Even though police say they have the killer of Leiby Kletzky in custody, parents in the
close-knit neighborhood were keeping a tighter rein on their children.
"We usually let our 10-year-old boy walk to day camp," said Chaim Langer, 43, who has
seven kids. "After this, no more."
It has long been common practice for Orthodox Jewish parents in the neighborhood to let
their children out alone - depending on neighbors to keep an eye out for trouble.
"Most people in the neighborhood are Jewish, so they trust one another," said a
community liaison to the NYPD. "You see 10-year-olds walking 3-year-olds. Kids are
walking everywhere alone."
But now parents are reevaluating, shaken that the alleged murderer came from their own
community.
"People have to be careful now. Don't let your kids out of your sight," said Jacob Daskel,
coordinator of the Shomrim neighborhood patrol in Borough Park.
"In this community, like in Williamsburg, Flatbush and Crown Heights, we see it as our
home. You should feel safe in your home. Safety wasn't an issue, but now everything has
changed."
Abductions by strangers are thankfully rare in the city, but Police Commissioner
Raymond Kelly said parents should think carefully about when their kids are really ready
to be outside alone.
"There comes a time when everyone has to go forward on their own, and it's up to the
parents to make those determinations. There are no easy answers here - just a terrible,
terrible tragedy," he said.
At the camp Leiby attended, counselor Yehuda Berkowitz said parents have to sign a
permission slip for kids to walk home. Yesterday, parents had to physically sign out the
children.
"We might keep this moving forward," he said.
David Mandel, CEO of the social services agency OHEL Children's Home, said parents
can use the incident to talk to their children about why it's important to be wary of
strangers.
"They should use this extraordinarily bad experience as a way to teach their kids."
Leah Freed, 38, who has three teenagers, plans to do just that.
"I'm going to have an open talk with them about this - how they have to be more careful,"
she said.
Child safety expert Debra Smiley Holtzman said there is "no one particular age" when it's
safe for a child to be let out alone.
"It's a judgment call," she said. "You want to look at the maturity of the child and what
the neighborhood is like."
She recommends walking the route with the child before letting them try it alone and
training them on what to do if a stranger approaches.
But making the final call is not easy.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/07/14/2011-07-14_welcome_to_worl
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