Missouri sheriff raises funds for program to teach youngsters how to escape sex offenders

Each time legislators pass more restrictions on sex offenders, critics insist that laws alone can’t keep children safe.
Education is key, they said. Teach children how to avoid being a victim, and educate parents on the dangers.
A sheriff in central Missouri agreed with that philosophy and said he wanted to bring that training to his county. Problem was, he couldn’t afford it.
So Morgan County Sheriff Jim Petty, a career lawman, became a money pitchman of sorts, asking people to spare a dollar. Pretty soon word spread, and the juvenile division of the 26th Judicial Circuit had the funds he needed to pay for radKIDS — Resist Aggression Defensibly, a national education program that teaches kids to fight back against people trying to hurt them.
The juvenile division and the sheriff’s department will start training next year.
“Honestly, I don’t like asking people for money, but I’m passionate for this program,” Petty said.
Others in law enforcement understand the need for teaching kids how to protect themselves and convincing them that it’s OK to tell people if someone hurts them.
“They are the first line of defense for themselves,” said Sgt. Gary Kilgore, who supervises the Jackson County sex offender registry. “We need to make sure they know what they can and cannot do. That’s crucial in their safety. … Education is about the only way to get that to them.”
RadKIDS has been taught in all but a few states, officials with the program said. Trained instructors aren’t in Kansas City and in Kansas, though organizers hope to change that.
The idea is to teach elementary school children how to respond if they’re abducted or sexually attacked, or if they are bullied.
“We don’t teach children how to fight,” said Stephen Daley, founder and executive director of the nonprofit radKIDS. “We teach them to escape when someone is fighting them.”
After seeing a presentation about the program at a national conference, Petty and one of his deputies were instant believers. They remember a 9-year-old girl who fought her would-be abductor and got away.
Morgan County Deputy Mike Nienhuis, who will receive the training, said he liked how the program made kids stronger.
“The molester is never going to quit,” Nienhuis said. “You can make 50 million laws against this and it’s still going to happen. You have to educate potential victims so they know how to get out of it.”
Departments or organizations that purchase the program pay for people to be trained. In Morgan County’s case, program officials will train 20 people who then will take the message to kids.
Though the cases of strangers abducting and abusing youngsters are relatively few, many children are hurt by people they know. Petty and Nienhuis said radKIDS would give kids the strength and knowledge to handle those situations.
“You’re going to show them straight out of the chute to say no when they want to say no,” Nienhuis said. “We’ll tell them they have the power to say no.”
Petty just won re-election and now can focus on spreading the word about radKIDS.
“If I don’t do anything else as sheriff in the next four years, if I can help kids and get this program running, that’ll be a success,” Petty said.