ALL PARENTS PLEASE READ THIS, STRANGER DANGER ALERT
Dear Parents
I would like to bring to your attention an incident that took place at the Club (Magic United) last night. A member of the public pulled up in his car and was watching the girls/boys train at around 5:30pm. One of our parents caught the man what can only be described as indecent behaviour in his car while watching the session. He did not interact with any child or club member. The Parent raised the alarm and with the commotion of angry parents he drove off.
There is a picture of the vehicle grabbing the last 3 digits of the number plate and a description of the car. The car was a white Ford XR6 with big black stripes down the side. The male driver had dark hair and dark facial hair and would be in his late 20's. The incident has been reported to the police.
This incident can and could have happened at any Sporting Clubs fields across Australia. We can all do our part to make sure players, siblings, parents and coaches are safe by being more vigilant.
The Club will be doing/has done the following:
1) Discussing the issue with Police (Report number: IIN497).
2) Discussing the incident with Emmanuel College.
3) Informing Parents and Guardians as a matter of duty of care.
4) Evaluating current safety measures and strategies in place.
5) Discussing with all coaches, game day managers, officials and committee members “STRANGER DANGER” and when in coach’s duty of care the need to make sure all players are supervised at all times.
6) Asking the Police to make frequent checks of the roads/car parks surrounding the fields.
7) Discussing lighting options for the car park above field two with the Gold Coast City Council.
Parents and Guardians can do the following:
1) Never drop and run at training.
2) Take Child to and from toilets.
3) Educate players on stranger danger.
4) Make sure you are on time to collect Players after sessions and games. If you are running late does the player know to stay with the coach and wait in the Club house?
5) Parent presence around the grounds, walking around perimeter.
6) Report any suspicious activity (person/car) by calling Police 000 or Police Link 131 444.
7) Be more vigilant for the remainder of the season.
8) Investigate CCTV options (if you are in the industry and can sponsor and/or set up something please let the Club know).
9) Do not allow Children to play unsupervised next to the bushes or tree's close to unlit areas of the fields.
10) Ensure your child/ren are supervised at all times when at the club including first team and reserve team matches where children tend to congregate together to play before, during and after matches.
We all need to be more vigilant to remove and reduce risk. Players need to be under supervision at all times, please do not drop and run when bringing your child to training or games. Girls and boys also need to go the toilet under supervision.
It is a good time to remind ourselves about social media and Internet – many kids have Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube accounts and post all sorts of images. Some of them interact with people they think they know but do not. Adults like this one often start by viewing these images and then wanting to see the real thing. One image in a school uniform or a sporting club uniform makes it very identifiable – as always, please be especially aware of your and your children’s internet postings.