Abduction and communities taking back dangerous places

I'm thinking about abduction. Last week a 12 year old boy was apparently close to abduction by a man with a crossing guard uniform in his car. Three women and a little girl were found in the US trapped in an evil man's basement. A flurry of distress and fear. My neighbours and very good friends told me just the other day about her and her girlfriend being harassed at the local park, along Merri Creek in Coburg, while they were exercising. The guy was on a push bike mid morning, with hoodie, and was hiding and watching them, they noticed the bizarre behaviour and the moment escalated when around the oval, he one side, they the other it became a game of cat and mouse; he presumably emboldened by their fear. They won't use the creek again. And this isn't the only story of harassment along the creek I've heard in the passed 12 months. So, there have been a few of these incidences, and people are fearful and lost faith and connection to a common space; what to do? 

I think that the womyn, men and children who feel affected by this problem, this community violence, should probably get angry. It's a pretty angering situation after all! Taking back spaces is empowering and may knock a bit of boldness out of this and other possible perpetrators of community violence against women and children. 

So how do we take back the space? We claim it, in the areas he and others like him have been hunting, we march with police and media attention, at night with candles and lanterns to 'ward away the darkness'. We walk along the creek and we take it back, we use it - we support others to use it and we leave our presence, chalk messages to these perps perhaps - messages of outrage, anger and power - we post crime stopper pictures under bridges and entry ways to the creek walk and we take back our community space. We tell those selfish, deviant, unwanted perpetrators of sexual violence not to 'move on' but to shape up and that we - as in me and my community, we are watching YOU!