Police are searching for an unidentified man they say tried to pick up a six-year-old girl from her elementary school Thursday in Springdale.
George Elementary School administrators contacted a local mom Thursday and told her a suspicious man tried to pick up her daughter from school that day. The man pulled up in line at the school around 3 p.m. and said he was there to pick up his daughter, according to the Springdale Police Department.
The man did not have proper school documents and was asked to pull forward and provide identification. He pulled ahead and parked, but said he had no ID on him, police said.
A short while later, a family friend arrived to pick up the girl, using proper school documents and identification. At that point, the man drove away from the school, according to Springdale police.
The suspect is described as a white male in his 20s or 30s,w ith two-inch sandy blonde or brown hair, a scruffy beard, a white tank top undershirt and several tattoos on his neck, chest and arms. Police said he was driving a late 1980s or early 1990s two-door white Pontiac Grand Prix that was reportedly "beat up".
Family and friends of the six-year-old girl said they did not know who the man could be.
The school district's policies requiring proper identification are designed to keep children from being picked up by unauthorized people, said Rick Schaeffer, communications director for the school district.
"Each child's parents or whoever the appropriate person is that picks them up has a tag that has the number of the child on there. And the school officials said, 'You don't have the appropriate tag number. May I see your identification,'" Schaeffer said.
He said the school district increased security two years ago, instituting new measures such as sealed entrances to schools, where visitors must be buzzed in to enter.