Fair Lawn, Saddle Brook Won't Impose Halloween Curfews

While both Fair Lawn and Saddle Brook police departments are devoting additional time and manpower to reduce the possibillity that a child abduction occurs in their respective communities, neither town plans to impose a Halloween curfew in wake of the county's recent spate of luring incidents.

Fair Lawn Police Chief Erik Rose said he didn't believe a curfew was necessary because most young children trick-or-treat during the day and are accompanied by parents, either on foot or in a vehicle. The department will, as it always has, have officers and reserve officers on-duty to provide extra protection for the holiday.

Saddle Brook, which already imposes a general curfew, will stick to it for the holiday but doesn't plan to go any further.

"We feel our current in place curfew of 10 p.m. satisfies its intent, and [there is] no need to institute any additional time restraints," Chief Bob Kugler said by email.

Last week, the Saddle Brook Police Department disseminated an informational public safety announcement regarding the luring attempts to all township schools and held safety presentations for the elementary grades. Its safety tips, which went out in email blasts and over its emergency community alert system, are posted on the Saddle Brook Police Department website.

In Fair Lawn, School Superintendent Bruce Watson sent a letter home to parents last week to make parents aware of the luring attempts, and Rose said the district has had additional staff monitoring the schoolyards.

Both Fair Lawn and Saddle Brook have increased their police presence near schools.

Rose said Fair Lawn police officers, including he and Capt. Joseph Cook, have been patrolling near schools and areas where kids frequent in both marked and unmarked cars.

Saddle Brook has increased specific "saturation patrols" to concentrate on vehicular traffic that matches the description of suspect vehicles from past luring incidents, Kugler said.

Neither town has had a luring incident during the recent scare, although one was reported in Fair Lawn.

Rose said that while the suspected lurer turned out to be a post office employee who was in the area, he encouraged children to report any and all incidents.

The police would rather check 100 false lurings attempts than have an actual child abduction occur because the threat wasn't taken seriously, he said.

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