I have an excellent idea to keep kids safer! update

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
It occurred to me today while I was watching HLN again today and we hear all about these little girls going missing. Then we hear about how other people are getting car jacked and the car was disabled because they had OnStar and then the idiotic thief grabbed the womans Ipad and they followed him because she had "find my Ipad" on her Iphone.

Well why cant we GPS our kids? I dont mean implant them with little rice size devices like micro-chipping dogs because that wouldnt actually work well but somehow putting a small device on them everyday that would be fairly unnoticeable to a stranger who steals kids. Most of what I have found out there costs at least well over $100 and costs a monthly feel. And you have to somehow either attach it to the kids book bag or their belt loop or sew it into a small pocket in their clothes. That is all well and good until the creep finds it and figures out what it is and tosses it away.

I am thinking more along the lines of something like those rubberized bracelets people sell or give away for a dollar or two in support of charities. Most folks wouldnt think much of a kid having on of those on them. You could make it a tad bit thicker in one place in order to put the gps part so the parents could charge it off the computer and if they allow it to be charged by one of the top 3 chargers they wouldnt have to include a charger in it so it would cut down on the cost. We all have tons of chargers at home. I have seen little rubberized watches that would be perfect for this. They cost about $5 Even if you make them $10 bucks, its worth it if the parent has to buy a new one every month because the kid loses it once a month. You charge it, it downloads the number of the gps to your computer so you can track your kid and if heaven forbid something should happen the cops have this number to track that kid in a nano second to find that kid before anything can happen. They dont have to put out Amber alerts and pray someone sees some car in some state miles away.

Surely to god we can come up with this. The closest one I have come up with is a watch that is also a cell phone, Mp3 player and GPS system and costs $113 and Im not sure if I have to also put it on a cell phone plan to boot.

I know we have techies on board. What do you think. Heck, we could make smart tennis shoes!
 
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Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Not a bad idea. Have to get some techies to see if it could be done and not cost too much.

But I dunno if parents would go for it. Shoot, many don't even teach stranger danger. (they've got the it can never happen to my kid attitude) easy child is really bad about neglecting that area. Which makes me want to scream because my kids were taught very well.
 
N

Nomad

Guest
Not a bad idea.
I do wonder if creeps would hear about this and then strip the child of all clothes and items.
However, it might work...if it was inexpensive enough, you could put it in a bracelet and a shoe....perhaps have a few different things all linked in the same way. The more, the safer...??? I don't know.
Perhaps these abductions have always been happening but we didn't know about it so much before. The media allows us to know more about the world all around us. It is horrible how parents are nore and more concerned/worried about these types of things.
 

Tiapet

Old Hand
There is a school that is doing something like this but not quite. I have long ago thought about this. The objection comes in from the world often of the "big brother" thought. That we would be traveling down that path. Now I'm all for securing our children and yes, we could ever remove said thing as when I thought about it I was thinking more along the lines of like the pet id since, as you pointed out, the children often get stripped of personal clothing or items so "any" item is bound to not be worth having on them. As you see backpacks, water bottle, hats, clothing, etc, all end up being found but no child. That's why I thought it would have to be imbedded in the skin and hopefully not something that could float around like norplant did or other objects that have either (how come petid's don't?).

I just don't know but what "I" feel, irregardless of the "big brother" thought, put it in a child until they turn 18 when they can remove. I'm sure Joe Walsh would have wished for it as well as countless other families who have lived through horrible tragedies with their children, those who still have missing children, and those who will have children go missing. JMHO.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I would happily have chipped my kids the way I do my pets. I find it ridiculous that we cannot legally chip our kids. There is no reason why a gps chip couldn't be safely implanted. It wouldn't be that hard to do, and it would give our kids a LOT more safety in many situations. If the child wants it out at age 18, no problem. It wouldn't even have to be active unless the child was reported missing. Or maybe offer a servce to let you track the child like you would track a cell phone. It seems to me that we put more effort into ensuring a pet's safety than a child's, and that is just so strange, in my opinion.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Back in the days before technology, we had a simple way of keeping kids safe.
The rule was: four-or-more, or you stay home.

When I walked to school, my mom and 3 other moms from different directions watched me and my friends until we met at "the corner" (within eyesight of home, coming from different directions). Depending on the day, we were 4, 5 or 6... and we went on our merry way. Only two today? wave for a parent, we don't walk alone.

This rule held EVEN IN HIGH SCHOOL - although, at that age, we could go a block or two... we'd never go to the mall, or a school sports event, or anywhere else "out" with our HS friends, unless we were "four or more".
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
If it's private and not govn't issued, it should work, as far as legality. Especially if it's something removeable.

I think things like that already exist for Alzheimer's patients. But they are obvious bracelets. The ones for kids should be much more subtle.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
They do have them for the elderly already but they are fairly obvious and they carry a monthly fee and they are fairly costly to start. Well costly to me: $200 for a cheap model.

