CommunityWatch Talks

Below are basic, common-sense prevention ideas. The three tenets, prevent, detect, and respond, are explained more after that. At the bottom, some recommended reading.

Statistically, it is very unlikely that an adult, taking common sense precautions, will experience stranger violence, and yet it is one of the most prevalent fears in our society, likely because it is so devastating.

According to the Department of Justice, more than 60% of all sexual violence is perpetrated by a person known to the victim, and more than two thirds (67%) of all sexual assault victims are minors. Women and minors are perceived as being easier prey, and therefore experience much more predatory violence than adult males.

At home

1. Know your neighbors. Interacting with your neighbors will help you develop a sense of who belongs in your neighborhood, who you can go to in a crisis, and who you really don’t want knocking on your door .
2. Keep your doors locked. Surprisingly, many people fail to lock their car doors and/or leave their doors unlocked while home.
3. Don’t play the odds: What are the odds that someone will come through your bathroom window or garage door? Those odds will be much more in your favor if you have basic security mechanisms in place, like motion-activated exterior lights and sturdy locks.
4. Don’t think a weapon will keep you safe. Common-sense precautions and basic self-defense training will provide all the security most people need. If you do consider weapons, you still need common-sense, basic self-defense, and then weapons training and a method of securing your weapon.

In the community

1. Trust your instincts. If someone gives you the creeps, pay attention.
2. Travel in pairs. Should you have to? No, but it’s a good idea for everyone, especially women and girls.
3. Don’t be timid. Be confident, be aware of your environment, make eye-contact with those around you.
4. If you’re out at night, have your keys in hand before you leave the building. Ask for an employee to escort you to the car.
5. Use common-sense with regard to parking, and walking routes – well-lit, close to the destination, and fully visible are good.
6. I love heels as much as the next girl, but if you have to walk to your car, bus stop, etc., wear a pair of shoes that allow you to move quickly and carry your heels in your tote.
7. Take a series of self defense classes. Where else will you learn the damage your high heeled shoes can do to an attacker’s instep, or to their shin? Make sure it’s a series of classes – the repetition and time between classes is important to really cement the knowledge.

For your information

1. You have all the information a criminal needs to attack or defraud you. Be discrete about travel plans, work/social schedule, living alone, and finances.
2. Be especially careful with the information you share online. That “cute guy” in a neighboring city could actually be a dangerous guy in the neighboring apartment complex. Which leads to -
3. Don’t take chances when you’re meeting people from the internet. Meet in public, take a friend. If they have a problem with that, then consider why.

Geared to parents

1. Be Prepared: enough gas, clear directions, sensible shoes, fully-charged cell phone.
2. You want to keep your kid safe? Keep yourself safe. In many crimes against children, the mother is the primary target.
3. Another word for parent is bodyguard Don’t let anyone get between you and your kid.
4. Predators don’t care about rules and law. Law is not a barrier, it’s an enforceable standard. You are the barrier.
5. Be aware of your surroundings, trust your instincts, and don’t apologize for acting on your instincts.
6. Remember that it’s inappropriate for an adult to approach your child – they all need to go through you; if they’re credible, they’ll applaud your defensive stance.
7. It’s legal for strangers to take a picture of your kid in public. Once they get that picture, they own an image of your child and can do whatever they want with it. Pay attention to who is taking pictures of whom. If someone appears to be taking pictures of you or your kid, and you feel it’s safe, let them know that it is not ok with you.
8. If you feel threatened at any time, call 911.
9. Read Child Security Essentials for more information on security geared to parents/care-givers.

Prevent -This is the focus of our organization. Actively working toward prevention is its own prevention – considering that most predators are actually cowards looking for an easy target – you’re showing that you are not an easy target
1. Monitor / Control access
2. Pay attention to what’s normal, so you can easily see what’s not. Also, who is acting out of their role? Which roles have access to you, your kid, your home?
3. Educate – If you’re protecting yourself or your kid, you both need to know what you’re up against.
4. Open Communication / Transparency – Talking to your family and community about security and prevention issues puts them on the table as priorities.
5. Identify Boundaries – What’s ok, what’s not ok, and why. Ex: why is it not ok for adults to approach kids for help?
Detect - If you ‘detect’one problem, look for more. Ex: if your daughter has a bruise because she was grabbed by her boyfriend, why didn’t she tell you? What else has he done, and why is she still with him?
1. Lack of Communication / Transparency – This is an issue when you’re asked for commitment of some kind. A sleep-over results in an uncommunicative child, or a website asks for your social security number, but doesn’t provide a privacy statement. If you see something wrong with this part of the system, look for more issues.
2. Change in routine – If you’re monitoring, you’ll pick this up. New noise downstairs late at night. Finger bruises on your teenage daughter’s arm. Money missing from your bank account. Don’t just note it in passing – ask questions immediately.
3. Boundary Issues – Otherwise known as inappropriate behavior. If anything gives you an ick feeling, pay attention, and don’t be ‘nice.’
Respond - Ask a social worker which is worse: the abuse a child receives, or the lack of response by the non-abusive parent. If you detect crime – ALWAYS RESPOND. There are systems in place to help you through it.
1. Be calm and rational – In almost every circumstance, you will need to communicate with someone. Hysterics and fury won’t help.
2. Determine the source of the threat – Who put the bruise on your daughter’s arm? How did the money get out of your account?
3. Report – If you’ve reached this stage, call the police. You can call 911 and they’ll triage the call, or -if it’s really not an emergency- you can call the non-emergency number (you should have this posted by the phone).
4. Repair – Identify which part of the system broke down. Fix it. Then -
Monitor - Monitoring is a constant aspect of the security process