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McGruff the Crime Dog will no longer signify a safe haven for Utah children.
Public safety officials around the state are collecting signs featuring the trench-coat-wearing canine crime fighter, which formerly graced McGruff houses and trucks. The programs are being discontinued across the country because of funding problems, according to Michelle Boykins, spokeswoman for the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC).
The McGruff character was created by the NCPC as a way to teach children about crime prevention and safety. In 1982, Utahn Tibby Milne formed the Utah Council for Crime Prevention and partnered with the NCPC to use McGruff to signify a network of safe houses. In an interview Tuesday, she said she was spurred to act after five children were abducted by serial killer Arthur Gary Bishop.
Her program, which expanded to include utility and law enforcement vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances, eventually spread to 44 states.
"It has served children very well in communities all across this country," Milne said. "We've even heard of Alzheimer's patients who have used it, because they can remember the symbol."
The house program required volunteers who lived in McGruff houses to undergo background screening and training, after which they could display the crime-fighting canine's picture in the window.
But funding for the house and truck programs has dwindled in recent years, said Boykins. Criminal background checks and volunteer training was expensive, and federal funding from the Department of Justice was discontinued almost five years ago, Boykins said. The programs have relied on donations and local groups to keep running, though many areas, including Salt Lake City, chose to end the program when funds were cut.
"It just became a situation where without any direct funding for the program, we just could not keep it going through private resources," Boykins said.
Technology such as cellphones and GPS tracking devices have given parents other options for ensuring the safety of their children, Boykins said, and some questioned whether the programs were relevant in the 21st century.
Now volunteers are being asked to turn in their McGruff signs to local law enforcement so they can be destroyed, Boykins said. The organization doesn't want signs being used to dupe children into believing a home is safe.
The program cuts have left a void in communities where they were heavily used, said Christie Jacobs, a civilian crime prevention specialist for West Jordan. About half of the city's elementary schools and about 300 to 400 volunteers were participating. Children learned about the safe houses in school assemblies about avoiding drugs, bullying and other crimes.
"They knew what the signs were for, and they could go to any of those houses that had those signs," Jacobs said.
The city has looked at other similar programs, but has not chosen one to replace McGruff. The programs can be expensive, Jacobs agreed, and with the demise of the McGruff house program announced only this month, most law enforcement agencies who used them are still deciding what to do.
But Utah kids have not seen the last of McGruff. He will still teach kids to "take a bite out of crime" through commercials and school assemblies just as he has since the 1970s, Milne said, adding that kids can also find him online. And while McGruff may no longer be in the window, Milne still hopes to find another way to designate safe places for children.
McGruff houses closing
Although the crime-fighting McGruff will no longer grace Utah windows, the canine crime fighter will still help kids "take a bite out of crime" online. Parents can visit the National Council on Crime Prevention for ideas at http://www.ncpc.org, while kids can play games and see videos at http://www.mcgruff.org. Utah-specific information can be found at http://www.utcrimeprevention.org.