Police have urged parents to be cautious about the safety of their children as the second term holiday begins.
Speaking on Monday, Police spokesperson, Kituuma Rusoke said as the holidays set in, they come with a number of evils towards school children .
“Some offences start cropping up at rate higher than normal while negligent acts and accidents become prone because of students entering holidays. Cases of child abuse, sexual in nature always go up,” Rusoke said.
He explained that cases of sexual abuse including defilement are always registered in big numbers because of the influx of school children.
Police also warned parents and caretakers against sending children to trading centres and shops to buy home items like salt and soap during late hours, noting that this makes them prone to incidents.
“Some children are sent as late as 9pm to go buy salt, soap and paraffin but this puts them in danger. It is our responsibility to punish offenders but it is also our responsibility to warn parents to be cautious.”
The police spokesperson also warned parents against corporal punishments to children, noting that they should find other means and methods to communicate discipline to the children.
Labour Exploitation
Police also warned parents and members of the public against exploitation. of children by involving them in paid labour.
“You find children working in hazardous environments. You find a child given tasks involving climbing high heights, a child involved in digging underground wells . At the end of the day, should a child become victim in acts that show negligence we shall also arrest the adult or parent,” Rusoke said.
He added that children are being used by criminals for house break-in and burglaries, urging parents to be on the lookout.
“They(criminals) use children to pass through points adults cant. These drop into house and open house from inside. They target the children from trading centres when you send them to buy things.These groups recruit children and sometimes use them as sources of information.”
