Crime Prevention Starts with You
What could I have done to prevent this from happening to me?
This is the question many ask themselves after becoming a victim of a crime. For National Crime Prevention Month we would like to educate the public on steps they can take to reduce the risk of becoming the victim of a preventable crime.
Your home is your castle and there are measures that can be taken to protect that castle. Lock it up! Before bed, have someone be in charge of making sure everything is locked. Checking your front door, back door, garage door, windows, and car doors is an easy but effective deterrent against people looking to steal your stuff. It is a common occurrence for individuals to walk around our neighborhoods in the middle of the night pulling on door handles in the attempt to gain access to your car. If the car is locked, the individual often moves on to the next one. If your garage is open then be aware that individuals have access to property inside your garage and also easy access to the inside of your residence. Light it up! Make sure your front door and back door are well-lit. Someone attempting to gain access to your car or house is much less likely to try something if they are easily seen. Motion lights that activate when someone walks by are another way to keep criminals at bay. Clean it up! Often people will leave bicycles, skateboards, and other property in their yards overnight because they forgot to bring them inside. Remember to put all valuable property inside your garage before locking up for the night.
Protecting your money doesn’t stop with keeping an eye on your wallet but extends to scams found on the internet, through the mail, and on the phone. If you receive an email, phone call, or letter telling you that you won a prize it could be real, but you need to be careful. Did you ever sign up for the contest? Are they asking you to pay for something to collect your winnings? Are they asking for unnecessary personal information? If so...then it’s probably a scam. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Another red flag for a scam is if a government official is asking you to pay them with a gift card. Official government agencies will never ask you to pay with any kind of gift card. If something sounds strange then it is probably is not an official government agency. When in doubt, contact the agency or directly.
Protecting yourself is more important than protecting your money or your property. There are steps that can be taken to keep you safer and less of an easy target. Be aware of your surroundings. A person with their head down looking at their phone while walking through a parking lot presents a much easier target then a person that is not distracted. Keep an eye out for suspicious activity. If something doesn’t look right and you are concerned - call the police immediately. Your police officers can’t be everywhere at once so they need your help to locate suspicious activity.
Follow these tips and you’ll find that you have reduced your risk of being a victim of a preventable crime.
Huntley Safety 1st is the monthly education series written by the staff of the Huntley Police Department. On the first of each month, we provide citizens with information on a different public safety related issue.