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LOS ANGELES — As the parents of a 5-year-old Orange County girl who was abducted and murdered prepare for her funeral and police search for a 7-year-old snatched off the street in Philadelphia, worried parents are looking to police and school officials for help coping with a phenomenon authorities are dubbing “stranger danger.” 

In the Los Angeles suburb of Stanton, where Samantha Runnion was abducted July 15, about 50 parents gathered for a seminar on child safety Monday night. In nearby Irvine, a “Keeping Your Children Safe” meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at City Hall. 

At the Orange County Fair, police handed out fliers with tips for protecting children from abduction, while hundreds of fairgoers took time out from rides and food booths to search sex-offender databases set up by the California Department of Justice and the Orange County Probation Department. 

In neighboring Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to ask Sheriff Lee Baca to work with radio and TV stations to create a countywide child-abduction alert system. 

In Tustin, police were fielding extra requests for safety presentations at local schools. 

“We are getting a lot more calls than usual for those,” said Stacy Margolin, in the community relations office of the Tustin Police Department. “We had a session at one school scheduled for August and we moved it up because all the parents are concerned.” 

The concern remains despite the arrest last week of Alejandro Avila, 27, of Lake Elsinore. He is charged with kidnapping, two counts of a lewd act on a child and murder in the slaying of Samantha Runnion, who was abducted just yards from her Stanton townhome as she played with a friend. She was carried off kicking and screaming for help. 

Thousands were expected Wednesday at Samantha’s funeral at the Crystal Cathedral, a nationally known church in nearby Garden Grove. 

The abduction and murder garnered intense national media attention, as has Monday’s abduction of 7-year-old Erica Pratt off a Philadelphia street, along with the unsolved disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City home in June, and the Feb. 1 abduction and murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam of San Diego. 

The high-profile cases, coming so close together, have left many parents on edge. 

Phil Pierce, a minister and father of four, contacted police last week because parents at his Irvine church were upset by the Runnion murder and wanted information. 

“I knew we needed to do something to make parents feel a little bit safer and to make kids feel a little bit safer,” he said. 

Det. Tracy Jacobson, a child abuse investigator at the Irvine Police Department who will conduct Wednesday’s seminar, said parents need to be creative in teaching their children how to avoid what Jacobson called “stranger danger.” 

“It’s important to teach your child by example, by reinforcement and role playing,” Jacobson said. “Just explaining what to do doesn’t always work so well.” 

Neena Malik, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, said the spate of child abductions, along with lingering concern about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, have parents on edge. 

“These isolated events of child abductions are getting more national attention. The national attention is a consequence of most people feeling like things are not so safe anymore,” Malik said. 

Taking action — by attending seminars, talking to children or gathering information — can help parents cope with their fears, she said. 

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, who appealed to the public for help during the investigation, said parental concern is a positive response to the tragedy. 

“We never wanted people to overreact. We wanted to make them aware of what we had and for them to pay maybe a little closer attention to their children,” Carona said. 

Juan Rivera, who stopped recently with his children and nephew at the makeshift memorial outside Samantha’s home, said he has reminded young family members about what to do if they are approached by a stranger. 

To prove his point, Rivera turned to his 5-year-old nephew. 

“What are you supposed to do if somebody you don’t know comes up?” he said. 

“I have to scream and run?” said 5-year-old Miguel Trejo. 

“What else?” Rivera asked. 

“I have to tell somebody,” the boy said.