Helping to keep kids safe in the community
Parents take advantage of fingerprinting
About 35 children from 15 to 20 families were fingerprinted and photographed for free at Porterville Ford Saturday, according to Ashley Simpson who was using digital equipment provided by Operation Kidsafe.
The new owner of the Ford dealership, Parm Matharu and General Sales Manager Jim Maze, would like to get involved in the community and promote activities and events.
Maze has worked for four or five other Ford dealerships in Southern California and Hanford and promoted the Operation Kidsafe service in their communities, so he brought Kidsafe to Porterville Saturday for the first time so parents could get their children privately and safely documented.
Ashley Simpson, who works at the dealership, used a digital fingerprinting device and computerized camera provided by Kidsafe to take fingerprints of the children and photographs which she gave to their parents for safe keeping. The document also includes safety tips for children and parents, and has tips how parents can talk to their children about child safety.
Simpson said she was very fortunate to be a part of Operation Kidsafe especially since she came from a childcare background and was glad to help “keep our children safe.”
When parents have the digital Kidsafe document, the police will know what to do if they are contacted, and all pertinent personal information is provided by the parent on the document to law enforcement.
Operation Kidsafe has been in operation for over 16 years and has documented millions of children.
Vicki Cervantes, Porterville City Librarian, brought her daughter Kimoriana, 6, to have her fingerprints and photograph taken, and was impressed that during the process there was no personal or private information taken by the service.
She said it was very different from the Pop-up’s or posters of missing children that you’d see in the 80s and 90s, and says the documentation is an important service provided for parents and children especially with the dangers of human trafficking and present-day society.
Randy Phillips and his wife brought their 9-year-old son, Matthew, and his three cousins and their parents, Tamara and Jon Seymour, took advantage of the service to have the four children documented. Randy, a volunteer with the Porterville Police Department said, “This is a great idea.
If we do find children, it’s sometimes hard to find out who they who they belong to. More families should be pro-active and have their children in the system. It makes the job for law enforcement a lot easier when needed.”
“The schools used to take photos and fingerprints years ago,” says Tamara, “this is an excellent service. It would be good if all the schools took advantage of this again.”
Another family, Dr. Michael Beebe and his wife Melody, brought their two sons to the dealership. They found out about Kidsafe from their friend Vikki Cervantes at the library and said it was a great service being provided to the community and helping contribute to the Safe Community Initiative.
Kathryn Mcdougall, and her pre-teen daughter, Eva, came to the event where her husband, Matt, works at the dealership. Kathryn said she was so pleased they were offering the service to parents for their children. She had documented her older daughter at least 15 years ago, “but this is great for my younger daughter. She has a school I.D. with a photograph, but this is much more helpful, with more information.”
To learn more about Operation Kidsafe go to www.operationkidsafe.org or (217) 5354100, or email kidsafeprint@gmail.com