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Show .... ' .' i - . - 'k.-''' - i ,, . ' r .v vJq GENEVIEVE GALLIMORE, watches with great interest as officer Tom Paul and Chief Mike Ferre fingerprint her for a permanent file at the police department. Chief Ferre said he hopes to have a file ofo all the children in Pleasant Grove, including scars and birthmarks. Children fingerprinted to deter kidnappers By MARY COONS Police Chief Mike Ferre has started a fingerprinting program for children in Pleasant Grove that he hopes will . help to deter potential kidnappers ?- from our community. : Ferre said that he has received S.iveal, calls from citizens the past ' twb,. weeks since the Runyun kidnapping kid-napping in Sunset. He said that he and his officers looked over different programs, and decided upon the "Patch the Pony" program. The program includes a coloring book, a film and a cassette that they take around to groups and schools. Officer Tom Paul and Ferre started the program on Tuesday with a small pre-school. Children from the age of four months to four years from the school were fingerprinted. Paul said that the prints will be on permanent file with the police, and that organizations such as Child Find can have photostat copies of those prints. Ferre said that getting a positive I.D. on most children is very difficult, and that they grow and change rapidly with time. He said, however, that these prints cov-ld really help if a child was kidnapped and 'turned up in another part of the country. "Mostly," Ferre continued to emphasize, ''we want to stop anyone who thinks they can come in here and bother our children . " The officers were asked, as they patiently continued to print the tiny fingers, if they also had a personal stake in this project. They said yes, that they all all fathers, and want this community safe for their children as well. At the Pleasant Grove Advisory Council meeting later Tuesday night, Tom Paul further explained the program to both community and school leaders. Both PTA leaders and teachers highly supported the idea of the fingerprinting and the "Patch the Pony" program. The PTA presidents both from Pleasant Grove and Lindon said they would assist the officers in any way in presenting the program to the children in their respective schools. Paul said that former burglars have admitted that the neighborhood watch programs have deterred them from entering certain communities. He said that is the hope of the Pleasant Grove police department that the same effect will be true with this program. "We love our children and don't want anything to happen to them," said Paul. Paul continued that he hated to bring the subject up, but that the police need financial help with the program. The PTA presidents all said that they wre sure they could help in some way to get the program rolling. Paul said that the department had already spent $500 on the program already to start it off, but that they really didn't have funds to support it any more. One president said that she would especially be pleased if the officers themselves came to the school to administer the program. She said that this would familiarize the children with the officers, and help to build a friendship with them. Bob Morton, head of the advisory council, suggested that the police and PTA leaders get together and start the program as soon as possible. Paul said that pre-schoolers could be done at clinics at the station. |