PROTECTIVE: Anne Cassidy, from Chester Road, with her children James, George, Michael and Emily.
Posted on 09/07/2002 1:52:01 PM PDT by David Hunter
A Sunderland mother is having her children chipped because she is terrified they may be abducted.
Eight-year-old James Cassidy and his sister, Emily, five, are now on a register and will get electronically tagged by their GP so their mother, Anne, can keep tabs on them 24 hours a day.
The £20 miniature chip will send a signal via a mobile phone network to a computer, which will be able to pinpoint the children's exact location on an electronic map.
The 37-year-old mother-of-four, of Chester Road, Sunderland, said: "I don't want anybody pinching my kids. I'm so frightened they might be abducted that I've never allowed them out on their own to play.
They've been like little prisoners in the backyard this summer and I think they'll be over the moon about getting chipped because they will be able to play out.
"Even before Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were murdered I wouldn't let them out because I'm so terrified somebody might take them away."
Anne, who also has George, 12, and Michael, 11, contacted the Echo for help after hearing that 11-year-old, Danielle Duval, from Reading, will have the device implanted in her arm in the next few months.
After the Echo linked up with a Reading news agency which is compiling a list of names of parents who want their children tagging, Anne was overjoyed. She said: "It's just brilliant to know their names are on the list. It's magnificent. I just can't believe it. All the people I have rang for days and I just rang the Echo and you've done it. I'm absolutely over the moon and the bairns will be as well because for once they'll have freedom."
Anne is one of 50 parents who have put their children's names on a register for the chip which will be inserted under local anaesthetic. She said their dad, George, from whom she is separated, will be delighted, too.
"At the moment they are missing out tremendously," she said. "They have no friends to knock on the door and play with them. That's why I've got them a computer, Play Station, pool for the backyard and I take them to the pictures and McDonald's because they aren't allowed anywhere on their own."
While several children's charities said they were unsure about the implant, Anne remains convinced that she is doing the right thing and said she knew plenty of other mothers who would follow suit.
The designer of the chip Kevin Warwick, of the cybernetics department at Reading University, conceded that some parents might abuse the system or over react if their children were late home, but maintained that tagging was the correct course of action in the light of recent events.
Anne is hoping to have her children chipped for Christmas and added: "I can't think of a better present. At last I'll have peace of mind."
I assume the reporter has got this wrong, surely a microwave transmitter would soon run out of power if it was transmitting 24 hours a day. If it's true, I dread to think about the health implications for the children, considering all the concerns that have been expressed about a link between excessive microwave radiation exposure and various carcinomas. Not to mention the fact that it would be necessary to have regular operations to replace the power supply. It's more likely that the device is a transceiver and is turned on by remote control if the child goes missing.
"I don't want anybody pinching my kids. I'm so frightened they might be abducted that I've never allowed them out on their own to play. They've been like little prisoners in the backyard this summer and I think they'll be over the moon about getting chipped because they will be able to play out."
This statement demonstrates a misunderstanding which many people seem to have about tracking devices. They only allow a person to be located after it has been realised that they are missing. They don't protect someone from being raped, maimed or murdered. Unless she intends to have the words "Child killers beware - this child has been chipped" tatooed across their foreheads, then the chip offers no protection whatsoever. It sounds like having them 'chipped' will lull her into a false sense of security and cause her to put them at risk in a way she wouldn't have otherwise done.
...Danielle Duval, from Reading, will have the device implanted in her arm in the next few months...
Well there's nothing like announcing to the World where its going to be implanted. I'm sure some evil paedophile would enjoy cutting it out.
Anne is hoping to have her children chipped for Christmas and added: "I can't think of a better present. At last I'll have peace of mind."
Perhaps she will be starting a new craze - tracking device implantation for Christmas! I can't think of anything more likely to facilitate an increase in child abduction, since it will make many parents complacent about their children's safety.
It's for your own good, ja?
There is a serious cognitive disconnect going on here.
I think it may just make many parents complacent about their children's safety, so that they are more likely to put them at risk. Having an implanted tracking device won't protect a child from being raped, maimed or murdered. Those things could have happened before the child is even missed.
There's a disturbing trend emerging in Britain towards quick 'fix-its' which probably won't fix anything.
I hope so as well, but there are bound to be many false alarms and the Police might get irritated after a while. I wonder whether or not the company will pay for it to be removed when the child turns 18, probably not.
I do not like where this is going either,but,niether you nor I can make the decision about what another parent thinks he needs to do.
I don't want to stop people from protecting their families in the way they choose. However, the problem is no one seems to be talking about the limitations of these things. From this and other biased newspaper articles many people will get the idea that a tracking device could be the answer to their children's safety problems. Someone is going to make a fortune out of people's worst nightmares and I doubt that these products would be that useful in a real crisis situation.
I read somewhere that the US Police did a survey on child/sexual abduction cases and they found that the victims were usually dead within 3 hours. At the right time of day, I doubt that many people would be aware that their children had been abducted within 3 hours of it occurring. The only solution, it seems to me, is to prevent your children from being abducted in the first place by educating them and making sure they are not unaccompanied in public places etc. This chip could make people less vigilant about their children's safety and thus actually increase the risk of them being abducted.
end of story.
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