Prevention Works

On Social Networks, Private Information Can Become Public Fast

As social networking tools have gone mainstream, they’ve incorporated sophisticated privacy settings that allow users to control exactly who can see their photos and other data. It is important to make use of these features to protect yourself. Unfortunately, the same features may also be providing a false sense of security.

In Indianapolis, two high school girls were disciplined by school administrators for posting racy photos on MySpace during summer vacation. Even though the privacy settings allowed only their friends to see the photos, someone with access distributed them to the school administrators, who then felt compelled to take action. The girls now face public embarrassment and are banned from extracurricular activities at school. The school also required the girls to apologize to an all-male coach’s board and to undergo counseling. The ACLU is now representing the girls in federal court, charging that the school violated the girls’ free speech rights.

Whether the school acted appropriately is a matter of debate (and now the subject of a legal battle), but the important thing to learn from this episode is that anything you post on a social network can easily become public. All it takes is one person with access to spread your information to others. You might not even realize that your privacy has been compromised until much later, or ever. For more tips on staying safe online, see NCPC’s handout on safe social networking included in the 2009-2010 Crime Prevention Month Kit.

Crime Prevention - Just Do It

Crime Prevention can come in many forms. Lately, crime prevention has gone high tech. Thanks to new technology, those grainy, hard-to-see images caught on security cameras are a thing of the past. There is better technology that is much cheaper and with better resolution. Michigan’s public institutions of higher education are not only beefing up their police forces, but installing high-resolution surveillance cameras and taking other steps to prevent campus crime. Many of the colleges have mounted surveillance cameras that can pan an entire campus, and, at the same time, zoom in on a single license plate. They have also installed doors that require key cards to enter and regularly updated maps so students know where crime has occurred on campus (Source: Chicago Tribune, August 23, 2009).

Many theme parks across the country have also gone high tech. Theme parks can pose unique security problems; crowds and loud noises make it difficult to communicate with visitors and possible power outages can leave riders stranded. New security technology can allow cameras in a theme park to track someone acting suspiciously. A GPS bracelet can also help assuage the fear of losing one’s child in a crowd.

Homeowners are even going high tech with their crime prevention efforts. Surveillance cameras, once considered a crime prevention tool for use by businesses and local governments, are being installed by homeowners. For instance, in Washington, DC, in March 2009, police received a tip from a homeowner whose surveillance equipment at work alerted him to a problem at home. A motion sensor triggered an email alert, and within moments, the homeowner was watching a man break into his house. The homeowner then alerted police while the crime was taking place and provided the police with a clear image of the burglar.

Whether you have the means of obtaining high-tech equipment or not, crime prevention is important any way you conduct it. First time homeowner Brandon Durflinger requested a security visit from the Fairfax County, VA, police to ensure that he was doing everything possible to protect his home in Falls Church. He received several helpful recommendations (Source: Washington Post, July 18, 2009). Many police departments across the country will send an officer to inspect a home upon request. Some jurisdictions offer programs that help residents take inventory of their valuables, noting the brand, model, and serial number.

Crime prevention can take place in countless ways. Whatever your choice, you are sure to make yourself, your home, and your business safer when you engage in simple safety tips. Download these safety tips and help “Take A Bite Out Of Crime®.”

• Home Security Checklist
• Apartment Safety Checklist
• Streetwise: The Way To Be
• Your Inside Look at Crime Prevention

Can you Twitter Crime Away?

With the explosion of Twitter and other social media sites, I have often wondered why people have felt the need to share every aspect of their personal lives online. I figured maybe people just want to brag about being out to dinner or a Hawaiian vacation. Many of us in the crime prevention field believe that we, as a society, are sharing too much personal information as the social media revolution continues to unfold.

Then, about a month ago, a Mesa Arizona man said he believed his tweets that his family was "preparing to head out of town” or had "another 10 hours of driving ahead" or had finally "made it to Kansas City" were the clues that burglars needed to rob his house.

I still have concerns about the number of people who don’t take TMI (too much information) to heart but I ponder a new question today. If social media sites can help the criminals, can the “good guys” Twitter crime way?

