Community Roll Call

Some more timely tips from the National Crime Prevention Council as it relates to travel.


Packing and Planning
• Unprepared tourists become prime targets for criminals. Research your vacation destination. Decide in advance where you want to go and how to get there. Looking and feeling confident in your travels helps make you look like you belong, not like a tourist. That’s important, because criminals often view tourists as the most vulnerable of potential targets.
• Before you leave home, record the information on your credit cards and serial numbers on any valuable equipment that you plan to bring. Copy your passport and other important documents and secure the information in a safe place.
• Plan your trip. Know where to go and how to get around.

Before you Leave
• Make sure that all doors and windows of your home are securely locked before you leave.
• Stop mail and newspaper delivery, or ask a neighbor to pick them up every day.
• Create the illusion that you are home; use timers to turn lights, the television, or a radio on and off during the day and night.

On the Road
• Always lock the car when you park. Avoid grab-and-go at gas stations. Lock your doors and roll up your windows.
• Stick to well-lighted and well-traveled streets.
• Select ATM machines in visible and well-lighted locations.
• Check around and in your car for anything suspicious before you get in.
• Keep valuables out of sight or in the trunk. Purses, wallets, MP3 players, and cell phones in plain view only help attract thieves.

In the Hotel
• Avoid leaving valuables in your hotel room. If necessary use a hotel safe.
• Keep your hotel room door locked, even when you are inside. Check all window locks, especially if you are on a lower floor.
• Verify any unexpected visitor or delivery person by calling the front desk and asking to see identification.

Family Safety
• Review your family’s safety rules with your children.
• Make sure that everyone in your party—adults, teens, children—has the name, address, and phone number of the place you are staying and carries that information at all times.
• Set up rules for each day’s outings on where and how you’ll link up if you become separated. Agree on a meeting place, just in case.

These tips come from the National Crime Prevention Council in Washington DC. I am posting them as a refresher.

Is Your Family Safe?
Tips for National Family Month

Washington, DC – Families across the country are celebrating National Family Month during the month of May. To mark this important occasion, the National Crime Prevention Council and its icon McGruff the Crime Dog®, have some tips about how families can stay safe at home, on the computer, and in their neighborhoods.

Securing your Home and Protecting your Property

• Lock your doors and windows. Research shows that more than 60 percent of all burglaries show no sign of forced entry. Pick burglar-resistant, high-security windows.
• Use automatic timers to turn on lights, radio, or the television when you are not at home.
• Ask a trusted neighbor to watch your home and pick up your mail and newspapers when you are out of town. You can also ask your local post office to temporarily stop your mail delivery.
• Your landscaping should provide maximum visibility to and from your house. Trim shrubbery that could conceal criminal activity near doors and windows.
• Install exterior lighting near porches, rear and side doorways, garage doors, and all other points of entry. Outdoor lighting can eliminate hiding places and deter burglars.

Neighborhood Safety

• Join a Neighborhood Watch group to discuss solutions to local crime problems. If one doesn’t exist, you can start one with help from your local law enforcement.
• Know that route that your children take to and from school. Point out McGruff Houses along the way.
• Be alert in the neighborhood. Call the police or, if you’re a kid, tell a trusted adult about anything you see that seems suspicious.
• Get to know your neighbors. Good neighbors are one of your least expensive defenses against crime and one of your most effective, too.
• Report problem areas and ask the police to increase patrols of your neighborhood hot spots.

Internet Safety

• Keep your personal information private and your passwords secure. Change your passwords every 90 days to keep cyber criminals away.
• Beware of “phishing.” These are email requests purporting to be from your bank, credit card company, or other trusted sources that ask you to “verify” passwords, bank account numbers, or credit card information. Don’t be fooled.
• Use only secure websites for purchases. Look for a secure padlock icon at the bottom of the browser window or an “https” in the URL address.
• Before surfing the Internet, secure your personal computers by updating your security software. Everyone should have antivirus, antispyware, and antispam software installed.

On behalf of the Wauwatosa Police Department and the Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers I want to say thank you to all of our sponsors and participants who helped make this year’s “Pancakes with Mom” such a huge success.

In four hours we hosted 993 people at the Muellner Building. We used over 100 lbs of pancake mix, cooked 3500 sausages, gave away 350 carnations, brewed 60 gallons of coffee and gave away over $2,500.00 in door prizes.

I want to give a special thanks to the Wauwatosa Police Reserves who over the course of three days, including set up and working the day of the event, donated 110 man hours. The Police Reserves are a big reason this event continues to be successful year after year.

The breakfast was also the official kick off for 2007’s National Night Out registration. This years National Night Out will be at Hart Park on Tuesday, August 7, 2007. If you were unable to register at the pancake breakfast, remember that you can register at the Little Read Book Store, 7603 W. State Street, Wauwatosa.

Once again, thank you to all our sponsors and volunteers. The Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers will benefit from the funds raised, and that means that the entire community will benefit.

Mark your calendars for our sixth annual “Pancakes with Mom” on Sunday May 11, 2008.


Officer Don Semega