Talking about the van cruising the bus stops, something related and quite horrible actually happened here a few years ago. A child of elementary school age was abducted from a school bus stop. It turned out that it was a step-father, trying to get to the mother and the child was rescued safely, but what a terrible thing for the child to have to go through. He was said to have been bruised during the ordeal for trying to escape.
Our town has passed an ordinance to the effect that there must always be at least one parent wait with the child until the bus comes. Not a bad law.
There was also a scare about a car with out of county plates cruising the neighborhoods during the morning. Everyone with kids in school got a warning, with a detailed description of the driver and a picture of the car, sent home with the kids.