New York – Stanley Patz has been conditioned to expect his telephone to ring whenever a child goes missing, so he was bracing when he heard about the disappearance of an 8-year-old boy, Leiby Kletzky, last week in Brooklyn.
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Yet this time, Mr. Patz, whose 6-year-old son, Etan, vanished off a Manhattan street in 1979, responded with an idea to help head off more kidnappings. After brooding over Leiby’s murder for a few days, Mr. Patz wondered, why not put a basic, emergency cellphone in the hands of every child? At the press of a button, children who are lost or in danger could dial 911, Mr. Patz reasoned.
And, if the phones had global-positioning chips in them, they could help authorities track a child’s whereabouts.
Perhaps, he added, it would be known as a “Leiby phone.”
“This little boy, even though he had rehearsed the route with his mother, he didn’t make the correct turn, then he realized he was lost and had to ask for directions,” Mr. Patz. “If he had this cellphone on his person, he could have called his mother.”
He thinks it would be feasible for cellphone manufacturers and service providers to make simple, potentially life-saving phones available free, possibly as part of family calling plans, he said in an interview on Saturday.
Mr. Patz conceded that he had not discussed his idea with anybody in the telephone business and had no estimate of what his plan might cost.
The concept of a stripped-down phone intended as a lifeline for young children has been tried before. Firefly Mobile, an eight-year-old company, has been marketing basic phones for children for several years. For a while, its products were available through Cingular Wireless, a provider that was acquired by AT&T, but they were not free. Representatives of Firefly and AT&T could not be reached over the weekend for comment.
But for his part, Mr. Patz was gripped by the belief that there was a way that modern technology could reduce the chances that more parents would suffer the way that he and the Kletzkys have.
“Every time a kid goes missing, reporters often call me up and say, ‘What’s your reaction?’ This time, I have a legitimate reaction,” Mr. Patz said.
imagine not knowing what happened to your child after so many years
under FCC regs _all_ cellphones, whether on a plan or not, _must_ be allowed to make calls to 911. So yes, you can take out that four year old phone that’s buried in the back of your desk, charge it up, and it’ll work for 911.
The only problem is, like all cell phones, these are really radios so have to be in range of a compatible cell network. And, of course, batteries on five year old phones may not hold a good charge.
(how come there aren’t any “AA” battery using cellphones?)
Great idea. Dov go get ’em
my bubby always wants to know where I am maybe we can make “Bubbies Phone”!?!
The yeshivas are so against cell phones & I’d bet they still won’t give in. G-d forbid they should ever change their minds. What chutzpah to expect them to.
Having said that, my grandchildren are getting them. If their schools & Yeshivas won’t allow it I will personally march in & raise the roof. I’ll do it because I am buying them & paying for the plans.
Was thinking of this poor man in the last several days. It tore at my heart at the time… the unbearable pain of a parent left in the dark about the fate of his/her child. His is a feasible and logical plan and where he’s coming from we know he talks from the heart. The Leiby Phone that would have the potential of saving other children is a great way to celebrate the memory of the brave little boy who was too trusting….
Mr. Patz, I always felt so terrible that your son disappeared and body never found. Great idea with the cell phone suggestion! G-d bless you!
Kids will always play around and make Phony calles, the best thing is a Braclet that kids can’t take off with GPS, and if u cut it loose u can track right away were it was takin off, like the Fbi does when they put something on a person, just in a very small version for Kids
What about Shabbos and yomtov?
First of all I have such a phone for kids called teddyfone. it only has 4 buttons to be programmed at your discretion. it cannot make any other outside calls and it has no screen. yeshivas and girls schools did not permit it whatsoever.it has a gps tracker and you can track your kids location at all times. this is specially geared for kids aged 5 to 10 the most vulnerable age.
When my daughter was in Yeshiva I got her a cellphone because when she had to start waiting for city buses I did not like it even though she was not alone. Shew still had to walk from the bus stop and I would meet her. In case of emergency she had the cellphone and she could call either me or my parents who lived a block away. It was an expense but also a precaution!! It paid off!!
I was 9 years old when etan disappeared. It changed the innocence of my childhood to know that evil was lurking out there. I will never forget etan patz for as long as I live. Mr. Patz, I think your suggestion for the leiby phone is fantastic.
Such a phone already exists. Its called Firefly. It has very limited parent programmable functions. They phone itself only has 5 buttons and is meant for this very group of people. 8-12 year olds. Parents set a few preset numbers, such home or a parents cell and 911. The child can do no more with that phone.
Instead of raisinG the roof, why don’t you raise your brain power and
stick to the subject.
the phone doesn’t even exist, yet you’ve already decided the
“yeshivos” will ban it, and you, the courageous grandmother are going
to march in and raise hell.
Why? Cause YOU paid for it!
Really? You paid for a FREE phone?
Get over your anger, do something constructive and stop blaming “the
yeshivos” for your failures as a parent.
If u don’t like the job they’re doing, send your kid to public school.
If you do like it, say thank you.
And if u think u can do it better, open your own yeshiva!
I think this idea is stupid! Children will be busy dialing 911 the whole day!
Maybe a small wrist style watch with an emergency button that can be pressed by the child who has it on his/her ARM.
My daughter was a year ago finishing 12th grade and was part of the head editors of the yearbook. She had a cell phone that I had given her to be put on when she left school, as it was lots of times past 10.00PM. They were told that they cannot bring any cell phones to school. But I pushed her, and it was turned off in her knapsack. Another girl who knew about the phone, used it and the result was that my daughter got expelled from school for 3 days and the phone was confiscated and never seen again.
We have an uphill battle with the Yeshivos and Beis Yakovs, I know, I have been there.
I don’t think we’ll ever know the absolute truth of what occurred during Leiby’s horrific final hours and one person’s conjecture is no less significant than another’s, but if name calling is still de rigueur here on VIN then it’s safe to presume that the real lesson of this tragedy has sadly fallen on deaf ears.
of a school. Infact, three schools are under my achrayus.
I feel absolutely no guilt for anything related to this discussion;
as, a) we were discussing cellphones in yeshivos, not abuse
b) we allow phones in our schools, regular phones in two of the schools, and kosher ones in the more right-wing school.
And I’ll say it again. Schools are mostly run by very dedicated, lshem shamayim people.
If we sometimes have imperfect policies, it’s usually because we are forced into them by image-conscious parents.
Let me reiterate: quit bashing yeshivos. If u think u can do it better, u are welcome to try.