Police departments and Neighborhood Watch groups are starting to recognize the utility of social media sites as another crime prevention tool. Just think about it. If we sign up to our watch group’s designated social media site, we can give our neighbors instant access to information that may make a difference between being victimized and escaping unscathed. One tweet to your neighbors about a strange person peering into a neighbor’s house in the area or a post on Facebook about an attempted child abduction can instantly put hundreds of your neighbors on alert and get them all working together to help law enforcement apprehend the suspects.

I know there are still many out there who are refusing to join the social media revolution, but with law enforcement personnel being strained by budget cuts and the struggling economy keeping us at home more often, embracing online networks as prevention tools may help us form a deeper connection with our neighbors and local law enforcement while helping to prevent crime.

If you haven’t asked how you can prevent crime and get involved in your community, start now. You can get all the information you need on the National Crime Prevention Council’s website.

Cell Phones Gone Wild?

You have heard the stories about sexting in the news lately. Most of the stories take place in schools and involve teenagers. But, what is sexting? Sexting is described as the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between cell phones.

Roughly 20 percent of teens admit to participating in “sexting,” according to a nationwide survey by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Sexting occurs many times each day. These photos and messages can end up on social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook, where in many cases they are out there for everyone to see, including law enforcement. In the eyes of law enforcement, many types of sexting are crimes, and sexting can lead to criminal prosecution.

The media has focused attention on sexting cases in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Ohio’s case involved an 18-year-old girl who committed suicide after a naked picture of herself, which she had texted, was forwarded around her high school.

It is important to teach kids to proactively protect themselves online and through cell phone communication. The Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication (I.R.O.C), a New Jersey-based nonprofit organization, helps communities protect themselves through one of their programs. You can also practice the following tips in your home.

• Set up the home computer in a common area.
• Purchase filtering, monitoring, or software blocking tools.
• Only post information that you want everyone to know or see.
• Teach respectful online communication.
• Trust your instincts.  If someone or something online makes you feel uncomfortable, notify your parents or a trusted adult.

Share your thoughts on this subject. Is sexting just another fad in the wave of new technology? Has it been a subject of concern for years and cases now just being called to attention?

How Many Bars Do You Get Behind Bars?

A prisoner, already incarcerated for a drug conviction, was found guilty of using a contraband cell phone from jail to order the murder of a witness in another upcoming trial. The victim, 38 year old Carl Lackl Jr., was gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside his home in Baltimore, a week before he was to testify in that trial. This crime is the most heinous outcome of a growing and startling problem—cell phones and their availability to prisoners behind bars.

Recent simultaneous prisoner disturbances across the country were coordinated through illegal cell phone calls by an incarcerated gang leader in an attempt to establish dominance for his gang. Other crimes, including threats and murder, have been traced back to prisoners ordering “hits” from prison by use of cell phone to intimidate witnesses or settle gangland scores. It would seem a simple solution to jam such signals within the prison walls and nip that kind of communication in the bud. But it is not that easy. The Federal Communications Commission’s regulations prohibit just that. Since 1934, when cell phones were a fantasy of science fiction, it has been illegal to interfere with signals regulated by the FCC. Two bills currently in Congress are intended to address this problem. The Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009 (House bill H.R.560 and Senate bill S.251) propose to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to allow the jamming of cell phone signals within prison walls. Proponents say this would eliminate the illegal conversations that allow drug lords and gang leaders to continue their criminal enterprises while locked up.

CTIA – The Wireless Association (The International Association for the Wireless Communications Industry) sees that proposition differently asserting that (1) such jamming would needlessly inconvenience nearby consumer and public safety wireless users, and (2) it is against the law. CTIA’s questions are: How are prisoners getting access to contraband cell phones? A recent intercepted shipment to a corrections institution from a food services delivery truck that contained 26 cell phones and chargers and other contraband shows us one method.

