'Breaking and Entering'

NBC Security Consultant Bill Stanton broke into cars, homes and hotel rooms and very few people tried to stop him. But will any alarms go off if a potential predator tries to lure an unsuspecting child to his car? Again, Stanton says we have to be alert to crime—especially this kind.

These volunteer parents said they were curious to see if their kids would know the right thing to do when a stranger approaches.

Bill Stanton: When we were kids coming up, "Don’t take candy from strangers," that was the parental advice. It’s a far more complicated world. We want to see if they train their kids correctly.

Mike, parent: I think all of us and all the kids have to realize that—you know, something like this happens, a lot of it’s on their shoulders.

One woman has a 9-year-old son.

Karen: I’m trusting him to listen to everything that I’ve told him.  And that’s why I did it today—to get peace of mind to know that whatever I’m teaching him is going to work when he goes outside in public and I’m not there. 

The first stop: a park in suburban New Jersey. These three girls ages 9 to 12 have no idea our hidden cameras are rolling or that their parents are in on the exercise.

Mom to kids: Hey guys, I’m going over to the clubhouse. I’m going to get a soccer application for Taylor, okay? I’ll be back in five minutes, okay?

But would they follow what they were taught? Stanton put them to the test with a more gentle demeanor and a new prop: an adorable puppy.

Bill’s goal: to see if he can separate one of the girls from the others... and, as a real abductor might, could he get her close to his car?

Stanton (hidden camera footage): Hey you want some treats?

Girl: Okay. He’s so cute.

Stanton: Yeah.

Stanton: Yeah, I just got him. He’s a shelter dog.

At first, Stanton comes up with a story to try to draw them in.

Stanton: He’s actually going to be a TV dog.

Girl: Really?

Stanton: Yeah, he’s going to be in the next movie—what the heck is that, “High School Rock,” “High School Musical” or something?

Girl: "High School Musical"?

Stanton: yah, yah, yah. yah, yah… they’re doing a sequel.. they’re putting him in it.

Girl 2: yah.

Girl: Oh I gotta watch it then!

Stanton: Yeah yeah you guys have dogs?

Girl: Yeah...

Girl: My dad’s allergic. But i love dogs.

Stanton: here you go, (giving them treats to give to dog)

Girl: My dad’s allergic.

Stanton: there you go...oh, your dad is allergic?

Stanton: But he grew up with dogs and cats.

Stanton: Can you guys watch him? I’m going to get some more, uh, some more, uh, treats for him? Ok, I’m just going right over to the car

Girl: Okay.

Stanton tries another trick: he tempts them with a gift.

Stanton: You guys want it? The studio sent them to me. You guys want one of these? You want it? I think I have others. I have others—they gave me, you know who Shania Twain is?

Girl: Oh, I love Shania Twain.

Stanton: Really? She’s going to be singing. She’s going to be in that.

Watch what happens next.

Stanton: You know what? Can one of you guys just take that dog, while I go... I have two more of those if you want...

Girl: No, we’re fine can take him. We’re going to go play anyway now.

Stanton: Oh no, I was going to give you two more. You sure?

Girl: No, we’re fine.  

Stanton: You sure?

Girl: I don’t need the CD anyway so...

Stanton: Bye... (to the dog)

Girls (all): Bye, thank you! Bye!

The girls didn’t take the bait.

Stanton (to producers): They were smart. They passed.

Stanton: They knew something wasn’t up.  You read their body language. I was acting a little fishy the way I would interpret a pedophile would or a predator would. And their bells and whistles were going off, they were listening.

And they were surprised when Stanton let them in on his secret.

Stanton (to the kids, during the debrief): You all got an ‘A.’ I put you guys to the test with permission from your moms. There’s your moms, go give them a big hug.

Stanton: Well, you guys were really polite about it but you were smart enough to go on and move on to your moms.

Girl: It was like a little uncomfortable because you kept going to the car and walking away and it was creepy a little.

Greta: I got freaked out and so I just started walking away.

Next stop was this quiet cul-de-sac also in New Jersey where another group of six volunteer parents said they wanted to see how crime-savvy their kids were.

