OT: safety tip from the neighborhood watch group

A police officer told me once that no matter what, NEVER get into your car or another car with a stranger, and NEVER let a stranger into your car. Strangers looking to rob, rape, etc. sometimes are in mall parking lots, and may ask for a short ride to another lot to get their own cars, claiming aprained ankle, etc. The officer said to scream your head off and do whatever you can, but don't ever believe that you will be safe in a car, since, according to him, NO stranger takes a woman without something serious or deadly in mind.

Isn't this a terribly sad state of our "civilisation"? As a child( almost in the stone age), I was brought up to ask strangers for help. "Please see me across the road" etc. I taught my kids to trust the police, but be cautious about real strangers. Now, everyone, other than those known to the family (very well) are suspect and dangerous!!

So sad!!

Gillian, the septuagenarian!

Several years ago in my mid-size city, a woman was picking up a couple of items in the evening at a quick shop. When she left and got into her car just outside, a man who had also been in the quick shop came outside, knocked on her window, and motioned for her to unlock the door. Instead, the woman reached into her purse, pulled out a gun, and said to get away from her car. He backed off, and she drove home. The man then called the police to say he had been threatened and that all he wanted was directions. When the police arrived at her home, she explained that he had been in the store, could have asked any of several people for directions when he was inside, and in her opinion had threatened her when he followed her out, knocked on her window, and motioned for her to unlock the door. As it turned out, the police refused to take any action against the lady. She had a firearms owner card but no permit for concealed carry, and in fact, the way she had the gun stored in her purse did not happen to meet laws concerning transport of firearms, so technically she was wrong. The fact that the police did not file any charges against the woman seemed to send a message to a few of the more unsavory fellows. And the police told the man that he could be charged for threatening the woman. The entire incident was in the newspaper, and all the letters to the editor supported the woman. During a similar incident in Chicago several years ago, the man approached a woman's car at a stoplight at night, and when she refused to open the door he beat on the car and tried to break the window. Her car was hemmed in with traffic and she was not able to drive away. When she drew her gun and told him to step away, he got even more violent, and when he broke the window she shot him. That woman was an off-duty police officer, and was instantly cleared by Internal Affairs. I am NOT advocating that we women should start carrying guns, legally or otherwise. However, we do need to be careful. And how very sad that we really need to think about it!

Here in this area we have been warned by a policeman that the newest problem they've been having is at gas pumps.

When you get out of your car to pump the gas, a car comes up alongside yours and before you know it, they open the door on the passenger side and steal whatever they can reach. Lots of women have been victimized because they tend to take their credit card, or whatever cash they need, and leave their purse on the seat unattended. All the gas stations here have cameras and he showed us a video of this crime when it happened at a local station.

It was hard to comprehend how quickly the guy was able to open the door, reach in, grab the purse and get in his car and take off without the woman pumping gas even knowing it was happening.

Lucille

Take the outside pump on the end of the row because then you should immediately be suspicious if someone pulls alongside you and stops.

I ALWAYS lock my purse inside the car when I pump gas. I take my credit card out with me and nothing else. I do this ESPECIALLY when my grandchildren are with me.

My children think I'm paranoid -- I prefer to call it cautious.

If you are a mother or grand mother , or even if you have other people around , you have to keep your gun on the safety lock , Thus unless you are trained, a gun in your hand might be used against you. I refuse[d] all my life to have a gun in my house, although in some instances it saved people from robbert or Terror actions. There are many safety habits we all could teach ourselves. A gun isn`t one of them. In the case that you have to go through a troublesome place , maybe a peper spray like the postmen have to prevent dog`s biting , might be a better solution, But you will have to have in hand`s reach ,, i know a woman who caries it on her neck next to the cellular phone. mirjam

You might consider having one of those Multy pockets vest , when you drive , this way all your purse and other important things are in your pockets on your vest on your body . mirjam

Here in the UK guns are not so much of a problem although there are concerns about gun culture amongst the youngsters in some inner city areas. Our laws are also appear rather strange at times; for example, if a burglar breaks into your house, trips on some loose carpet and falls down the stairs he is quite entitled to sue you for any injuries that he sustains - and he can claim tax-payers money (in the form of legal aid) to pursue his claim. And if you try to protect your home & family from the activities of the burglar he is quite likely to sue YOU for assaulting HIM; you are entitled to use "reasonable force" but there is no legal definition of "reasonable force". Fortunately the only guns up here in Orkney are those used by farmers to keep pests (rats, rabbits, geese etc) under control.

That's what I've been doing since I saw that video. I just take my keys and my credit card.

PS-I imagine if you ask the cops about what I described they probably could contact the Port St Lucie police and get a copy of the video to show to skeptics.

That's what I've been doing since I saw the video. I just take my keys and my credit card.

The latest thing on our news was the Copycat purse-snatcher. She follows you into a store, follows you around, puts exactly the same items into her cart, and when you turn your back for a moment, she swaps carts and walks off with the one containing your purse.

That defeats even my trick of knotting my shoulder strap around the cart handle.

I keep my purse on my shoulder, with my hand on the purse itself. I tell you, I'm cautious.

Even in the grocery store....I just keep that bag with me.

Snatch and run is too easy, and I can't run fast enough to catch them any more.

I'm sorry to sound like doom and gloom but that isn't always so great either. If they should grab your bag despite your holding it like that, they can drag you along and that can be a disaster. A friend of mine back in New York wound up with a broken collarbone in just such a snatch and run incident.

Lucille

I know, I know. But the truth is, something can always happen to you.

That proverbial bus can mow you down.

There was a woman here in town, a store-owner, who was gunned down by a 15 year old boy because she wouldn't give up the cash in her register. People say, why not, the money wasn't worth her life -- but it may have felt to her like it was. Think how many people live day to day, never knowing if they'll make enough to pay their bills and feed their children -- and then along comes an adolescent who decides he's entitled to what she has worked so hard for, just because he wants it.

Well, that's a 15 year old boy they caught, and he'll likely spend the rest of his natural life in prison.

Heck, many years ago my DH was robbed at knifepoint. The thief swiped the knife across his face and cut him on both sides of his lips, but that was the only injury to DH. However, that guy and his buddies left there and carjacked another fellow, beat him severely, and left him for dead. He survived, but just barely.

So much of life is luck, just good fortune or bad, whatever comes your way.

All we can do is the best we can.

I am cautious, I am careful -- and that's usually enough to warn a thief away, because they generally want the easy target. But there are no guarantees.

That's the point of knotting it to the cart. They drag the cart along behind them, and hopefully they stop short and the cart knocks them over. :) At the very least, someone notices something odd about a man being FOLLOWED by a cart.

I usualy have a ruck sack anyway , thus in the super i DO NOT put my bag on the cart ,,, mirjam