Prevention Works

Give the criminals a break

An unreported crime is nothing.
•    It didn’t happen.
•    No one can get arrested for possession of stolen property.
•    No one can be prosecuted for the crime itself.
•    No property can be returned to the owner.
   
Because you didn’t report that small bit of crime, your small piece of a bigger puzzle is
lost and another crime may go unsolved based on your failure to report.

•    Other victims didn’t know that there was a history or recent criminal activity on their street.
•    The other victims also didn’t report the crime.
•    Everyone (people at work) was surprised to hear that you were a crime victim.
•    Because you didn’t report the crime:
•    Crime prevention doesn’t come into play.
•    No questions were asked.
•    Nothing new to learn.
•    No change in your behavior.
•    You believe that reporting doesn’t matter.
•    You become a silent victim.
•    You become angry and changed nothing.

You told one of your neighbors.

•    You said, “The cops aren’t going to do anything about it.”
•    But, patrol deputies don’t know about it either.
•    Deputies think it’s a no crime/low crime area.
•    No criminals ever hang out in that neighborhood.

You’ve unknowingly sent an alert to bad guys.
•    This is a great neighborhood.
•    No crime equals a low risk area for the criminal.
•    No crime equals an area of great opportunities.
•    Go ahead. Commit another crime.  No one bothered to report the first one.

Send a message to the friends of bad guys.

•    In my neighborhood, you’re safe if you’re a criminal because you’re unwatched and not run off by the neighbors.
•    They don’t call the cops in that neighborhood.
•    The neighbor saw me, but drove on by. Ha! Did they think their gaze really scared me
away?

When you don’t report a crime, it can’t be fixed.

•    The next one is not prevented.
•    No one knows about. It didn’t happen.
•    It tells me that you don’t care. You don’t care about the cops, your neighbors, or your neighborhood. You’ve isolated yourself. Go ahead, don’t report the crime.

Give the criminals a break.

Special thanks to guest blogger Sherrie Carhart, Crime Prevention Specialist, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. This post comes from her recent speech on Reporting Crime.

October is Crime Prevention Month!

Get your kids involved in Crime Prevention Month! NCPC will be hosting various events from poster celebrations to McGruff strolls. Our famous Crime Prevention Month Kits for 2010-2011 are now in stock!

 Anybody under the age of 18 can create a poster to celebrate Crime Prevention Month. This month the spotlight for the posters will be to draw your safe community, how you can show respect to your family, friends, and community, and McGruff the Crime Dog 30^th birthday card. Anybody who participates will get a free copy of McGruff’s new animated short, Samantha’s Choice, the story of a young girl who is afraid to go to ballet class for fear of being bullied. 

Adults you can get involved too. Consider replicating some few NCPC activities in your community. All month long in October, NCPC will have McGruff the Crime Dog out making public appearances in the DC metro area. If you are in the area, catch him at

Oct 12 - A McGruff Metro stop appearance at Gallery Place (7AM-9AM)

Oct 14- Stroll in Crystal City from 11:45AM- 12:30PM

Oct. 20 – A McGruff Metro Ride and Photo Op (start from Metro Center,  go to Gallery Place, L’Enfant Plaza and end up at the Smithsonian for the photo op from 7AM-9AM)

Oct. 26 – A McGruff Metro stop appearance at Union Station (7AM-9AM)

Oct. 29 – Celebrate Safe Communities event – DC Boys and Girls Club – Halloween Costume Contest – 3:00 – 6:00

So how are you going to get involved this month for Crime Prevention!!

For more information on either Crime Prevention Month events, please contact Joanna Li at jli@ncpc.org or at 202-261-4156.

Home and Personal Safety

Recently, the National Crime Prevention Council has been receiving reports from our fellow crime prevention organizations about neighborhood safety issues and we felt that we should share them with everyone.

The first comes to us from Miami, Florida: a resident looked out the window at approximately, 3am and saw a man, who looked familiar, standing in the driveway next to his car. The resident opened a widow and the man gave a tale of woe about living several houses down and he was on his way to work, was almost out of gas, and needed some money. The person had two movie tickets and offered them as collateral. The resident went to get some money and checked a street directory and found the person wasn’t telling the truth about a house number. The resident went to the window and the person was gone. The resident called the police and explained to the responding officer but the police couldn’t locate the person.

Similar story from Northern Miami: a person came to a man’s door and said he was locked out of his house. He looked somewhat familiar. He asked for a ride to get a key from his wife who was at work. When he was taken to the wife’s work, she was not there. He then asked for twenty dollars for a locksmith. Four other people were scammed in the area.

Tip* Never open your door to a stranger, tell him/her that you will gladly call the police for help.

Next in from Florence, KY: a stranger was coming to real estate open houses-male in his 40s, well dressed, carrying a clipboard. He goes directly to the bathroom and then tours the house. When the residents return home, they find prescription drugs missing.

Tip* Always lockup your valuables and prescription drugs before you have an open house. Never take for granted that everyone is honest. Realtors should make every effort to track individuals who are looking at a home and escort them one at a time.

Last story comes from Union, KY: an alert neighbor looked out the window at 3am and saw a stranger going into her neighbors’ garage and called the police with a description of the person and vehicle. The suspect was stopped and 12 purses were found in his vehicle. The suspect found unlocked vehicles in  driveways with remote garage door openers in them, used them to open the doors and steal items.

Tip* Never leave your car unlocked, and keep valuables locked up and out of sight.

Submitted by Chuck Desrosiers with input from Carmen Caldwell of Florida Citizen’s Crime Watch and Bob Douglas of Kentucky Crime Prevention Association.

Remember October is Celebrate Safe Communities, follow attached link for info;  www.celebratesafecommunities.org