By Birgit Bürkner and Ole Kroning
Police and school directors warn in letters to parents: One or more strangers have tried to lure children into their car in Steglitz-Zehlendorf.
In at least four cases, students were approached, touched or even filmed on the way home by strangers in Zehlendorf-Nord in the vicinity of elementary schools, a police spokesman confirmed when asked by the BZ. One of these incidents would have happened in a playground.
► According to BZ information, last Friday (November 18) a child from the Rudolf Steiner elementary school was approached from a car on the way home in Clayallee near the junction with the street “Am Schülerheim”. A stranger offered to drive it home. The child ran back to school. Parents and the police have been informed.
► There was another incident a few days earlier near the Mühlenau elementary school.
► According to the Tagesspiegel, a child from a Lichterfeld school was also contacted in this way.
In all cases, the children reacted correctly and did not get into the car, but informed their parents or school immediately.
The police and the State Criminal Police Office are investigating. “It should be clarified whether the people described are different people or the same person,” said a police spokesman for the BZ.
Say no, run away!
Prevention officials also sensitized the students in the affected facilities. For this purpose, leaflets (“Handlungshilfe – suspicious addressing of children by strange adults”) were made available.
In a letter (BZ available), the management of the Rudolf Steiner School in Dahlem appealed to the legal guardians: “Basically, we should ensure that children do not walk to school or home unaccompanied in the near future.”
Parents should discuss how their children should behave towards strangers: “Say no, run away, get help, be loud, use their address.”