Three boys and two girls ages 8-12 were told to play outside while their parents were in a house nearby.

Stanton pretends to be talking on the phone, to give the kids time to play with the dog.

Rob Stafford, Dateline correspondent: What are you doing?

Stanton: I’m feeling them out. I’m getting them used to my presence.  I’m not making bold moves. And I’m gonna let this dog do all my work. I want them to come to me.

Will any of the kids come close to this stranger’s car?

Stanton (hidden camera footage): One of you guys wanna bring him over here? You can pick him up, it’s okay.

Stanton: Oh don’t be afraid, just pick him up. He’s a puppy, you can pick him up. Yah bring him over. Thank you.

Stanton: Just bring him up over here and lay him down in the trunk.

Stanton: Hey you wanna feed him? Sure, thank you, thank you.

Stafford: You have him in the palm of your hand. The trunk is open, and he’s standing right by the trunk.

Stanton: Real scary. It doesn’t go beyond this, but not as a parent, you know where this can go.

Stafford: How long would it take for you to snatch him?

Stanton: (snaps fingers) we’re gone.

This boy even climbs under Stanton’s car to get a ball.

Stanton (hidden camera): Be careful... go ahead.

While all the boys ignore the risks posed by a stranger, listen carefully to how the girls react.

Girl 1 (whispering to each other): Oh well, I’m not going near that guy. I wouldn’t be dumb enough to go over there. But Christopher is. At least somebody’s not that dumb.

Girl 2: The dog I don’t mind.

Girl 1: Still. We don’t really know that guy, so. I wouldn’t go near him.

Girl 2: He’s like two feet taller than Chris.

Girl 1: There’s just something about that guy. I don’t know what though. Why they’re standing at his car feeding a dog. It’s not a smart—it’s not very smart idea.

Stafford: Look at their faces. The girls are worried about you. And at this point you say that little voice is screaming inside of their heads.

Stanton: They know it. And they’re listening to the instructions their parents gave them over the years. I mean, how did the girls know and not the boys?  That’s interesting—

The difference in the way the girls react from the boys doesn’t surprise former Secret Service psychologist Marissa Randazzo. She says boys are often afraid to show fear.

Marissa Randazzo: The boys don’t want to show any cowardice, certainly around other boys they have to be brave. For girls, there’s no cost at all to showing fear.

For the parents of the boys, it was very tough to watch.

Ed, parent: Scary, he could have been gone.

Manelle: Five times over, I think. You had so many opportunities to take him if you wanted to. You really did.

Karen:  Had he a bigger trunk, he could have put ‘em all in and taken off in the five minutes.

Mike: It’s of course scary. I’m proud that the girls stayed back. 

But parents take heart: Watch what happens when Stanton approaches a 12-year-old girl who’s watching her little brother.

Stanton (hidden camera): Do you have one of these (referring to scooter)?

Girl: Yeah, that’s mine right there.

Stanton: Oh, that one was yours? Oh, that is so cool.

Listen carefully to way the little girl responds.

Stanton: These things, how do they  go up and down?

Girl: You measure it up and down.

Stanton: Can you show me?

Girl: Ummm, no.

Stanton: No?

Girl: I need to—I need to go inside. Michael, we got to go inside, remember?

Stanton: The brother who’s five isn’t really responding.  And she says, “Remember mom and dad want us to do something?”  And she grabs the brother and she runs him inside the house.

Stafford: Quick-thinking kid.

Stanton:That’s right. Not only thought about herself, had the presence of mind to get her brother, and not to panic. When she spoke to mom.  She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t hysterical crying. She goes, “mom, I think something happened.”

Stafford: Impressive.

Stanton: Excellent job.

Their parents were frightened, but relieved.

Michael: It’s a surreal watching them, watching someone else talk to your kids and knowing that if this was the real deal something bad could really happen, and...

Catherine: Yeah. I’m really proud of her.

Michael: Yeah, me, too. We got a free lesson without the risk.

So in the end, perhaps the most crime-savvy of the bunch wasn’t a neighbor, a security guard, or a city employee— it was a young girl who knew when to smell a rat.

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