Surveillance

Surveillance measures use electrical and mechanical devices and various physical means to enhance visibility in the environment. Surveillance is said to be natural if it comes from people and activities normally in the area.

Lighting

• Illuminate all exterior areas that people use at night so they can see where they are going and identify others along their route. Lighting should be consistent to reduce contrast between shadows and illuminated areas.
• Avoid lighting isolated areas that people should not use at night.
• Don’t rely on streetlights or lights from adjoining properties for illumination at night.
• Use timers or photoelectric cells to turn lights on at dusk and off at dawn. And use motion sensors to turn lights on when motion is detected.
• Provide interior lighting where adequate natural light does not exist, e.g. in hallways, stairwells, parking garages and structures.

Cameras

• Install cameras to record persons and activities in areas that are not monitored visually in real time. Use cameras that provide high-quality, digital imagery of suspicious persons and activities to help in crime investigations.
• Provide Internet links to enable camera imagery to be monitored at remote locations.
• Install cameras with video analytics or intelligent video software that can detect unusual or suspicious activity as it is occurring. The software will alert personnel who have monitors, but would not be watching them all the time, that a defined alarm condition has occurred, e.g., that a person has entered an area that is supposed to be unoccupied. The police could then be called if a crime is observed. They might even arrive in time to catch the criminal.

Windows and doors

• Provide two-way visibility in areas open to the public. Do not obstruct windows and doors with signs, displays, plants, etc.
• Provide one-way visibility from inside to outside in areas not open to the public. Use mirrored glass or see-through curtains to maintain inside privacy, and glare-proof glass to enable occupants of a lighted building to see out at night.
• Install peepholes in doors to view people seeking to enter secure areas.

Landscaping

• Plant trees and bushes away from light fixtures so they do not block illumination on the ground.
• Don’t plant anything along pedestrian paths that a person could hide in or behind.
• Grade land where practical without substantially altering the natural terrain to provide unobstructed sight lines within the development and from adjacent streets and developed areas.

Residential developments

• Orient houses so persons inside can see the street and the entrance to the adjacent house.
• Provide front porches with good views of the street.
• Place garages even with or set back from fronts of houses.
• Use straight short cul-de-sacs instead of curved, angled, or long ones where practical without substantially altering the natural terrain to enable the end of the cul-de-sac to be seen from the cross street.
• Use streets as buffers between housing and parks, playgrounds, schools, commercial development, etc.
• Use open fencing instead of solid walls where privacy or environmental noise mitigation is not needed.
• Design exterior stairs, walkways, balconies, and patios with open railings, not solid walls.

Commercial developments

• Orient buildings for good visibility of the street, parking lot, and other buildings in the development.
• Orient parking spaces to provide good visibility between cars from the buildings.
• Use open structures for exterior stairways, walkways, etc
• Use columns instead of interior walls in parking structures and garages.
• Install mirrors to provide visibility around corners.
• Use white paint on the inside walls of parking facilities, stairways, etc.

Indoor Facilities and Activities

• Locate high-activity rooms and areas next to public and semi-public areas. These include building lobbies, rental and property manager’s offices in multi-family residences, cashiers in stores and restaurants, etc. Provide large, unobstructed windows for good visibility looking both in and out.
• Locate receptionists or security guards in building lobbies with a good view of the entrance to the building and its interior elevators and stairs.
• Provide a clear view of room interiors from room entrances.
• Locate facilities for activities that involve a few people at a time in high-activity areas so they can benefit from the natural surveillance and good visibility in the area. These include restrooms, elevators, stairs, ATMs, pay phones, cluster mail boxes, laundry rooms, trash dumpsters, etc.
• Design wholly- or partially-transparent doors and walls for enclosed elevator lobbies so people in them can be seen from outside the lobbies. Design non-transparent doors to be kept open and close automatically when a fire alarm occurs or a smoke detector is activated.

