" I think LPD needs to step up patrol in this area. I live in Belmont and am terrified to let my kids play outside with all the robberies at the
kwik shop, gun toting teens outside of goodrich, and now someone trying to attack little girls on their way to school. Time to get my CCW permit! "

" I, too live in this area. My older daughter attended Belmont Elementary and now attends Goodrich MS. Between the lockdown yesterday at Goodrich and now this. We are looking at buying a different home. I had wanted to stay in this part of town, but now I'm not so sure. "

" Crime happens everywhere. No place is immune. No Nebraska, not Lincoln, not this neighborhood, no tiny little towns like blue springs, NE. "

" Look its time the cops stop worrying about getting speeders on the off ramps of 1-80 onto Cornhusker in the mornings or afternoons and have them do what there suppose to be doing, patroling and protecting our neighborhoods!!! The city of Lincoln gets enough of our money in taxes and other ways, they dont need to set up these types speed traps when these officers could be put to better use, like being more noticeable in these areas so it might deter these sicko who try to attack children. I dont mean have them just sit there butts in front of the school but going out either on foot or in there cars in the neighborhoods. I never see any cops in Belmont just driving the area, you dont see them unless there is a incident. As a citizen i demand better from this city and leaders, who taxes us out the you know what around here!!! "

" i agree with arkay. crime happens EVERYWHERE! i live in belmont area and i flat out dont let my 11 year old walk anywhere alone! or ride her bike alone! she is always accompanied by an adult. you just cannot trust anyone! what about the robbery that happened in SOUTH LINCOLN yesterday? the nicer part of the city? sad to say, but this world is horrible! it is not like it was in 1955. wisen up parents! "

" There is not a large enough police force to be able to patrol all areas of Lincoln. It is up to each neighborhood to form together, bond, and watch each others back. This little girl went a long way before receiving any help, where are the McGruff houses? I too live in the Belmont area and have seen officers patrolling the area. I think it is a nice area and have always let my kids play outside. Talk to your kids about strangers, walk with them on their route to school to point out safe houses, volunteer to be a McGruff house, keep your eyes open and give aid to those who need it. A strong police force does not make a safe community but the strength of those living inside the community does. "

" Face it Lincoln, We need more cops.... "

" While "crime happens everywhere" might be correct, the crime RATE is higher in metro areas. Look back and see how many violent crimes where commited in Blue Springs over the past 20 years and compare that to Lincoln. I've lived in bigger cities, small towns, and rural areas. Move out while you can. "

" More Police and lower taxes please!!! "

" I was parked in that area this morning and received a $40.00 ticket for parking too close to a fire hydrant - it appears the police may be be paying more attention to fire hydrants rather than the well being of our children. I'm glad I got a ticket rather than the person assaulting children - I really feel good about that! Ugh. "

" I drop my daughter off and pick her up at the door. There are always kids up to no good hanging around all around that school. They need to set up better supervision around that area. "

" I understand that the community should be on the lookout for such things, but lets face facts, i pay in taxes for certain things, in my mind the city needs to use my taxes to protect, fix roads, and keep our goverment business such as puting the money into education, utilities and so on and so forth running. But what do we use it for, beautify UNL and surrounding areas such as paying for contractors to put plants down the middle of cornhusker highway that die or maybe put flags up 14th. Better yet make roads that go to new baseball field and build pedestian bridges so retail sales in the haymarket get better. There used to be a police substation in Belmont, what happen to that?? There has been a number of robberies in the area. Amens has been robbed at least 4 times, this last summer Save Mart was robbed, and of course Kwik Shop has been robbed twice. I dont think any neighborhood should have that many robberies in such a short time, there is a problem there, face it people. "

" Comments like these show why Nebraska is such a Republican hotspot. The Republican party knows if you scare enough other than intelligent people they will follow right along, no matter if it makes sense or not.
Yes - you have to be careful and watch where you are. Yes there are bad people all over, not just in Belmont but you all act like scared little bunnies. So you are going to move, were you going to go where your little mind feels safe? People who are just so scared that their kids are going to come to harm, where you going to go hide to feel safe?
I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. That time when you left in the morning to go play and were told to come home when the street lights came on. Now do you people realize that there was more abduction then by quite a large amount? There was a really good article in Time a month or so ago about this. A lady in NY let her 9 year old boy get on the subway and go home by himself. She had been teaching him how to do this for a couple years and he kept asking if could. Riding the subway in NY is nothing but surviving the city. He did just fine but there were people who wanted to have her arrested for child endangerment. You folks fit right in with those.
The news media is definitely to blame for most of this. The 24/7 news shows have to have something to keep people watching. So while there are less abduction you hear more about the ones that do happen. They have to have something to broadcast for 24 hours each day. Keep that in mind and realize you really do not have to hide in the basement for fear of something bad happening to you. "

" this is just sad and sick. no matter how many cops we have sick people in the head are always going to be around. this is now the time as parents we have to teach our kids about people like this. my opoion is they should all be lined up and shot. no matter where you live in lincoln and around lincoln and in this world these kinds of people are always going to be around. all we can do is educate our children and PRAY. "

" This is pretty scary for anyone living in the Belmont area. Although I don't think it is necessarily a "bad" neighborhood, I cannot imagine someone brazenly attacking anyone in my neck of the woods, in broad daylight without someone seeing it and reporting it to police, or invening themselves. Perhaps all schools should consider establishing "safe routes" for all students who walk to school. These routes would be patrolled by parents and adults to ensure our children are safe when walking to and from school. "

