Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Jennifer Durst
Aired August 18, 2002 - 11:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The recent spate of highly publicized child abductions has many of us wondering, to what extent can we go to protect our kids? One idea is attaching to your child a sort of lowjack, a global positioning device. There's an electronic pet locator. So why not use one for tracking your children? Jennifer Durst has a patent on such an idea, and she joins us now from New York to tell us more about it. Thanks, Jennifer, for joining us this morning.
JENNIFER DURST, INVENTOR, GLOBAL PET FINDER: Hi, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, so this evolved from your search looking for your own pets. Why not have this GPS, attach it to your pet? But now you've decided to allow it to evolve into looking for your kid. How do you try and hide this device or conceal this device? Is it as simple as putting it into a backpack, or a fanny pack, et cetera?
DURST: Yeah, we've designed this technology so it can really be placed into any wearable accessory that children might use on a daily basis. It can into a backpack, a fanny pack, we can put it into a baseball cap, on a belt loop. It can really be disguised into anything.
WHITFIELD: So how large is it, and what does it look like? Describe it for us.
DURST: Well, right now, the technology itself is probably about this big. And what it looks like is really contained into a little black box right now, because for development purposes, we just have it so we can kind of customize it into anything that we want to use it for -- you know, to place on any object that might be missing, whether it's in a form fit for a dog collar, or the fanny pack for the children, or something that an Alzheimer's patient might wear.
WHITFIELD: So what's the scenario? You know, your child is -- you know, 7 or 8 years old, playing in the front yard. Most parents think they're completely safe, but we've seen already in recent cases where children have been abducted right from their own front or backyards. So you attach this device to, say, his belt -- his or her belt, and they could be outside and you are inside the house monitoring in what way?
DURST: Right. Well, we are going to put this device on anything that your child would wear while they're playing in the yard. We're also able to set a boundary perimeter with the touch of one button so they are contained in a virtual boundary inside of their own backyard. You're in the house with any two-way wireless device that you might carry on a daily basis, whether it's a cell phone, a PalmPilot, a pager. Anything that you would walk around with during the day.
If your son or daughter leaves the yard for any reason, you will be alerted immediately with your page or your cell phone ring or a beep, and it will let you know that the child's left the yard and it will give you their location information, constantly updated every few seconds until you're able to recover that child.
The good thing about it going to any two-way portable device is you're able to leave your home with your PalmPilot, or your Blackberry, and get into the car and go find your child. Recovery time should be under five minutes.
WHITFIELD: And there have been some critics who have already been quoted as saying the dangers with having a device like this, it means that it perhaps allows a parent to feel a little bit more lax in their responsibilities. They're counting on this device to baby-sit or watch their child, as opposed to taking the responsibility themselves of watching their child. What do you say to them? That's a good point, don't you think?
DURST: It's a very good point. There is no question that this is not a substitute for vigilance on the part of the parent, but I'm a mom, and I have to tell you that I will watch my child every second and I will also sleep better knowing that in case you turn around for that split second and your child disappears, that I have the peace of mind of knowing that I have an option to find my child.
WHITFIELD: So, where are we in this stage of this device? At what point do you believe it could be on the market? And at about what price?
DURST: We're hoping to have it on the market by Christmas. We're talking to some large companies who will help us get this product out there in the way it needs to be distributed on a mass market level. In terms of a price point, we're looking at around $300 -- just under $300 right now and a monthly fee of about $10.
WHITFIELD: And you're hoping that it will be taken beyond just your children, to perhaps other vulnerable members of the family, perhaps even someone in your family who has Alzheimer's, you would be able to use the same kind of GPS device to keep a track on them?
DURST: Yes. We see many applications for this technology. Obviously, parents, pet owners, Alzheimer's caregivers, athletes, emergency services personnel, the military. Anyone who is concerned about losing a loved one in any environment.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jennifer Durst, thank you very much for joining us from New York. Appreciate it.
DURST: Thank you. Thanks, Fredricka. Bye-bye.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
