HANCOCK COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -
The Hancock County Sheriff's Department's new chief investigator wants parents to become more involved with their children's lives. He says just within his first month on the job, he has seen an unusually high number of cases involving juveniles and young adults; more than half a dozen cases.
"It's just alarming to see the numbers that we have," Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said. "I would like to just raise the level of awareness that way we can maybe do something proactively. Our parents need to be really be aware today of our children's activities."
Grannan said one of the recent cases involved a 15-year-old girl who ran away from home with an adult man.
"That incident... it spanned over about three weeks. And it was tense until it wound up with a happy ending, cause we located her before something bad happened."
He said a lot of time and manpower went into cracking that case which could have been avoided.
"Be aware. Who are their associates? Who are they hanging out with when they leave? Is your 13-year-old hanging out with an 18-year-old? It may be okay. It may not be. You need to investigate who their friends are. You need to know what sites are they're visiting on the internet, on their Facebook, and those things. Who are they visiting with?"
His message to parents? "Just step it up a notch."
Grannan encourages parents who suspect suspicious activity with their children or their friends to contact authorities.
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