" And if the mayor told you he was raising your taxes to pay for more police, everyone on these boards would be complaining about the higher taxes. You can't have it both ways. You want lower taxes, you got them. And now you have higher crime and not enough police. Deal with it. You get what you pay for. "

" Okay... to "whererthecops", Lincoln PD are NOT on the ramps on on I80 - that is the hwy patrol, that is their jurisdiction. To "shift of focus maybe" your parking ticket came from the parking enforcement officers - that's their jurisdiction - they are civilians, NOT sworn officers. LPD is looking for crime,they are doing their best. It's not as easy as hiring on more officers, the city has cut their budget. They are doing the best they can, but they can't be everywhere. Instead of complaining about your neighbors, start banding together to watch out for your children. Kids need to remember the "buddy system", walk with a friend. We can't always depend on the police to be in the right place at the right time... criminals know when police are around and will wait till they leave to attack... so pay attention, and help your neighbors!! And quit blaming the police... it's annoying!! It's not their fault crime happens! "

" It's insane that a city the size of Lincoln doesn't have school buses. The City bus lines are inadequate as a subsitute. There's no reason any child should have to walk a long distance to school. "

" I agree with some of the comments on here and some of them I do not agree with. Belmont, is a nice neighborhood. I have friends who live in the neighborhood and I myself was going to buy a house in that area. However, there has been a lot of crime that has happend to the surrounding businesses. Crime happens everywhere. I do not care if someone lives on the south side of town crime will happen there too. Often I read how Lincoln is such a bad place to live because of the crime. I have lived in many different places and by far Lincoln is one of the most friendliest and safest places to live. "

" This is a community issue. Things are happening in all parts of the city. First we need to teach our children to walk together and walk on the sidewalks and not take shortcuts. We as parents and other adults need to be aware of what is going on while we are taking our kids to school. To "good ol republican NE" what does one party or the other have to do with keeping kids safe. It isn't just republicans that fear for their kids. My kids go to Goodrich and I don't feel they are more or less safe than any other middle school. We as a community need to band together to make this world a better place for our children. We need to stop pointing fingers at others and start making a difference. "

" I go to goodrich and im scared of whats going to happen next, I mean i know this girl its just scary "

" ah yes lpd does patrol I-180 and can and do make stops along it FACT "

" what was this girl doing walking to school, girls this young should not be walking to school...i am not saying that she had this coming, absolutly not, not many people do. but have her parents been asked why she was walking to school...my prayers are with the girl and the mystery man who assaulted her... "

" I agree with the person who said that neighborhoods need to band together. I live in a very 'nosy' neighborhood that I picked for just that reason. Everybody knows where everyone's kids re and if there's n unfamiliar vehicle cruising the neighborhood, etc. If that poor little girl had been attacked here, before she had time to yell for help, 5 people would have already called police and a dozen more would have chased the guy down and caught him. We need to watch out for each other. Take an interest in your neighborhood. "

" ....many kids have to walk to school. First of all school buses are not available and second, we have to go to work. It's not an issue of the parent's just not caring. We do all we can but either school needs to start earlier or they need to offer bus transportation. "

" You have no idea what you are talking about. Yes, LPD can drive on the interstate and does so to get from one area to another. And yes, they sometimes do respond to a call for service when the patrol is busy. However, to say that they "patrol" the interstate is absurd. "

" I'm so glad that this girl got away! Good for her for running straight to school and calling the cops! "

" No, Lincoln doesn't need more cops, they need the cops they have to actually do real work instead of party patrol and speed traps. I see 5 cop cars everytime I drive on Vine Street doing NOTHING!!! "

" I suggest you contact LPD and request a ride along or enter their Citizen's Academy. You would be very suprised to see what goes on in this city that the normal average citizen has no clue about. "

" To All
I would suggest you all be responsible for you and yours, the police have no resposibility to protect the individual only society in general. So take care of yourself, no one else will. "

" To ThomasCater: what do you mean, why was she walking alone? She's 13 years old, it's not like she's a toddler! When I was 9 year old, I used to walk two miles down a very busy street in Indianapolis from my dad's house to the store. And I'm not that old, I'm only 27, so this wasn't too terribly long ago. A 13 year old kid is more than able to walk to school alone.

Incidents like this get blown out of proportion. Yes, it's frightening, and my heart goes out to the girl that this happened to. I know how it feels, I had a similar scare when I was 11. But the city can't live in fear and paranoia because of it. Do you know, statistically, only 1 in 1.5 MILLION children is abducted and murdered by a stranger? It only seems as if the world is overrun with molestors and kidnappers and rapists because we hear so much more about it nowadays. The advent of increased technology, such as cable television and the internet, has made the world a much smaller place, and brought these stories into our homes. In reality, the world is no more dangerous for our children now than it was 20 years ago. The number peodophiles in the world hasn't changed all that drastically, there has been no massive surge in the last decade or two. We need to teach our children to be smart, be safe, and be aware instead of teaching them to fear the world. "

" 1 out of 1.5 million isn't a statistic i would risk my child for Miss Jen C! "

" This situation is crazy especially because its close to were i live. This man needs to be found and put in jail for what he did to that young girl. People are so sick these days. "