Outdoor Facilities and Activities

• Install benches or other types of seats for people can sit and observe activities on streets, sidewalks, open spaces, etc. Design the seats to comfortable for sitting and not for sleeping or skateboarding. (Their use should be monitored to prevent people using them from smoking, drinking, panhandling, drug activity, and other prohibited conduct.)
• Locate facilities for activities that attract large numbers of people in areas of low usage and poor visibility so that people involved in them can provide surveillance in the area. These include basketball courts, ball fields, eating establishments, etc.
• Locate facilities for activities that involve a few people at a time in areas of high usage and good visibility so they can benefit from the natural surveillance in the area. These include restrooms, pay phones, cluster mail boxes, laundry rooms, ATMs, bus stops, bike racks, parking lots, hiking or jogging trails, etc.
• Locate high-traffic paths to and from buildings through areas that need natural surveillance, but only if a direct route is used.
• Mix residential, commercial, and other land development permitted by zoning regulations to provide round-the-clock street activity. This provides additional natural surveillance.
• Locate parking lots where non-conflicting users, e.g., churchgoers on weekends and office workers on weekdays, can share the spaces to increase the times that people are in the area.

Access Control

Access control measures use electrical/mechanical devices and various physical means to deny offenders access to targets.

Walls, fences, and gates for perimeter security

• Install open fencing, i.e., chain link or wrought iron, unless solid walls are needed for privacy or street noise mitigation. Open fencing does not obstruct visibility, is harder to climb, and is less susceptible to graffiti. Sharp pointed fencing can only be used in agricultural, floodway, and some industrial zones.
• Plant thorny vines along walls to deny access and prevent graffiti.
• Fences, walls, and gates should be at least 6 feet high and have no horizontal elements that a person can use to climb over them.
• Install shields on wrought-iron gates to prevent a person from opening them from the outside by reaching over or through them, or by using bars, wires, etc. to release the locks.
• Use strong springs on gates so they close securely after a person goes through.

Security standards for residences. Install the following:

• Deadbolt locks on all doors to the outside as well as the door from the inside of the garage to the interior of the home
• Double-pane glass windows
• Deadbolt and secondary locking devices on sliding-glass porch, patio, and deck doors
• Secondary locking devices on sliding-glass windows
• Means to prevent sliding-glass doors and windows from being lifted up in their tracks to defeat their locks
• Bars on windows that meet Fire Department release requirements
• Non-removable pins on door hinges that are accessible from the outside when the door is closed
• Flush bolts made of steel with a throw of at least one inch installed at the top and bottom of the inactive door of a set of double doors
• Fully tempered glass in doors
• Unbreakable glass or plastic in garage door windows that provides one-way visibility from the inside
• Viewing windows on the hinge side of doors. If they must be on the lock side, locate them at least 40 inches from the lock or make them of some unbreakable material.
• Side-yard gates. (Keep them locked to deny burglars access to the back and sides of residences.)

Door and gate operation in multi-family residences and office buildings.

• Provide individual key or proximity cards to authorized persons. They are preferred to keys, numerical keypads, and remote clickers because: (1) they can only be used by the person possessing the card, (2) a record can be kept of their use, (3) they can used multiple doors and gates, (4) they can be deactivated when reported lost or stolen, or when a person’s access is no longer authorized, (5) they cannot be duplicated and given to unauthorized persons, and (6) they would not be left in a vehicle for a thief to use to exit a garage.
• Require the card to be used to open both entry and exit gates of parking garages and structures.

Windows and doors in businesses

• Install flush bolts made of steel with a throw of at least one inch at the top and bottom of the inactive door of a set of double doors.
• Use unbreakable laminated glass or clear acrylic plastic.
• Install folding security gates or roll-down security shutters inside office windows and doors.
• Where motion detectors are installed to open or unlock exit doors from the inside when a person approaches the door, set the detectors far enough back from the door so a person outside the door cannot slip something between the door and the frame to create motion on the inside and thereby open the door. Or install a shield on the outside of the door so a person on the outside cannot slip anything between the door and the frame.

Alarms in residences and businesses

• Install a burglar alarm system and have it monitored 24/7. Use multiple sensors; they reduce false alarms.
• Provide a wireless backup that can send an alarm signal if the telephone line is cut.
• Install audible alarms on self-locking exit doors and gates to discourage people from leaving them open.
• Install a display panel in the building office that shows which doors or gates are open.

