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Crime Prevention Information
It is not enough for the police alone to fight crime. Reducing the risk and fear of crime
is a task for the police and the community working together.
The links in this section contain basic information to help you contribute to the fight
against crime by protecting yourself and your property. Follow the links in this section
to find the pages relevant to you.
Crime Prevention Tips
The crimes we fear the most occur the least. Armed robbery, severe
assault, murder and rape, while highly publicized are relatively rare;
the average citizen is unlikely to become a victim. Prevention consists
of common-sense measures; avoid dangerous areas, especially alone at
night, use street lights for visibility, stay in view of others, walk in
groups when leaving public events and call for police assistance if you
have any reason to feel suspicious.
When we speak of crime prevention, in most cases the crimes to be
prevented are burglary, car prowls and vandalism. They are the most
common crimes and most likely to happen to the average citizen,
regardless of location or social status. Burglary is a crime of
opportunity. Burglars and car prowlers seek easy targets, empty homes
with easy, hidden entry, unlocked cars with visible valuables inside.
Defense against burglaries and car prowls (and the companion crime of
vandalism) rest on three principles:
1. Reduce the criminals motivation
2. Reduce the criminals opportunity
3. Increase the difficulty of committing the crime successfully
Reducing Motivation:
- Notice strange people in your neighborhood, and make sure they
know it! Burglars
often park their cars and case the area, noting which houses are
unoccupied and
how they might enter unnoticed.
- Hold a block watch party. Getting together with your neighbors
builds a sense of
community and interdependence. The posted block watch signs tell a
potential
burglar that people are watching and the neighborhood cares.
- Lock your vehicle!!! Do not leave valuables (cell phone, CD
holders,
purses/wallets etc) visible inside the vehicle.
- Mark you major possessions with an engraver. Use your Oregon
driver’s license
number or some other unique manner of identification. This makes your
item I identifiable and more difficult to pawn.
- Use your imagination to protect your home and property. One person
posts a sign
“day sleeper” in his window, another puts a large dog dish and a pair
of mens boots
outside her back door. Leaving a radio or TV turned on creates the
illusion that the
house is occupied. Timers are now available that will vary the times
that lights are
turned on and off so the house seems occupied.
- Sign up for vacation house checks if you are going to be out of
town. Our Citizens
Auxiliary Patrol will check your house and advise the police
department if anything
seems out of place. Also, put a hold on your mail and paper delivery
while you are gone.
Reducing Opportunity:
- Keep your hedges and bushes trimmed. Houses with large bushes
offer cover for a
burglar who breaks a window. Make it impossible to stand next to your
house without
being seen.
- Install perimeter lighting. Make sure a burglar cannot approach
and entrance in
darkness. Inexpensive lights are available which detect motion.
Installed on a back
porch, they illuminate the area if anyone approaches.
- Get to know your neighbors. They more you know about them, the
more you will
notice anything unusual. Establish an attitude of mutual watchfulness
with them.
- Report anything suspicious. You are our most effected eyes and
ears. The police are
interested in anything suspicious, whether or not a crime is being
committed. If
anything strikes you as suspicious (slow moving vehicles, suspicious
persons,
vehicles being loaded with valuables etc) report it by calling 911.
Don’t worry about
causing a problem, it is our job to check these things out.
Increasing Difficulty:
- No home is burglar proof, but any home can be made difficult to
enter. The object is to make it impossible to enter without breaking a
door or window.
- Keyed locks are available to add to most existing aluminum sliding
doors and windows. They can be fitted into existing tracks and prevent
opening without a key.
- Deadbolts cannot be forced with a credit card. We recommend a 1.5’
throw (how far it goes into the doorframe), this makes it harder to
force the door open. Remember, a deadbolt keyed on both sides is
doubly difficult. The burglar might get in a window but needs to get
the loot out the door. For safety, leave a key near the door when you
are home.
- Harden doors by fastening the striker plate with six-inch screws
passing into the stud wall. Replace one screw on each hinge with a
protruding nail and leave the opposite screw out. If the hinge is
pulled, the door still cannot be removed.
- Anti-jimmy bars, as simple as a piece of wood, can be laid in
sliding window tracks to prevent their opening. More sophisticated
bars can be locked into place.
Reducing vandalism:
Often, vandalism is caused by young people in the immediate
neighborhood. If you suspect that is the case, remember to keep a
rational perspective. You can help solve the problem by speaking with
the parents, reporting the activity to the police and getting to know
the potential offenders. Continuous effort is necessary to solve the
problem. Even when an arrest can be made, the irate homeowner may not be
satisfied with the results. Remember that persistence pays and over
reaction hurts. Threatening violence or displaying a firearm does not
help and exposes you to liability and criminal charges.
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