The owners of white minivans might want to ride the bus for a while.
Police say parents are quick to call them when they see a white van because of a rash of recent child-luring attempts linked by victims' descriptions of an older white male driving a white minivan.
"We've had seven or eight tips since the incident (last week)," said Carnegie police Chief Jeffrey C. Harbin. "Every time we've gotten a tip or a lead, we've followed it up."
Over the past three weeks, children and teenagers in Freedom, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, Carnegie and the Knoxville section of Pittsburgh reported incidents of being approached or followed by a man in a white van. The driver's description varied somewhat, but each youngster recounted a white van or minivan with a black stripe or black trim.
"Just during the daylight shift, we've probably had no less than a half dozen (tips) per shift," said Mt. Lebanon police Lt. Aaron Lauth. "We'd rather have people call it in so we can sort it out ourselves than have them ignore something and then realize later, 'Oh, yeah, I saw that van.'"
In Dormont, police received nearly 100 tips since a 12-year-old girl said a man approached her Oct. 11 while she walked to Keystone Oaks Middle School.
After an incident Thursday near Knoxville Middle School, city police said they stopped several white vans in the area, but none appeared to be the suspect.
Police in Freedom questioned several people after a 17-year-old girl said Tuesday that a man in a white van approached her along Route 65, said Chief Eugene St. Clair. The victim could not identify any suspect as the man when shown a photo lineup.
Freedom Area School District, which includes Conway and New Sewickley, held a middle school assembly and sent automated phone and e-mail messages to about 1,000 families after the incident, Superintendent Robert Sofo said.
"We hope the person involved doesn't show his face in this area again. But if he does, we've got thousands of eyes watching," Sofo said.
A man in a white van followed a sixth-grader at Neil Armstrong Middle School in Bethel Park, according to a letter sent to Bethel Park parents.
Since the incidents began, police have stepped up their presence in areas near schools during the times children walk to and from classes. Several agencies met with Allegheny County police last week to share information.
School districts asked students, staffers and parents to spread the word. A Penn Hills-based nonprofit organization, Safety Kids Inc., provides educational materials on preventing child abduction and exploitation.
"If you're a child, you want to have distance between yourself and the person you don't know ... to minimize that 'danger area,'" said county sheriff's Deputy S. Jason Tarap, a board member at Safety Kids and instructor for many school programs.
"If a stranger stops any child for any reason, the best response for a child is to either say 'no' or just to turn and run -- and tell an adult they know and trust."
