Twitter
Facebook
Two joint town halls addressing child safety on military installations were held Tuesday and Wednesday at Vogelweh Air Station’s Galaxy Theater and Ramstein Air Base’s Hercules Theater.
Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, Kaiserslautern Military Community commander and 3rd Air Force commander, hosted both town halls, which were open to all members of the KMC. The town halls were scheduled after Franklin released information concerning recent alleged child abduction and molestation incidents to KMC military leadership on April 27. “We had a string of incidents with child molestation and an attempted abduction, which may be related, over a period of about eight months,” said Franklin. “We’ve had three (alleged) incidents; two molestations and one attempted child abduction.”
Franklin was joined by Brig. Gen. Aundre F. Piggee, 21st Theater Sustainment Command commander, Brig. Gen. Mark Hendrix, 21st TSC deputy commanding general, Col. Stephen Lambert, 86th Airlift Wing vice commander, Dr. Dell McMullen, Kaiserslautern School District superintendent, as well as other senior leaders representing Security Forces, Legal, Army Advocacy, Airman and Family Readiness, Army Criminal Investigation Command and Air Force Office of Special Investigations.Franklin spoke about the actions taken by military and community leaders to increase the level of safety in the KMC. “We are doing joint community policing, we have increased our patrols. We are doing walking patrols, bike patrols and motorized patrols as well,” he said. McMullen said school officials are also taking action to increase vigilance among school children. “What we are doing is providing ‘stranger danger’ again, and ‘stranger danger’ is a program that we used (in February) to alert children to be vigilant all the time,” she said. “Our counselors, our teachers, our principals are emphasizing again to our children, please come and talk to us at any time.” Franklin gave the facts of the incidents, the description of the suspect and the action requested of the community. The status and identity of the suspect are still under investigation. The suspect is described as a white male in his mid-20s with short brown hair, shaved on the sides and wearing Army Combat Uniform pants, a tannish-green T-shirt and tan combat boots. Franklin said the clothing does not indicate the person is an Army member or even a military member. “It could be anybody … I need you to remain vigilant. If you see somebody…lurking around where children are and you don’t know who they are – it’s time to call somebody,” he said. “Tell your children not to engage with strangers. I think our parents are our first line of defense, and the best line of defense. We need you to speak with your children.” Audience members were also informed of the recent change to rules concerning children supervision. Children aged six and below must be attended by a parent or caregiver at all times both on and off base. After receiving the brief, audience members asked questions concerning the issue of child safety in the community, specific case information, child supervision enforcement, curfew rules, neighborhood watch, where to find updates and installation security. Comments voiced by one Soldier received applause from the audience.
“This is your community,” he said. “If you have kids, you are their first line of defense … Get to know your neighbors, get to know their kids … Do what you need to do to teach your kids about strangers.” At the close of the town halls, Franklin pledged to keep the community updated on the status of ongoing investigations as well as general military installation security. “This is the most important thing on my agenda,” said Franklin. “We will keep you informed as best as we can, and when there are significant updates, my commitment to you is to get that update back out in a forum like this or another vehicle.”
For more information on current issues, please reference the “Child Safety Situation Update” slides and the “Child Supervision Policy Matrix” under critical information on Livewire at http://www.ramstein.af.mil/livewire.asp.
If you have any information that may help investigators, please call the Air Force OSI tip line at 0170-745-5382.
