S.I.V.A. Continued

The next letter in the acronym is "I" which stands for Isolation.

Criminals have to get you away from witnesses so, just as the lioness on the hunt causes the herd to run so the weak, old and cripples are left behind, the human predator waits for his victim to leave the safety of the herd.

His victim does this for the most part entirely voluntarily by leaving with his/her shopping bags and heading for the car whilst on a shopping trip.

The other option for the criminal, especially with sexual predators, is removing the victim from crime scene #1 to crime scene #2 for the same purpose.

Two things therefore to remember are, number one, exercise some heightened awareness anytime you leave the safety of numbers and head off on your own. Maybe it's leaving your group of friends after a night out and going off to the parking deck, or maybe it's leaving the bar at night and walking home, either way be a little extra vigilant because you've now firmly set yourself in the sights of any potential attacker.

The second thing, and this is critical, never ever go to the second crime scene. You may die at the first one if you refuse (debatable) but the 2nd one will be a slow death while being tortured and toyed with for hours and possibly even days.

As Paul Pfingst, a San Diego DA said "Murder is one thing, but torture, mayhem, and savagery - it takes more time for these crimes. Every torture case I have prosecuted involved a victim isolated and completely controlled." quote unquote.

Curtain Call

When I first arrived in Charlotte approximately twelve years ago I used to live near downtown and drive through a suburb called Myers Park on the way to the movies.

What struck me as odd was that almost every house, and these are verrrrry nice houses, would have no curtains on the windows, lights blazing inside, in every room, with all their silverware, artwork and fine furniture etc on display for the world to see.

I could never figure out whether they were struggling so hard to keep up with the Jones' that they couldn't afford curtains or whether it was merely a case of trying to rub everyone's nose in it i.e. the fact they had nice things and you didn't. Either way it was a dumb move. In Australia, England and France elementary home security 101 was you always keep your blinds drawn so crooks trying to case places to rob had their work cut out for them figuring if you had anything work taking.

Here was the Myers Park crowd putting it all on display like a storefront window in a veritable smorgasbord for the criminal set to pick and choose from.

Well, finally it happened. I heard in the news the other day crooks tried three times - and the third time was a charm - to get a flat screen tv from a house in - yep, you guessed it - Myers Park. The first time they were confronted in the house, the second time they got in but were scared away and the last time they got the loot.

Now, it's curtains for the crooks because they were finally caught...and hopefully it will be curtains for the residents of the area who may have finally realized that leaving all your valuables on display is a boneheaded move and serves no purpose but to let crooks know if you have anything work taking.

Normally I sympathize with the victims...but, this is no different than leaving a pocket book and a Rolex on the front seat of your car and expecting me to shed a tear when you come back to find someone broke your window and took it.

Hide your valuables people, hide your valuables. It's elementary security.