The Dearborn Police Department remind the public of the following Halloween safety tips:
1. Parents should help their children pick out a costume that will be safe. The costumes should be fire resistant, masks should have eyeholes large enough to allow for good peripheral vision, and finally, the costume should allow free movement.
2. If your child will be carrying a prop such as a pitchfork or sword, make sure the tips are flexible enough to not cause injury if fallen on. Of course, never carry real weapons of any kind.
3. If you set jack-o’-lanterns on your porch with candles in them, make sure that they are far enough out of the way so that children’s costumes will not accidentally be set on fire. Better yet, use battery operated pumpkin lights.
4. Make sure you know the route your children will be taking for trick or treating, if you are not going with them.
5. The best bet is to make sure that an adult is going with the children during trick-or-treating. If you cannot go with your child see if another parent or a teenaged sibling can.
6. Children should stay together as a group if going trick or treating without an adult.
7. Make sure your child carries a flashlight, glow stick or has reflective tape on their costume to make them more visible to cars. Tell your children to only cross streets at crosswalks.
8. Instruct your children never to go into the home of a stranger or get into their car.
9. Make sure you set a time for your children to be home and stress the importance for them to be home at that time.
10. Instruct your children not to eat any treats until they bring them home to be examined by you.
To ensure the holiday is celebrated with as few incidents as possible the DPD will have extra officers on patrol both Devil’s Night and Halloween night. The DPD will not tolerate any criminal acts such as vandalism, destruction of property or larceny.
As always, if people observe anything suspicious or have any complaints, they should contact their local police department. (“If you see something, say something.”) The DPD Suspicious Activity Hotline is 313-943-3030.