I arrive at school by car to pick up my daughter. She’s 9 years old, and the school is 7 km from home, so she doesn’t come back on her own. Classes are over, everyone is already out — except her. I wait for about twenty minutes, then go into the school and find her standing behind the turnstile. The school looks exemplary: security gates, surveillance cameras, a security guard… I take her hand and we head to the car. Once we’re in and driving, I glance at her and feel that something is wrong.
— A bad grade?
— No… she answers.
We’ve driven about halfway when she asks:
— Dad, why did that man you sent come get me?
I brake, pull over, and ask for details. She explains that as soon as she stepped out from the turnstile, a man approached, took her hand, introduced himself as a friend of Dad’s, and said I had sent him to pick her up! Luckily, she sensed something was off, pulled away, and ran to a classmate…
Then, terrified, she went back behind the turnstile. I was shaken. I ask her if she saw the man again:
— Yes, he was watching us from the street as we were leaving the school…
I turn around at the intersection and head back to the school, but he’s no longer there. I approach the guard:
— Did you see what happened?
— Yes, but I didn’t pay attention, he replies.
— Then what’s the point of your post?! I snap.
I call the principal, explain the situation. She immediately implies that it’s impossible, that my daughter must have made a mistake! How? HOW? I ask to see the camera footage…
— Oh, we don’t record, they respond.
— What?! I exclaim.
I take out my own recorder (I work in video surveillance), notice the hard drive is there… but not connected. I plug it in: everything works, recording is on. But what’s the point of such a system if it isn’t active?
We go to the police station, file a report, and I pick up my daughter’s friend who saw this maniac… The officer tells me this isn’t the first case.
I’m still shaking… Protect your children. If I had caught that guy, I don’t even know what I would’ve done to him…