Oddly enough the idea started in my head several years ago when I was watching an episode of CSI Miami. They had people chipped in their shoulders with their ID and Credit card info so that they didnt have to take purses or wallets with them to clubs. When they walked into clubs they just scanned them like grocery stores do. Even cops had these scanners so they could scan them if they pulled them over. I guess it was kind of a new age thing but CSI Miami has always been sort of cutting edge of police work.

I always said I was going to chip Cory and Mandy because they lose their wallets probably at least twice a year...which means their ID's and insurance cards. Now I hold Cory's with me. Dont know what Mandy does with hers.

This little thing could be like a pet ID but the problem with that is that only works when you find a dog and you scan them. What we need is something that sends out a beacon when its turned on. We do have the working capability of it. They do it with trucks all the time. Its called RFID. All trucking companies can pull up their trucks and automatically see where their trucks are anytime at all. They can turn it on and off at will.

The reason I am trying to figure out how to make this a little rubberized thing that looks like anything else a kid might have on and not a tracker AND make it a cheap alternative for parents who cant afford the larger units is so that the bad guys wont notice it so easily. Oh we could all get our kids cell phones with gps included.

Im gonna do something for Keyana and Kenzie because they are two very cute kids who anyone would love to grab. Im gonna insist Jamie get something for his kids. He should well be aware of the risks and he lives in a dangerous area.

Oh...just FYI...they have a Halloween one just for that night or 48 hours out right now. Google it. You may want to get it if you have any kids going out.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I dont know if anyone has paid attention to the news about the little girl Jessica who went missing in CO but it appears they most probably have found her body about 9 miles from her home. They cant make a positive ID because the body has been hacked into pieces and pieces are missing. It is beyond sad. This is exactly why I am so worried about the gps systems.

I left a message on HLN voice mail yesterday for Jane Velez Mitchell and funny today she mentioned how we can use the technology to locate out ipads and phones but we cant use the same thing to locate our kids the minute the go missing. She said the technology is out there, we just have to make it available and affordable to all parents. Hmmm....sounds like me doesnt it? LOL. Wonder where she got the idea?
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
They have it -...........they "big brother" just hasn't introduced it to main stream population yet. It's been around for years. Sorry. It was briefly talked about on CNN about 10 years ago in Kansas -----children were born in a hospital and they implanted them with a gps type thing with ss#, info et al......I think it was experimental at that time......so didn't hear very much about it. But it was real and then all of a sudden very hush hush.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Is it a live tracking thing where you can follow the beep or is it like a dog microchip where you have to find the body to scan it? I dont want the dog microchip I want a real life..."FIND MY CHILD" tracker so that I can go to my computer, boot it up and see where a kid is at anytime.

Right now I am terrified because I have a 6 year old granddaughter whose mom is dressing her up to look like a 12 year old model. She goes to a different pageant every single weekend and we have no idea where she is. Cory is so not thrilled with this. She doesnt even look like our little girl anymore. I imagine when she gets home and we wash the stage paint off she will but right now, anyone would mistake this 6 year old for much older and I know what that brings. Then we have to worry about Kenzie who is so friendly she would go with anyone. Well anyone but Buck...lol. I have two of them who would be gone like bait. Never having raised girls before this is much more alarming to me. I worried about it with the boys but not like with girls.
 

recoveringenabler

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I hear ya Janet, this is the 3rd girl I've raised, but my anxieties with my granddaughter are more pronounced with all the media attention about what can happen to girls. My granddaughter is a blonde, blue eyed beauty and she's alert to stranger danger and all of that, but geez, I can over think all of that in a heart beat, it's scary. I think your idea is a good one by the way.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I wonder who I should approach? In order to go to something such as the TV program Shark Tank I would have to patent it and actually build some and attempt to sell some at least online. I could probably get them advertised on HLN I would imagine. The issue is getting them built. And making sure there isnt a patent out for this already.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
You can contact the US Patent office to see if they have anything. There may be a fee for this unless you can actually go to a patent library to search yourself. I know that the univ library here is one of the major patent libraries, but I could never make heads or tails from their filing system. I used to work with entrepreneurs who had a product they were trying to market - I consulted for a business development office. I quit because these inventors all wanted me to land contracts with venture capital people, even when their product was really dumb and would never work. I got tired of the abusive attitudes of the people I was supposed to help. I had 3 in a row who left threats on my voicemail because I helped them define a business and marketing plan but didn't get big contracts for them. it was NEVER my job to sell their product or get contracts - it was my job to show them how to go about taking the steps taht would help make them ready to market their items.

So you might google the US Patent Office to see what is involved. They were not at all computerized back when I was working with inventors, but that was 10 yrs ago.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I would gladly have microchipped my kids. I think it's a GREAT idea. Give them the option of removing it at 21. I'm not sure everyone would remove it. Adults get kidnapped too!
 
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