Westlock RCMP are investigating a Dec. 18 report that a man in a vehicle approached a young girl walking by Westlock Elementary School and offered her a ride.
Cpl. Ron Bumbry, media relations for the RCMP, said the girl’s mother called the Westlock Detachment last Monday around 6:30 p.m.
Bumbry said police are investigating the alleged incident on 106 Street by Westlock Elementary of a gray Ford Edge and a thin, dark or black male with a moustache offering a ride to the child who was walking to school around 8 a.m.
“We want to commend the girl for coming forward and we want to remind parents and caregivers of the importance of educating children about safety and not speaking with strangers, and to notify an adult immediately or as soon as possible,” Bumbry said.
Patrols of the area occurred later on in the evening when police were contacted, but no vehicles were spotted.
“With us not being notified until several hours later, there wasn’t a lot we can do,” Bumbry said. “If we had been notified a lot earlier, we probably could have made some patrols quickly, but again the investigation is still ongoing.”
Bumbry added that this was an isolated incident, but in speaking with the child, she alleged an individual had offered a ride to her friend several months ago.
“That child’s name was not provided to us, so we have no way of following up to see if that is actually correct or not,” he said.
He noted that the investigation continues and is in the preliminary stages.
“With any type of investigation, when there’s a vehicle involved or individuals, any type of surveillance within the area, we will be checking into that to confirm that this had actually occurred and what time, and see if we can get anything further from that, if any type of evidence comes from those means,” he said.
Westlock Elementary principal Pierre Ouimet said there aren’t plans to issue any warning to students and parents as the police haven’t reached out to the school.
“At this point we’re not worried,” he said. “There isn’t panic from anybody at this point in time and nobody was actually taken. The information I have is the same thing I got from a screenshot on Facebook.”
Ouimet said he knew nothing of the incident until a staff member informed him the night before about the incident being posted on social media, so he did some follow up the next day.
“I had one of my teachers who knows someone in Barrhead and apparently in Barrhead at the elementary school, the rumour is going around that there was a child abducted this morning from Westlock,” he said.
“No, none of that’s happened.”
