Keep your trick-or-treaters safe this Halloween

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Halloween is an exciting day for kids but it can also be nerve-wracking for a number of parents. Safety should be everyone’s goal to make the occasion fun, instead of a scary experience. Beth Schell with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office joined us in studio this morning with some safety tips all parents should know.

For Trick-or-Treaters:

* Parents should accompany young children.

* Don’t go inside a stranger’s house, no matter what anyone says.

* Trick-or-Treaters should always be in groups so they aren’t a tempting target for real life goblins.

* Make a map of your Trick-or-Treat route and check it against the sex offender database.

* Stay in your own neighborhood or look for publicized events at area malls or shopping centers.

* Stop only at well lighted houses.

* Carry a flashlight or light stick.

* Wear light colored clothing or costumes.

* Use make up instead of a mask so you can see.

* Always keep a safe distance between yourself and moving cars.

* Be respectful of other people and their property.

* Screen all treats before you eat them.

* Don’t accept or eat anything not commercially wrapped.

* Start early, end early. Use sidewalks or walk facing traffic.

* Stop, look and listen at corners.

* Walk, don’t run.

* Don’t go between parked cars or crisscross back and forth across streets or into traffic.

* Don’t carry sharp instruments. And never carry a lighted torch or candle.

Here’s a Special Reminder to Parents:

DO YOUR HOMEWORK:

• Visit the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sexual Offender and Predator database at http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us to ensure the residences your children are visiting aren’t occupied by a registered offender.