Another technology, called Intelligent Network Access Controller or INAC, may come to the rescue. This technology enables allowable wireless communications in a prison (or other locale) to an approved subset of users— say, users a warden would approve. While everyday cell phone use is a marvel of today’s technology, their current use by prisoners to access their outside networks and continue to work their nefarious deeds while locked up is unacceptable. We’d like to “hear you now.” Post a comment below and tell us your thoughts.

Cyber-Fighting Crime

Nowadays, social networking sites have made us so well-connected that we often have to be reminded of the importance of privacy and security when we share our personal information. This is certainly true: everyone needs to take proper precautions in their endeavors on the World Wide Web. That being said, we often fail to acknowledge the contributions of such networking sites to current crime prevention efforts.

Law enforcement professionals have recently capitalized on the unique crime-fighting opportunities that websites, such as Facebook, offer them. This recent national trend has been termed Law Enforcement 2.0. For instance, when police officers posted a surveillance video of previously unidentified persons engaging in vandalism at a hotel in Maine, responses from local Facebook members poured in, and led to an arrest in the case. Similarly, there was the case this past February, in which two men in Indiana torched a couch during their Superbowl celebration. They posted a picture to their Facebook profiles and the police were quickly informed of the online photograph. Police officers quickly apprehended the unsuspecting offenders based on the tip.

Facebook has also become a valuable tool in locating missing children. After one-year-old Madeline McCann went missing in 2007, her parents endorsed the introduction of the application Missing People. This Web tool serves as a forum for sharing information about missing people. Madeleine now has her own page on the site, where users can communicate directly with her parents and investigators about potential leads in her case. Users can also offer support to her loved ones. Additionally, the McCanns recently collaborated with Google and YouTube to launch dontyouforgetaboutme. The YouTube channel is, specifically, aimed at locating abducted children. The Websites have been important tools for victims' families, as well as the law enforcement community, in their enduring searches for missing people.

As long as we continue to practice Internet safety, Web networks like Facebook will continue to be important tools for law enforcement personnel in fighting crime. So hats off to you, Facebook users and YouTube junkies, for helping us “Take A Bite Out Of Crime®.”

Social Networking - The Good and Bad

According to the Center for Media Research, "Most parents in the United States estimate that their children spend about two hours a month on the Internet. In reality, kids and teens are spending upwards of 20 hours a month surfing the Web. Forty-one percent of U.S. teens claim their parents have no idea what they are looking at online. The most popular online activities are online dating (23 percent), social networking (50 percent), and playing games (72 percent)."

Facebook and MySpace, are two popular Internet sites used by children and adults that have become social getaways to chat, blog, post pictures, join groups, and make friends.

With a few clicks of the mouse, people can present their personal information and thoughts for anyone to see. What many people new to the Web do not realize is that there are risks involved and that they need to understand them before they post this kind of information. Teachers, employers, predators, and basically anyone who knows how to use the Internet can go online and find information about you. Ever done a Google search?

It is important to be aware of the risks of social networking in this cyber world we live in. It is important to remember not to post personal information, that no information is truly personal information, and anything you post and delete can still be found.

Sure, many social networks have an age verification required, but it is easy is it to go online and lie about one's identity. Law enforcement agencies now search these social outlets as a way to catch online predators. While realistically this is good, be aware that it is easy for anyone to steal your password, log in, and be you for a day. Understand, teach, protect. Do each of these to create a safe haven for you and your loved ones. The last thing you want to do is share information with the cyber world that you can't take back.

Think before you post.

Nowadays, Crime Prevention and Technology Are Often Interwoven

It didn’t take long for video images of the crash of the US Airways plane in the Hudson River to be available everywhere. The crash was recorded by a security camera, one of the most prevalent uses of technology in crime prevention. Moreover, a recent article in Parade magazine stated that Las Vegas was the best place in the country to have a heart attack, with a 67 percent survival rate. The remarkable rate was attributed to the vast amount of human and electronic security present in Las Vegas casinos and on Las Vegas streets. The Parade article also stated that the survival rate in Chicago, where there are no casinos, is just 2 percent. Technology has changed our world.

