[MR] Background Checks

[AlexandKier Kenlon]

While it is a nice idea and all I feel that this falls under the category of
"Feels Good Legislation" from the BoD. This only covers at most 20% of the
problem.



The heart of the problem stems from the fact that far too many children are
running around events without anyone watching them or having anyway of
knowing where their parents are.



As a former deputy to the Page Preceptor in my old Barony of Carillion (East
Kingdom) I have had to hunt down many a parent who couldn't be bothered to
pick up their children after the classes were over.



You see, doing a BG check on the page proctor or the Chancellor of Minors
will maybe find a few here and there. But the real problem isn't from them.
It's from the pedophile who is people watching and looking around for the
child running around alone. Maybe you've seen a child like that. Think about
it for a minute. Haven't a goodly number of you had a child come up to you
because you look like someone who knows Mommy or Daddy and they are asking
you in the hopes that you've seen them in the past 5 minutes? Many parents
fall into the trap of thinking that the SCA is safe when it really isn't.
I'll grant you it tends to be far safer than a shopping mall, rock concert
or other non-SCA gathering, but there have been incidents in the past of
sexual predators getting into the SCA and they have been seen at all levels
from people without an AoA to tin hats and every level in between.



Parents need to keep tabs on their children better. My step children are on
a leash all the time. Granted I may not know where they are, but they all
have a two-way radio in their pouches and I can at any time call them and
find out where they are and more importantly, they can find either me or
their mother.



Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the BG check. I just think that the BG check
without a little more effort from the parents is like trying to cover our
butts by putting on a thong, it still leaves too much butt exposed.


Lord Alsandair O'Caoindealbhain