STUART, FL — Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek says the days of sending children out the door with a bag and a mask are over. He wants parents to plan ahead this Halloween.
“Gone are the days of parents, like when we were younger, just turning their kids loose and letting them go trick-or-treating,” Budensiek said. “We know that that’s not the proper way or the safe way to do it anymore.”
Budensiek urged families to use the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s online sex offender search before choosing where to go. Users can search by name, neighborhood or ZIP code.
“You can see where the known predator, sexual offenders, bad guys that have messed with kids in the past actually live, and you can be calculated in avoiding those areas,” he said.
The sheriff cautioned against taking children into unfamiliar areas, a once-common practice he likened to saturating a neighborhood with kids.
“Go to areas that you are familiar with. Go to houses where you know people, where you have a little bit of a relationship,” he said.
Budensiek also said the old advice to skip houses with porch lights off no longer tells the whole story. Some residents turn their lights off because they don’t want to be bothered, while others want to take part without answering the door and leave out a bowl of candy.
He said he would steer away from trick-or-treating in places a family doesn’t know. Budensiek said his work with the sheriff’s office on crimes against children shapes his views.
“There is so much that we are dealing with on the ICAC side, which is Crimes Against Children. It’s just alarming to us,” he said. “And as a parent, I have four children, I would never in this day and age just turn my child loose to go wherever they want.”
Budensiek recommended that parents install a location-sharing app such as Find My iPhone or Life360. If parents aren’t with their children, he said, they should know where the kids are, who they’re with and what they’re doing.
For families who want an alternative to going door to door, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office is again hosting its Trunk or Treat event on Halloween from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Stuart.
Budensiek said the event is built around safety. Guests park off-site and walk or are bussed in, and everyone passes through a screening point at the entrance. Deputies from the SWAT team watch over the event from above.
“It’s designed and sold as a safe venue. And I mean safe,” he said.
Vendors hand out candy that has been inspected ahead of time. Treats must be store-bought and pre-wrapped. Homemade items and candy that has been unwrapped and rewrapped are not allowed.
The event also offers hot dogs, hamburgers and hayrides, and gives children a chance to meet deputies.
About 5,000 people attend each year, Budensiek said, and organizers hope to draw more.
“We will take 10,000. We would love it,” he said. “It just makes us proud that we re able to facilitate, in our opinion, the safest Halloween trick-or-treating venue on the Treasure Coast.”
Budensiek also suggested families look at gated communities and homeowners associations that host organized trick-or-treating.