Police officers have been wearing soft body armor since the 1970s, when it was first developed and was seen as a great technological innovation at the time. The intent of the body armor is to protect police officers from deadly attacks. They accomplish the second goal of crime prevention: If you can’t prevent the crime, reduce the loss. Since the 1970s, body armor has saved the lives of more than 3,000 law enforcement officers. Research by the National Institute of Justice has found that an officer is 14 times more likely to survive a serious assault if he or she is wearing body armor. Unfortunately, many officers do not wear the body armor they are provided. According to the most recent law enforcement census conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 57 percent of the law enforcement agencies in the United States have a policy mandating that personnel wear body armor at all times while on duty. One very interesting statistic is that body armor has saved about 1,500 law enforcement officers in car accidents. So crime prevention in this instance is also a highway safety tool. And it is the result of technology.

Cell phones are a much underrated crime prevention tool. They provide instantaneous communication in dangerous situations, with photo and video features that allow users to record all types of incidents. Little has been done so far to measure the crime prevention impact of cell phones. A study is long overdue.

Are there more unrecognized crime prevention gains from other new technologies?

"Sexting" and Other Picture Posting Pitfalls

In the past few weeks, I've read stories that should make us all pause and think about how some folks are using online media and providing an unprecedented view of potential crimes and wrongful actions. From girls posting a video of themselves beating up a classmate to the infamous picture of Olympic champion Michael Phelps using drug paraphernalia, these are examples of where people really need to think before they post. It is likely the person who took and then posted the picture of Phelps didn't think of the potential repercussions—like possible jail time and lost endorsements for the athlete.

Likewise, teens and young adults (and older adults too) probably aren't thinking of the criminal repercussions of sending or sharing nude or inappropriate photos. From Wisconsin to Virginia and points in between, young people are engaging in "sexting"—sending nude or partially nude photos via text messaging. What they don't realize is they can be charged with possession of child pornography and, if convicted, could be labeled as a sex offender for the rest of their lives.

A recent Business Week article highlighted a new website called "Yo Busted" that allows people to post whatever pictures they want of you. But then, you, the victim, will have to pay them if you want the pictures taken down. Currently labeled "under construction," this website is frightening. Someone can post pictures of you in intimate or embarrassing situations that could live forever on the Web! Just think of what a cyberbully could do.

I love technology and the instant access it gives us to our family and friends. It allows us to do many great things. But, I'm also concerned. Are we creating a culture where sexting, cyberbullying, and other inappropriate technology-based behavior can thrive?

The Benefits of CCTV

While wandering in an underground parking deck in a large city—because I had forgotten where I parked my car—I soon realized that I must be under camera surveillance.

An estimated 30 million surveillance cameras are in use in the United States. Even images of the recent miraculous water landing of a commercial airliner in the Hudson River were captured by at least two security cameras. Cameras are affixed at our borders to detect illegal immigrants, and placed in our airports, schools, and on our street corners. 

A quick perusal of Google News reveals scores of stories recently where law enforcement utilized the surveillance tool to identify criminals and pursue prosecution. But that’s where the story gets muddled.

Questions are only now emerging after the widespread deployment of these cameras. A recent report by the University of California, Berkeley, comprehensively examined the performance of San Francisco’s surveillance camera program. It found no effect on deterrent or conviction rates for violent crime, but did report a significant deterrent effect on property crime near camera installations. The report states that crime rates remained the same; it was just displaced to other parts of the city that did not have the cameras. Similar studies and reports, anecdotal and academic, are moving to the same conclusion. An evaluation in Philadelphia cites uneven crime reduction performance of the cameras. One in the UK shows effectiveness with vehicle break-ins, but modest or no crime reduction benefits in other categories.

Cities that have the cameras or are considering them are now questioning if they are worth the expense. Suspects are rarely seen in ironclad identifying images and “chain of custody” challenges to the handling of the images are often successful.

In our current economic situation we should be certain that crime prevention measures are not discarded on the basis of cost alone.  We should ensure that security cameras are thoroughly evaluated before they are discounted.