9 Safety Tips You Need

It’s crazy out there, and the world is nuttier by the day. So it’s time to haul out the reminders. This is an email I just wrote for some female friends, but guys, you might want to think about these suggestions as well. Yes, this is a longer than usual post. But worth the read.

I was driving home on Shea Blvd. in Phoenix around midnight awhile back and a balloon filled with eggs came flying out of nowhere and hit my windshield. Rather than stopping, I drove a few miles and ran my car through a car wash. It took about a year to get the gunk out of the grill and hood. Morons. If you haven’t heard about this trick, criminals do this so you’ll stop and get out of your car. They are lying in wait for you so they can jump you and do whatever it is criminals do.

As women, we all need to be vigilant. We get targeted just because the perception is we are smaller.

A friend of mine was dragged alongside a car when thieves grabbed her purse while it was on her shoulder. They jumped back in the car with her still attached to the purse! This was at a grocery store parking lot in a swanky part of town two Christmases ago.

Here’s a little advice from my years as a cop’s wife (I used to help him type up reports, so I do know a few things firsthand):

• NEVER double click to open all your doors in a parking lot. Click once for your door, get in, lock the door, THEN put on your seatbelt and do whatever else you do. This keeps creeps from jumping into your car while you are putting stuff away and not paying attention.

•  If you must double click to open your trunk, as soon as the trunk is open, click the lock again on your keyring so all doors are locked. That way only the trunk is unlocked. Before you start putting things in your trunk, toss your purse over the back seat or into the trunk. Then you aren’t a target and you haven’t stupidly left your purse on the shopping cart while you turn your back.

Example of the wrong way to do it: In a recent trip to the grocery store I saw a woman with the trunk and all 4 doors of her minivan wide open. The van was running. Her purse was on the front seat in plain view. She was strapping in kids and chattering away on her cell phone.  I stood next to her with my arms crossed till she saw me and hung up.

I can’t help myself. I just had to give her an on-the-spot seminar. A carjacker could have grabbed her purse and driven off with her van and her kids inside. Someone could have grabbed all the stuff out of the wide open trunk. Someone could have grabbed her purse and run with it, knowing she wouldn’t leave her kids behind. I told her what I am telling you, and scared the dickens out of her. But, you know, we ladies have to look out for each other!

• Think about what’s in your purse. Do you REALLY need all that? Do you know what credit cards you are carrying? Do you have a copy of the front and back of all of them in a safe place at home? You need the back for the emergency numbers. Take some of your cards out and put them in a safe at home. Cops call this “Divide your Risks”… If you carry cash, and you know what you might need, pull that much out and stick it in your pocket so you aren’t flashing your wallet with all kinds of tempting stuff.

• Carry Less.  Get a keyring that slips onto your belt loop. Use a hidden card/cash carrier and wear it inside your jeans or skirt. If you must carry a purse, use a little wallet for the valuables and tuck that away. Then your purse has nothing of value in it. Lipstick and kleenex you can replace… Consider a carrier for your phone. Wearing it at your waist may not be fashionable, but it keeps you safe. I assure you, the people who judge you on your fashion sense aren’t the ones who will come to your rescue if some idiot decides to grab your purse or packages. So who cares? Alive is better than “fashionable.”

• If you give your keys to any attendant  – at a car wash, a restaurant, a valet, the repair shop — ONLY give them the car key. Have your keys set up so you can slip house keys and post office keys OFF before you hand them the keys to your life. NEVER leave keys in the ash tray in the car. Even if they aren’t to your house, if a thief sees keys, your car will get broken into.

• Watch your cards when you pay at a restaurant or anywhere else where they might process it out of sight. It takes very little to swipe an extra amount for themselves. And never use a debit card if you are paying online or in a place where you won’t see what they do with the card. Reports are coming in that poorly paid clerks and waithelp have been using their smartphones to take a picture of the front and back of patron’s cards. Then they have all they need to take all you have. Thieves can clean out your bank account before you get back to your car.

• Check your online statements frequently when you’ve been shopping in unfamiliar locations. I used my debit card ONE time in Seattle a couple of months ago. It’s a card I rarely use, so I know the place where it was swiped. When I got back from my trip, the bank called me and asked if I was in Libya or Arkansas. Someone in both places had tried to use my debit card just moments before. (It pays to have a good bank that keeps an eye on these things!)

• Be careful when parking in a huge lot. Watch for big vans with dark windows. This is not an urban legend. There have been reports around the country about this. You unlock your car and have your back to it, and the van door slides open. Either they’ve got you, your purse, or you and your car.  If you do see that a van has parked next to your car, consider getting in from the passenger side. Unlock the doors, open your door, then click the lock immediately. It may or may not work, but it reduces risk.

• Be conscious about your vehicle before you enter it. You may have heard that criminals put a piece of paper on your front or back windshield. You get in without seeing it. They are counting on you stopping to take it off, and they swoop in and you’ve got trouble. It also pays to look in the back seat of the car before getting in. One of my girlfriends in LA ran down to the store for cigarettes, locked her car and was inside for 5 minutes. She came back out, jumped back in her car and drove off. As she rounded the corner, a man reached around from the back seat and held a knife to her throat. She’s more street savvy than me. She hit the emergency lights and leaned on the horn while yelling “NO!” As loud as she could with the windows down. He got scared and jumped out. You may not be so lucky.

• Cops say some people are more “muggable” than others. Walk with purpose. Pull those shoulders back. Look around. “SEE” everything. Don’t be talking on your phone or texting as you swing your purse and ignore all the signs of impending attack. When a bad guy is “seen” he has a tendency to go to an easier target. The last thing they want is for you to be able to identify them. And don’t think this only happens “in the bad part of town.” Not really. Why would a creep attack a woman with $20 in her purse, when he can go over to one of the high end malls and get thousands in credit cards and cash?

We have to understand that with a crazy economy, more people are turning to crime. Make your home, your car, and YOU less of a target. PAY ATTENTION. Look around. Do a couple of simple things and keep you and your kids safe.

All of this may sound terribly paranoid, and when you’re a cop’s ex-wife you just can never go back to Pollyanna thinking. But, as one guy said, “Only the paranoid survive!” <grin>  I just want to help you think about your daily habits. If you can make being aware one of those habits, you and your kids will be a lot safer!

Good luck out there!

Beth Terry, CSP

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