Police
Police yesterday called off their search for two people they wanted to speak with in a stranger danger case investigation in Tamworth.
It brought to a close what police determined on Monday amounted to a serious incident they wanted to resolve.
In the end police resources were taken up investigating something that occupied them for two days – but what a relief it now is for those involved.
Monday’s alleged child approach has now been put down to a misunderstanding after Tamworth police resolved the matter yesterday.
Police had sought public help after an eight-year-old girl reported to her parents that she’d been approachedby a Tamworth couple in a car.
The girl was obviously upset from the confrontation and police, genuinely and reasonably, treated it with respect.
They’d issued appeals for help in identifying the car – an orange sedan – after it was revealed that the girl had been riding a scooter in the driveway of her Kenny Dr home and about 2.45pm had been approached by the car’s occupants.
What transpired then has been lost in translation but it is a lesson in life for us all.
The woman being sought apparently reacted in horror once she’d found out police were looking for her.
The explanation is simple, but it solves the mystery, while reminding us of the serious stuff behind the stranger danger campaign.
It appears the man and woman reported in the car by the child had in fact approached her – but with a warning about the dangers of riding to close to the road.
You can imagine the scene perhaps: adults seriously shaken by the often unthinking actions of young kids on wheels on the road – where the car reigns supreme – and where they’ve had to swerve perhaps to avoid hitting her. They chastise her.
A shaken child, surprised, upset, not thinking and certainly then not clearly taking in the words or actions of adults she didn’t know. Her parents are confronted with a scared kid.
Police are called and after investigating, prompting a full-scale search of the west Tamworth area to determine just what happened.
Oxley Local Area Command acting crime manager Detective Inspector John Sommers said yesterday it had all ended safely but it is a reminder for us all.
Police encourage kids who believe they’d been followed to tell police or a responsible adult. Then they make the call to investigate. We need them to do that.
Every time.