To the Editor:

Kudos to Ms. Burns-Normandin (“Country Finally Responding to Sexual Abuse Correctly,” Letters, Dec. 14-20).

In late 2009, my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting and being introduced to (since Retired) Monroe County Sheriff Department Sgt. Investigator Patrick Crough, when my wife interviewed him for a book she was working on at that time.

Patrick, a 30 year veteran detective in the Major Crimes Unit, along with his wife Susan, is the founder of Millstone Justice Child Advocacy Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to educating people on how to identify, and to protect your children from, child predators.

Patrick also wrote an informative book on this subject entitled, “The Serpents Among Us. How to Protect your Children from Sexual Predators. A Police Investigator’s Perspective”.

I highly recommend this book to any parent or caregiver who wishes to educate themselves on this dark and difficult subject.

It is not an easy read at times, but I guarantee you that once you finish reading it, you will come away feeling empowered and educated as to the thought process of these depraved individuals, the steps they typically take to work their way into the parents’ and child’s lives, the common strategies they employ, and the warning signs to look out for.

In addition, any proceeds received from this book, go directly back into his non-profit, which allows for him to print more books, and to help off-set expenses from the many seminars Patrick also gives around the state and the country on this topic.

For more information, please visit www.millstonejustice.org.

We often concentrate on the sensational and “stranger danger” cases of child abuse, such as the Penn State, Syracuse, and Jaycee Dugard cases. However, as Patrick points out to us, out of the number of child abuse cases he has investigated over his long and established career, he can literally count the number of “stranger danger” cases on one hand. The sad and scary fact is that the vast majority of children who are abused are abused by someone that they know and trust, and someone that their parents know and trust.

As with Ms. Burns-Normandin, I hope that if anything good can come out of these high-profile cases, that an honest and open discussion on the many who still suffer in silence.

Leland Farnsworth

Massena