Let’s Be Careful Out There
It’s that gleeful, robust time of the year when we have the occasion to be festive and celebratory over the upcoming weeks. Often that entails more than normal shopping, outings and travel. Here’s to wishing everyone the safest and happiest of holidays. Let’s be careful out there. From a crime and social perspective, this year was fraught with unfathomable human tragedies and major disappointments with mankind. Complacency is our Achilles heel. We must be ever so vigilant as we shop and travel in December. It begins with preparation and well thought out plans. Divest your mind of all the extraneous thought and focus. If traveling to one of our malls have some idea as to how long you are prepared to shop and the time of day. If it will likely be dark upon your return, park accordingly where the parking lot illumination is at its best. Scope out what you believe to be the quickest and safest pedestrian route’s to travel to and from the store. Walk purposefully, making good but not glaring eye contact with those you encounter. Making good eye contact goes a long way in dissuading those who may have some nefarious idea.
Back during my early collegiate and policing days it was believed the winter months were the most idyllic for perpetrating crimes against person’s etc. The outerwear or other bulky clothing allowed one to easily secret a weapon on their person, etc. This was thought to offer ripe opportunities for armed robberies, etc. Whatever our thinking was crime statistics simply did not bear out and support such a hypothesis. But, just as sure as throngs of people will descend on our malls this season, stores and outlets we will unwittingly lend opportunities to some form of victimization. Car thefts are one of the Part I crime’s that has a tendency to increase during the winter months. It appears much of the increases in auto thefts are attributable to the means to which we seek and value our comfort. Before leaving home, many of us go out into the cold to start our vehicles in order to warm our car. We then re-enter our home for last minute preparations before departure. Leaving your car unattended and vulnerable to a thief or thieves is unconscionable but it occurs way too frequently. Such an occurrence can easily lend itself to an encounter of the worse kind which may be disastrous, even deadly. Stolen cars are used for rather nefarious things like joy riding, all the way to burglaries, robberies and even homicides. Stolen cars ultimately lend themselves to discovery and subsequent police chases which unnecessarily endanger innocent people to include the police.
This is the time of year the “breaking and entering” of automobiles will peak wherein thieves seek the bounty of your shopping endeavors while parked in parking lots and or your own residence. JWM and Associates, LLC offers a course entitled, “Survival In The 21st Century”. This course evolves around prevention tactics more so than extrication. We embrace and mobilize extrication techniques as a last resort.
Below highlights a few core helpful tips you should embrace:
- Travel, shop in the company of another;
- Be aware and conscientious of your environment and surroundings,
- Shop where security and police are clearly visible;
- Have some general knowledge of unsavory occurrences in the general area you shop,
- Walk with purpose; don’t be obtrusive but don’t be overcome by timidity, either.
- Have a plan: that entails time, ideal parking, ingress – egress to and from parking lot to and from stores etc.,
- Daylight hours are better suited;
- Be cognizant of the importance of “Anticipatory Thinking” Mental and physical rehearsal’s)
- Keep your hands as free as possible not laden with purchases;
- Keep purchases properly secured locked up within your vehicle and out of sight to passersby’s. This provides limited, temporary, topical security.
- Keep your pocketbook, wallet properly secured;
- Don’t allow your telephone to be a distraction.
- Remember offenders typically look for an easy mark. And an easy mark is one who is paying way too little attention to their surroundings.
Wishing each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year.