Hearing set in child predator case
Use of camera by girl, 11, raises safety concerns
By James B. Meadow, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published June 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
A man accused of trying to lure an 11-year-old girl into his vehicle is due in court today for his bond hearing after Denver authorities comply with his request for an Arabic interpreter.
Police arrested Mohammed Al Hamdani, 39, on suspicion of child enticement after he allegedly approached the girl at James A. Bible Park at South Quebec Street and East Yale Avenue on Saturday, police said. The youngster took his photo with her camera and then ran away, police said.
Denver police credit the subsequent Internet posting of the photo with helping them arrest Al Hamdani Tuesday along the 1600 block of South Broadway.
Earlier this spring, Al Hamdani was accused of disturbing the peace and threatening a nurse at Porter Adventist Hospital. According to the arrest report, as the staff was attempting to discharge him as a patient, Al Hamdani threatened to shoot the nurse. At the time, Al Hamdani gave police a Nashville, Tenn., address.
While some officials have lauded the girl's pluck and quick thinking in the Saturday incident, others have questioned whether her impromptu photography was the right tactic to take.
"It's way better to run - you don't stop to take a picture," said Peggy Rudden, executive director of the regional office of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which works with abused and neglected children.
"You scream and make as much racket as you can," added Rudden. "But mostly you run as fast as you can."
The ability of the camera and the photo to aid police this time has raised the question of whether society's heightened awareness - and use - of technology is instrumental in fighting crimes against children.
"I do know that technology has definitely impacted this generation of children in a way it never has before," said Lori Burkey, executive director of Colorado CASA. "But I don't know of any recent research studies that can say affirmatively that technology is impacting children's safety in a positive or a negative way."
The absence of a firm link between technology and children's safety keeps the issue clouded.
"I think (technology is) a double-edged sword," said Larry Borland, outgoing head of security for the Douglas County school system, who will be moving to a similar post in Colorado Springs.
"On the one hand, if a child has a cell phone, they have a means of communicating right away with the police," he said. But, he noted, if technology can help protect children, it can also be used against them.
"Predators used to just hang around the playground," said Borland, "Now, they hang around the Web, and with so many phones being Web-enabled, the cell phone is yet another way for potential predators to contact a kid."
Parents are the key, said Burkey, emphasizing that "We're able to track our children easier (because) most kids have cell phones. So we do have more access to our children if we're texting them and know where they're at."
Ultimately, she said, "It's incumbent on parents to teach children how to use technology safely."
As well as how to scream and run away.
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June 19, 2008
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SockRayBlue writes:
Wow! This guy is a real work of art. Now all that is needed is an honest interpreter. I wonder how long it will take before he starts yelling "Jihad...." I hope that little girls parents keep a book full of clippings about this guy. This story won't go away.