fire hazards.

• Keep costumes short to prevent trips, falls, and other bumps in the night.

• Try make-up instead of a mask. Masks can be hot and uncomfortable and, more importatntly, they can obstruct a child's vision - a dangerous thing when kids are crossing streets and going up and down steps.

• Makre sure kids wear light colors or put reflective tape on their costumes.

• Trick-or-treaters always should be in groups so they aren't a tempting target for real-life goblins. Parents should accompany young children.

Make Trick-Or-Treating Trouble Free

• Make sure older kids trick-or-treat with friends. Together, map out a safe route so parents know where they'll be. tell them to stop only at familiar homes where the outside lights are on.

• Try to get your kids to trick-or-treat while it's still light out. If it's dark, make sure someone has a flashlight and pick well-lighted streets.

• Make sure kids know not to enter strangers' cars.

Treats

• Kids need to know not to eat their treats until they get home. One way to keep trick-or-treaters from digging in while they're still out is to feed them a meal or substantial snack beforehand.

• Check out all treats at home in a well-lighted place.

• What to eat? Only unopened candies and other treats that are in original wrappers. Don't forget to inspect fruit and homemade goodies for anything suspicious. By all means, remind kids not to eat every-thing at once or they'll be feeling pretty ghoulish for awhile.

Dressed Up and DangerousHalloween blood and gore are harmless stuff for the most part. But sometimes dressing up as a super hero, a scary monster, or an alien from outer space - coupled with the excitement of Halloween - brings out aggressive behavior. Even fake knives, swords, guns, and other costume accessories can urt people. If these objects are part of a child's costume, make sure they are made from cardboard or other flexible materials. Better yet, challenge kids to create costumes that don't need "weapons" to be scary and fun.

Halloween can be a lot of fun for parents and kids alike - if everybody remembers the tricks and the treats of playing it safe.

If you have any questions, please contact Deputy Shawn Brownell at (818) 878-5506.