Trash enclosures and dumpsters

• Keep enclosures locked except when the containers in it are being filled or emptied.

Secure utilities

• Install external circuit breakers and telephone connections in sturdy boxes with shielded padlocks.
• Install circuit breakers and telephone connections internally where possible.

Secure backflow preventers

• Paint the device. Paint is a deterrent because painted metal is less valuable.
• Camouflage the device. Fake rocks work well. Just make sure there is a one-foot clearance around the device.
• Hide the device. Paint it green and place it in a bush or hedge. This is a low-cost measure.
• Use a device with plastic parts. Plastic is less valuable.
• Enclose the device in a protective cage or box. Must mount it securely to the ground and use a tamper-proof lock or else the thieves will steal the cage too.
• Install a locking-cable system with shielded-shackle locks and a concrete foundation.

Parking lots, structures, and garages in multi-family residences, shopping centers, and commercial buildings

• Install overhead or sliding gates at the entrances and exits to parking garages and structures of multi-family residences to control access by pedestrians as well as vehicles. Provide visitor parking in an area that is not gated. (If visitor parking is provided in the garage, the gates to the resident parking area can be inside the garage to separate the two areas.)
• Provide a separate secure parking area for residents’ vehicles in mixed-use developments.
• Install simple swinging-arm gates at the entrances and exits to shopping center parking facilities. (Drivers would take a ticket to open the entrance gate. They would give their tickets to an attendant to compute the parking fee and open an exit gate, or prepay at a machine or cashier and get a ticket to open an exit gate. Or stores could validate tickets for a certain amount of free or discounted parking.)
• Provide a separate secure parking area for employees’ vehicles in shopping centers.
• Install simple swinging-arm gates at the entrances and exits parking facilities for commercial buildings and require employees to use access cards to enter and leave. Provide visitor parking in a separate area that is not gated.
• Locate open parking spaces in residential parking lots next to the buildings and carports along the perimeter of the lot away from the buildings. Individual parking spaces under buildings should be in individual garages.

Residential developments

• Install gates at the public street entrance and exit of developments with private streets.
• Build houses on both sides of streets bordering an open space. And provide access to the open space at designated trailheads.

Barriers

• Install fences or other barriers to prevent misuse of public facilities or areas, e.g., bathing in fountains, camping overnight under bridges, or violating protected open spaces.
• Design benches with arm rests to discourage sleeping and skateboarding.

Roofs

• Install locking covers to shroud ladders.
• Secure hatches, skylights, ventilation shafts, air conditioning and heating ducts, and other rooftop entrances on the inside with grills or grates. Alarm those that cannot be secured.
• Install a motion detector that would activate an alarm if someone goes on the roof.

Elevator and stairway controls in mixed-use, multi-floor residential and commercial buildings

• Provide separate elevators for residents. Install card readers at the elevators so residents can only go to their floors, parking garage levels, and the lobby if separate elevators are not provided. (Residents’ access cards would be programmed for this.)
• Install a telephone system in the lobby for visitors to use to call for elevator-access to a residential floor, and for residents to use to visit a resident on another floor.
• Lock stairwell doors to the residential floors and parking levels on the stairwell side and install an access card reader to enable residents to enter their floor and parking level from the stairwell. Because stairwell reentry is necessary in a fire emergency provisions must be made to release the locks when a fire alarm is activated.

Elevator and stairway controls in multi-floor office buildings

• Install card readers at the elevators so employees can only go to their office floors, parking garage levels, and the lobby. Employees’ access cards would be programmed for this if employee access to the office floors is to be controlled.
• Install a telephone system in the lobby for visitors to use to call for elevator-access to an office floor if visitor access to the office floors is to be controlled. Or host employees could be called to escort visitors in the building.
• Lock stairwell doors to the office floors and parking levels on the stairwell side and install an access card reader to enable employees to enter their floor and parking level from the stairwell. Because stairwell reentry is necessary in a fire emergency provisions must be made to release the locks when a fire alarm is activated.

