Sheriff's office offers safety tips for door-to-door trick or treating
{Calling their cluster of homes, ‘The Nightmare on Williams Street,’ some neighbors are coming together to create safe door-to-door options for trick or treaters. Photo: Antionette Kerr/Davidson Local}
Amidst growing concern about tainted candy and traffic safety for trick-or-treaters, some parents have opted to closely follow the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office for tips to maintain the nostalgic door-to-door Halloween tradition.
Large Halloween gatherings such as trunk-or-treats and festivals offer the security of blocked streets and controlled candy giveaways. Davidson County will have several opportunities leading up to Halloween evening.
Traffic safety remains a concern. According to Safe Kids Worldwide, children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween than any other day of the year. The sheriff’s office offers tips on how to navigate Halloween for pedestrians and drivers.
Recent media stories related to a Los Angeles airport sting operation have also festered concerns. As reported in the LA Times, On Oct. 19, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department seized 12,000 presumed fentanyl pills at the airport, according to a release from the department. The suspect was trying to get through security and board a plane with the pills, stored in Skittles, Whoppers and SweeTARTS boxes and bags.
Uptown Lexington’s Boo Bash {Photo: Kassaundra Lockhart/Davidson Local}
Experts warned this created a "dangerous" scare based on unrelated circumstances. "The idea that the pills, which look like pharmaceuticals, could end up in trick-or-treat bags because they were being smuggled in candy bags and boxes is ‘illogical,’" Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and addiction medicine doctor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, stated in an interview.
"These drugs ... were hidden inside of something to try to avoid detection," he said. "The use of candy packaging does not signify that these are being passed off as candy and certainly does not imply that the drugs someone is going to lengths to smuggle would then be given away for free rather than sold for profit." Law enforcement officers still recommend carefully inspecting candy and removing anything that appears to be tampered with.
Some parents are planning to go to large gatherings and door-to-door trick or treating. Others say when it comes to children's personalities and behavioral needs, it's not one size fits all.
Jennifer Fuller Allen, mother of three and director of the J. Smith Young YMCA, opined, "I am personally planning to take my kids door to door, probably only on a couple of streets, but I prefer that to the big events because I'm afraid I will lose them in the crowd."
Grandmother Brandy Spencer shared her thoughts on "old school" door-to-door trick or treating. "I would be scared if someone came to my door," Spencer commented. "No, I don't take the grandbabies door to door; there's too many churches doing trunk-or-treats I enjoy." She listed several local events led by Anything for Our Youth, Mantle Realty and Sheets Memorial that she called "awesome."
Asked if law enforcement discourages door-to-door trick or treating, Sgt. Chris Azelton, crime prevention unit, wrote, "I think going door-to-door is fine, making sure that you do so in groups and not going alone."
The Davidson County Sheriff's Office provided safety tips on social media that include checking sex offender registry lists and making sure that costumes don't disrupt mobility or visibility. Azelton reiterated, "I'd like to add that an adult should inspect all candy that's been collected before children eat it." Additional safety recommendations include tips for drivers and homes planning to distribute candy.
“Halloween is a popular holiday for both adults and kids, which means there may be crowds out and about enjoying the night,”. Sheriff Richie Simmons offered, "Everyone in our community should follow these simple rules and recommendations to avoid tragedy and keep everyone safe this Halloween."
