[Twinkie]

. . and we wonder why so many little girls (and boys) are being snatched off the streets by perverts . . and why in the world has it gotten so much worse than it was way back in the good old days when we could play on the streets and our parents didn’t have to worry about us.

[contemplator]

"...back in the good old days when we could play on the streets and our parents didn’t have to worry about us.

What days were those? I'm of the opinion that the numbers were actually worse but were under reported. In this day of instant information and Amber alerts our society is accutely aware of the dangers. I believe that criminals know that their actions are under much closer scrutiny these days and as a result are committing fewer of these types of crimes. If you watch the interviews of serial killers who hunted in the 70's you'll hear horror stories about hundreds and hundreds of hitchhiker abductions and murder that simply went unreported. Local police back in 'the good old days' were less likely to coordinate with State and Federal law enforcement and would not even open an investigation unless the person had been missing for several days. Missing person cases might make the local papers but rarely got any attention on a larger scale unless the parents or family took matters into their own hands.