Landscaping

• Locate plants with prickly leaves or thorns like bougainvillea and natal plum where access is to be controlled, e.g., along fences to discourage trespassers from climbing over them.
• Plant bushes and trees along sidewalks at ground level and not in raised planter boxes that provide places for transients to sit and loiter.

Territoriality

Territoriality measures define ownership and control activities in the environment. They delineate spaces with limited or no public access and guide legitimate users safely through the environment.

Boundaries

• Establish clear boundaries between public and private spaces. Use walls, fences, gates, landscaping, signs, pavement treatment, etc.
• Define ownership and uses for all spaces in a development. No space should be ignored, especially if it cannot be seen from the main activity areas.

Streets in residential areas

• Employ measures to reduce the amount and speed of vehicular traffic. These include two-way traffic, on-street parking, speed limits, speed bumps/humps, signs, curb indentations, signals, pedestrian crosswalks, etc.
• Create cul-de-sacs with barriers on streets that are not needed for through vehicle traffic.
• Limit on-street parking to residents, visitors, and delivery/service vehicles.

Signs. Install signs that do the following:

• Direct visitors to the building or development office or receptionist.
• Show where visitors can park, and warn that public parking is prohibited and unauthorized vehicles will be towed.
• State the hours that activities are prohibited, e.g., no visitors after 10:00 p.m.
• Inform persons of access control and surveillance measures.
• Direct people to safe paths, emergency exits, emergency communications, etc

Maintenance

Maintenance measures allow the continued use of spaces for their intended purposes and maintain the effectiveness of measures employed for surveillance, access control, and territoriality.

Harden against vandalism by using:

• Design features and materials that cannot easily be vandalized, stolen, or used to damage the property, e.g., don’t use loose rocks.
• Graffiti-resistant paint or anti-graffiti coatings on walls, benches, light poles, signs, etc.
• Screens, wired glass, or other protection for light fixtures and bulbs.
• Shiny aluminum or shatter-resistant glass for mirrors.
• Protective films on the outside of windows to prevent window damage from graffiti, knife gouging or scratching, and acid etching.

Prevent skateboarding

• Roughen pavement surfaces or plant grass in front of benches, planter boxes, low walls, steps, and railings.
• Plant trees at ground level and not in raised planter boxes.
• Shape the edges of seat benches and low walls.
• Install arm rests or seat dividers on flat seating surfaces.
• Design low walls, curbs, railings, and planter boxes with breaks, bumps, or height differentials.
• Install circular picnic tables and curved benches instead of rectangular tables and straight benches on concrete paving.

CAVEATS

CPTED measures employ three elements — people, devices, and design features — to deter crimes of opportunity by making it more difficult for an offender to commit a crime and escape without being stopped or detected.

Although devices and design features are important, the human element is the critical one. People in the environment must:

• Take advantage of the visibility provided to observe and question intruders.
• Report suspicious behavior and criminal activities.
• Use the access control measures provided to keep intruders out.
• Use security measures to protect themselves and their property.
• Exercise control over their environment.

But even all of this will not stop many types of offenders. Other concepts and strategies will be needed to deal with offenders who are:

• Determined and skillful in defeating surveillance and access control measures,
• Irrational in their behavior,
• Acting as a member of an organized gang,
• Under the influence of drugs or alcohol,
• Reckless or undeterred by the risks of detection and apprehension,
• Unconcerned about possible punishment, or
• Legitimately in the area.

The need for the community, police, and other agencies and organizations to work together as partners to employ other concepts and strategies is especially critical in dealing with gangs. This is because organized gangs can also use surveillance, access control, and territoriality measures, along with terror and intimidation, to make an environment safe for their criminal activities.

Source:   http://www.sandiego.gov/police/prevention/deter.shtml

When people think about personal security, they often focus on safety tips while in public places. This is extremely important, but it is also essential to consider safety measures around the home. There are several things seniors can do to make their house a secure haven.

Create a Safe Home
Many years ago, people left their doors unlocked and windows down, but in most places, those days are long gone. Crime rates are higher than ever, so homeowners should make their house as secure as possible.

