DELHI - LITTLE TO CELEBRATE AS CITY YET TO ENSURE SAFETY OF KIDS

New Delhi

As the nation celebrates its 53rd Children's Day on Tuesday, child safety in national capital paints a worrisome picture. While 17 children are reported to be missing every day, three children are sexually violated in Delhi daily, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data of 2015.

In the past five years (2012 to 2017 till October 31), 478 cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act have been registered and 40,404 children have gone missing.

Entire country was shocked when a Class II student of the Ryan International School in Gurugram was murdered on September 8, raising questions on the safety of children in their second home-school.

While the nation came to term with the horrid crime, within 24 hours, a five year-old girl was raped by her school peon in East Delhi's Gandhi Nagar.

Delhi Police officers claimed that ample measures have been taken to curb crimes against children in the city. There are trained officers who work round the clock to ensure safety and security of children.

Special Commissioner of Police Traffic and Chief spokesperson of the Delhi Police and Special CP (Traffic) Depender Pathak said, “Safety and security of children is of utmost importance for the Delhi Police. Steps have been taken to put a stop to the cases. Officers, who handle cases pertaining to minor children, have been instructed to be polite to the victims. Over the few years, cases have reduced.”

As per the 2015 data of the NCRB, 9,489 cases of crime against children were reported. This contributes as 10.1 to the cases across pan India. 56 lakh was the estimated population of children in the Union Territory. 169. 4 per cent of the cases were taken as cognizable offences.

There were 56 murder cases of children which included 54 victims. The rate of murder cases accounted to 60 per cent. Similarly, 927 rape cases of children were reported in the national Capital where in 928 children became victims. The rape cases accounted to 16.6, as per the NCRB data.

On the other hand, as per the data available with the Delhi Police, 73 cases pertaining to child sexual abuse were registered under the POCSO Act while 5,464 cases of missing children while four children were rescued under the Bonded Labour Act in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Monday said that that to ensure that children become aware of cyber bullying and other cyber-related crimes, the computer teachers in schools have been made partners in spreading cyber safety awareness among schoolchildren by organising workshops on cyber safety awareness for the teachers.

“The Delhi Police aims to harness the school computer teachers and computer centres in communicating the importance of cyber safety and how the young, school going kids can protect themselves from cyber crimes. The teachers will also act as eyes and ears for police in recognising the new challenges that the young children are likely to face,” said Suvashish Choudhary, Additional CP (Economic Offences Wing).

The Delhi Police has concluded its fifth Workshop on Cyber safety Awareness for school computer teachers. These Workshops have been attended by more than 723 computer teachers from over 577 schools spread across Delhi.

Parents reunite with missing opioid-addict children after seeing them on CNN

A news report on the opioid crisis has reunited the parents of two different addicts with their previously missing children.

Billy Donovan, 31, was living on the streets of Boston in the grip of an addiction to heroin. “I know I’m going to die from it,” Donovan told CNN’s Gary Tuchman. Donovan says he started with prescription drugs as a teen and eventually got hooked on heroin, a cheaper alternative to opioids like oxycontin.

Friends of Donovan found him after seeing the report and told his mother, Kristina Barboza, where he was. “If my son were to die, I just don’t know how I would go on,” she said in a follow-up story.

Donovan, who’d gone to rehab several times and relapsed, agreed to try again and checked himself into a detox facility.

Meanwhile, 30-year-old Meghan DiGiacomo, also homeless in Boston, was reunited with her parents, who saw the report. Her father, Paul DiGiacomo, has sworn to live beside her on the street until she agrees to enter a drug treatment program.

“I’m never giving up on Meghan,” says her mother, Julie Chandler. “She won’t die. She can’t.”

The story of these two families ravaged by drug addiction is one only too common in America today. The so-called opioid epidemic, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, claims the lives of 90 Americans a day, by some estimates.

DiGiacomo dreamed of getting sober and starting a family one day with her boyfriend, who was also a heroin addict. They both overdosed, but only she survived.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15,000 Americans died in 2015 as a result of opioid overdoses. And the costs are not just in human lives.

The CDC says opioid addiction takes a $78.5 billion toll on the U.S. economy each year because of the cost of “healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.”

The problem is getting more severe, with synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which is 100 times more potent than heroin, hitting the market. Police in Arkansas recently warned the public that they could overdose just by touching the handle of a shopping cart if it had fentanyl residue on it.

Aly Raisman on alleged abuser Larry Nassar

In an interview with 60 Minutes, three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman said a longtime USA Gymnastics doctor accused of sexually abusing her and other women gained her trust by bringing her desserts or gifts.

Raisman, the captain of the 2012 and 2016 Olympic teams, told 60 Minutes that she first realized Larry Nassar had abused her after being interviewed by a USA Gymnastics investigator in 2015.

“I was just really innocent. I didn’t really know. You don’t think that of someone, so I trusted him,” Raisman said in the interview with 60 Minutes, which aired Sunday night.

“He would buy me little things, so I really thought he was a nice person,” Raisman said. “I really thought he was looking out for me. That’s why I want to do this interview. I want to talk about it. I want people to know that just because someone is nice to you, and just because everyone is saying they are the best person, it does not make it OK for them to ever make you uncomfortable, ever.”

Filling the Empty Nest (With Money)
Raisman declined to detail the abuse during the interview but said it started when she was 15. She also describes the alleged abuse in her book, Fierce, being released this week.

“You don’t want to let yourself believe, I am a victim of sexual abuse,” Raisman said in the interview. “It’s really not an easy thing to let yourself believe that.”

Raisman is the second member of the Fierce Five squad that won gold at the London Olympics who has said Nassar abused her.

