The media aspect is convincing.

Spend too much time on a steady diet of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY, LA, and Wherever and you'd be convinced that a serial killer/child abductor was hiding behind every streetlight.

Facts are that your kid has roughly the same odds of being struck by lightning than abducted by a total stranger... but we don't send 'em out with lightning rods, do we?