Start by installing durable locks on all your doors and windows. Burglars are interested in finding the easiest opportunity, so if your home is strongly fortified they will be likely to move on. Never leave spare keys under your doormat or in any other conspicuous place. Criminals know the most common hiding spots for keys; so don’t give them easy access. Install a security alarm system in your home, or if that’s too expensive, place a sign in your yard. Again, a law breaker will be looking for the easiest opportunity and will very likely pass up your home if they even believe you have a system in place.

If an unexpected visitor shows up at your home, identify them before you open the door. Use a peephole or window to visually assess who they are, and don’t be afraid to call the police if the person won’t go away.

Is Someone Watching You?
Many criminals will watch a home before they break in. They look for regular routines so they know when you are least likely to be home, and pick out the easiest way to get inside. Varying your personal routine can discourage a predator, because they won’t be certain when your home will be vacant.

Keep an eye out for people who appear to be watching your home. Work with the people who live nearby to form a Neighborhood Watch so you can look out for each other. If you notice suspicious characters who appear to be spending time driving up and down your block or hanging out in front of your house, call the police immediately.

Effective Safety Products
Despite your best efforts to keep predators out, a determined and well-trained criminal may be able to get into your home. A break in can be a very dangerous scenario if you are in the house, so you may want to consider keeping a self-defense weapon.

There are several non-lethal devices that you can use against an intruder. A can of pepper spray will shoot a blistering hot mist to stop any home invader. The spray will temporarily inhibit their respiratory system and leave them gasping for breath. Stun guns will shoot powerful jolts of electricity into a predator’s body the moment the weapon makes physical contact. TASERS fire two electrified prongs from several feet away. Both of these stun weapons are guaranteed to take down an invader.

With luck you will never have to use a weapon in your home, but if you do remember to stay calm and call the police immediately.

While On Vacation
Your home may be in jeopardy if you are gone for several days, so it’s up to you to fortify the place properly. Start by temporarily canceling the mail and any newspaper subscription. Nothing provides are more surefire signal that you are away than a stack of papers on the lawn, or envelopes flowing out of the mailbox.

Hide any valuables you leave behind in a well constructed or even a diversion safe. These are safes that are cleverly disguised as normal household items, such as a can of soda or a book. You can keep a fake safe where you would keep the real thing, and you’ll be hiding your cherished goods in a place where criminals won’t find them- right in plain sight.

Before you leave, tell a trusted neighbor that you’ll be out of town. Ask them to keep an eye on your house and report any suspicious behavior. Give them a number to reach you in case of an emergency.

Securing your home should be high on the list of every senior safety plan. Make your house a place unappealing to criminals to protect your belongings, yourself and your loved ones.

Souce: www.crimepreventiontips.org

A Shocking New Jacket Protects Women

Forget tasers ladies, the No-Contact Jacket is where it’s at.
The No-Contact Jacket is a wearable defensive jacket created to aid women in their struggle for protection from violence. When activated by the wearer, 80,000 volts of low amperage electric current pulses just below the surface shell of the entire jacket. This exo-electric armor prevents any person from unauthorized contact with the wearer’s body.

Pretty freaking sweet. The little blue things you see in the picture up near the lady’s neck is actually arcing current. Man that’s awesome. I’m getting one for my girlfriend, I’ll let you know how she likes it.

UPDATE: She liked it a lot until she wiped her nose on the sleeve. Now she’s on the kitchen floor with smoke coming out of her eyes.

Several more pictures, including a close-up of the arcing accent, and a link to two videos, after the jump.

Official Site
Video of the arcing
Video of actual demonstration

Thanks Liam, lets take turns kicking each other in the nuts

An electrically charged coat could prevent women from being attacked.

Souce:  www.geekologie.com

For more information..

An MIT engineer and a fashion designer have teamed up to develop an electric coat to protect women from being attacked. The key is a simple 9V battery and a special fabric that conducts electricity and can be hidden inside the lining of a jacket. When someone grabs the jacket, 80-thousand volts are released. That’s enough electricity to stop an attack, without killing the attacker, but the jacket’s inner lining is insulated to protect the wearer. The jacket has been tested successfully in the lab, and now three volunteers are testing it in the real world.