Last month, fellow Fierce Fiver McKayla Maroney came forward to say Nassar abused her for several years, beginning when she was 13.

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Facebook identifies alleged child rapist; Bothell man arrested

Thomas Mahoney, 24, appeared by video in a Snohomish County courtroom Wednesday afternoon, hours after being booked into the Snohomish County Jail in Everett --- on suspicion of child rape and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.

According to Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office documents, Mahoney met a then-13 year old girl on Facebook last year.

In September 2016, “when she was 14 years of age, she met with him in Bothell, and they had sex” at his home, according to investigators.

The documents reveal the girl’s family moved out of state, so “Mahoney travelled to California” in May and August of 2017, when he allegedly raped her again.

According to investigators, “Mahoney videotaped” the encounters.

Those videos - and explicit Facebook messages between Mahoney and the girl - are now evidence.

In court, Judge Tam Bui ordered Mahoney’s bail be set at $150,000 and issued a protection order to keep him away from the girl should he bail out.

“I’m not going to specifically delineate the kinds of contact, whether it be electronic, person, phone, whatever method,” Judge Bui told Mahoney.

“It is no contact.”

Mahoney has no criminal history.

He claimed in documents the girl told him she was 19 years old. 

However, the girl's mother told KIRO 7 Mahoney always knew the girl's real age and pursued her anyway.

Facebook has turned over to investigators messages where Mahoney allegedly refers to the girl as “this hot little 14 year old” while describing their sexual contact.

The mom says her daughter has been traumatized by the rapes. 

Mahoney has not yet been charged.

Roswell Missing 15-Year-Old Girl

The Roswell Police Department are searching for a 15-year-old girl who has been missing for two days.

Salma Bounajra is a tenth grader at Centennial High School who was last seen walking to the school bus Friday morning around 8 a.m.
Her parents say the girl did not board the bus and did not appear in school.

She was last seen wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, and red Nike sport sandals while walking on the 1200 block of Terramont Drive in Roswell.
The family released the following statement:

"We still do not know what happened to our daughter, why it happened, or where she is now. The only thing we do know is that we want Salma home as quickly and safely as possible. If anyone know anything about daughter's whereabouts, please come forward. We beg you."

Individuals with information regarding this case can contact the Roswell Police Department. The family representative Mohammed Elhammani can be reached at (404) 992-1557, or call Edward Ahmed Mitchell at (404) 285-9530.

Times Of India - Child rights week to be observed from Nov 14 to 20

Thiruvananthapuram: The social justice department, child rights commission and district child rights protection unit will jointly observe Child Rights Week from November 14 to 20. The week will be observed upholding the motto 'Society shapes children and child's protection is society's responsibility'.

The declaratory procession as part of the district level programmes in Vizhinjam will begin from PTM VHSS Maruthoorkonam, Kottukal on Monday at 11am. Kottukal was recently declared as a child friendly panchayat. The students of PTM VHSS will stage a drama focussing on liquor consumption, gender discrimination and drugs. Skits and study classes will be presented in various schools at Venganoor, Kottukal, Mukkola and Kottapuram.

Competitions will also be held in high school and higher secondary categories in essay, drawing, elocution and debate. The procession will be given reception on November 16 at St Mary's Higher Secondary School ground from 8.30am to 10.30am.

As part of the reception, the students of the social works department, National College will conduct a poster exhibition. Public convention, distribution of prizes and street quiz will also be held as part of the reception. Students of MSW department, Loyola College will present various cultural programmes. M Vincent MLA will inaugurate the public convention being organized in connection with art procession reception. ADGP B Sandhya will be present on the occasion.

Facebook and New Zealand Police Team Up to find Missing Children

Facebook and New Zealand Police are teaming up to launch a system for finding missing children.

The Amber Alerts system will be activated if a child is missing, and considered at serious risk of harm.

Once it's activated, people in the targeted search area will receive a notification at the top of their Facebook news feed, which they can also choose to share with their friends.

The alert will include a photo of the child, and any important information about the circumstances in which they went missing.

Facebook director of trust and safety Emily Vacher said all it took for police to activate the alert was sending an email to a dedicated Facebook email address that was monitored 24/7.

"As soon as we get the alert from the police, we prepare the notice.

"People care so deeply about the children in their communities, that really, this was just something that Facebook could assist with by building a tool."

Vacher was an FBI agent on the child abduction team, before leaving to work for Facebook.

She said Facebook was the perfect way to deliver messages that could be life-saving.

"We wanted to create a tool where the maximum number of people who would be able to help could access the information.

"So rather than sharing by individual people, it's a more formal system."

Police commissioner Mike Bush said that child abductions were rare in New Zealand, but child regularly went missing from home and were considered at serious risk of harm.

"Having the Amber Alerts system means we now have another useful tool to quickly contact the public in emergency situations.

"If we can use it to help save even just one child, then it is a system worth having."

It's a tool Robyn Jensen wishes had been available when her 14-year-old daughter went missing in 1983.

Kirsa Jensen rode her horse to the beach at Awatoto, Napier, on September 1, 1983.

She never returned home and, despite extensive police inquiries, has never been found.

Robyn said the story might have been different if a tool like the Amber Alert had existed then.

"Ensuring people quickly learn about a missing child is of utmost importance.

"[This] is a wonderful way to spread the word and widen the circle of people watching out for a missing child.

"To lose a child is devastating but what makes it extraordinarily hard is just not knowing what has happened.

"I remain locked into that moment in time when Kirsa went missing."

The new tool was launched at 10am today at Police National Headquarters in Wellington.