For More Information Contact:
Captain John Watterson
(845) 486-3860
The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office would like to ask parents, caregivers and school officials to please inspect all playground equipment before they allow their children to play on it.
This warning comes on the heels of a recent incident in East Moline, Illinois, in which 12 razor blades were found glued to playground equipment at a public park and a 2-yr-old boy was cut while playing on it. No suspects have been identified in that case thus far. In addition the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office investigated a similar case in 2009 in which a razor blade was stuck up into a slide at a playground in Pleasant Valley, and a 6-yr-old boy was injured by it. In that case an 11-yr-old suspect was identified the next day and apprehended a short time later.
This warning is meant to simply be a reminder to check the equipment in light of fairly recent incidents. At this time there is no reason to believe that the incidents in Illinois and Dutchess County are related, and there is no evidence of any sort of developing trend at this time. Please inspect all equipment prior to letting children play on it, and report any suspicious activity/persons to the Sheriff’s Office immediately.
