Johnston police offer tips for safe trick-or-treating

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WLNE) –Halloween is right around the corner, and the Johnston Police Department has some recommendations to stay safe while out trick-or-treating.

Every year, thousands of Rhode Islanders go out to celebrate Halloween, but recent studies show pedestrian-involved car crashes are 40% more likely on Halloween than normal nights.

But that doesn’t mean you should stay home, since there are a lot of way you can stay safe and enjoy the spookiest night of the year.

“All children should be accompanied by an adult when trick or treating on Halloween, if not, they should be trick or treating with groups of friends and they should be letting their parents know where they’ll be at all times,” Johnston Police Chief Mark Vieira said.

Staff with Rhode Island Department of Health recommend keeping your costume visible if you’re going out at night, using things like reflective tape and well-fitting hats to maintain visibility.

Department of Health officials also say parents should consider having non-candy items like rings or fangs for kids with food allergies.

“It’s important to be vigilant when parents have kids come back from trick-or-treating. You want to inspect the candy just to be safe and sometimes there might be an issue there that’s unintentional, and not someone being malicious,” a RIDOH spokesperson Joseph Wendelken said. 

Local police departments told ABC 6 News that on Halloween, they make sure there are more officers on the road to keep everyone safe.

“We have put more patrols out in the past, and obviously the focus is to be more embedded into the neighborhoods where children are going to be trick or treating,” Chief Vieira continued.

Knowing there are more officers out there helps, but some parents told ABC 6 that Halloween is different than it used to be, saying they’d rather see community events like a trunk-or-treating rather than walking their kids to strangers’ homes.

“When I went back, we were on our own, our parents would just go and do their stuff, trick-or-treat and we’d get back around 10:00 at night. Now, it’s just a different world, in my era you didn’t have to worry about anything. Today’s era you’ve got to be concerned,” said a local parent, Pete Trikoulis.

It all boils down to a few things, stay on the sidewalks, keep your costume visible, and make sure you pay attention to your surroundings and your candy.