Adam Whiton (the MIT engineer) and Yolita Nugent (the fashion designer) were working together on a project. One day, they started talking about personal security – how men and women often feel very different levels of security while living in the city. When Nugent told Whiton how she often felt nervous walking alone, he came up with the idea of a portable electric fence, a jacket that would shock anyone who tried to attack a woman wearing it.

The jacket runs on an ordinary 9V battery. If a woman feels threatened, for example if she’s walking down a dark street, or sees a group of strangers, she can arm the jacket with a small key, which connects the battery to a series of capacitors that “step up” the voltage to 80 000 volts (but a very low, non-lethal current). When the jacket is armed, a small light in the sleeve tells the wearer that the system is active.

Souce: www.acfnewsource.org

The web can be a fun and fascinating place for seniors to explore, but it also presents several dangers. Learning a few senior safety tips for the Internet can be an invaluable lesson; there are a few areas where web browsers should be extremely cautious.

Scams

Seniors tend to be very trusting, which makes them easy targets for scam artists. Older Internet users often face a variety of scams, and they can be easy to fall for.

Most scams either ask people for help, or offer something for nothing. Seniors who are prone to help people in need are likely to fall for the first type of scam. Anyone who hopes to get ahead in life quickly may fall for the second.

Two common internet scams are the Lottery and the offer to deposit millions into your bank account. Lottery scams claim that you have won a great prize, and all you have to do to is pay a small fee upfront. Bank account scams offer to give you millions of dollars if you help the other person get to their money by providing some capital. Both are designed to separate you from your money, and you will never receive anything in return. As with so many other things in life, a good rule of thumb is that if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Phishing, Anyone?

Phishing is a criminal activity in which people send phony emails to people and ask them to click on a link. These emails appear to come from reputable business: banks, insurance companies, social networking sites, etc.

The emails give the reader a reason to click the link and log in to a personal account. When the person clicks the link, they are taken to a website that seems to be the real thing. However, the site is actually an exact replica run by web savvy criminals.

Once the victim logs on to the website, the criminals will have access to their user name and password. This allows the thieves to go to the actual site, log in as you, and steal any personal information you have stored, such as credit cards or bank account numbers. Phishing is a major problem, and the best way to avoid it is to always go directly to a website before entering your log in information, never clicking on a link in an e-mail.

Identity Theft

One of the biggest online dangers seniors face is identity theft. This is when people use your name, credit cards and other personal attributes to benefit themselves.

The best way to avoid identity theft is to be extremely careful with your personal information. Always watch out for scams or attempts to phish you for personal information. Never provide your social security number to anyone online. That number is the most personal identifier you have, so protect it vigilantly.

When you shop online, do not supply your credit card or other personal details unless you are making a purchase from a reputable website. If you aren’t certain about a particular site, go somewhere else, or check them out either by calling, going to a site like the better business bureau and even looking up the site name to see what others who have bought from there have to say. There are many safe and secure places to buy anything you want online.

Seniors can have a safe and enjoyable experience online, it’s just a matter of being cautious. You can also request a copy of your personal credit report from major credit bureaus. This will help you discover if someone is using your identity, and give you peace of mind.

Souce:  www.crimepreventiontips.org

Public transportation can be a great solution for local travel for seniors, but it also presents possible dangers and complications. Before embarking on any form of public transportation, take a moment to consider a few helpful safety tips.

Entering & Exiting
The top three forms of public transportation for seniors are taxis, busses and subways. There are a few precautions you can follow when using any of these methods of conveyance.

Busses are a convenient and inexpensive way to travel, but they can be confusing. Prior to stepping on to a bus, study the route you need and find out if you will have to transfer to another vehicle. Have your fare in hand as you step on to the bus, and try to find a seat close to the front.

Subways are a fast and accommodating method of transportation. One important thing to remember when riding the subway is to “mind the gap”. Remember the small gap between the platform and the actual train. Watch for this gap before you step in or out of a subway car, and always let riders who are exiting the subway get off before you step on.

Taxis are more expensive, but they will take you to your exact destination. When you get in or out of a taxi, watch for uneven pavement, or ground that may be slippery. Drivers have their official licenses posted in the vehicle, so make sure you only accept a ride from a legally authorized person.

Other Riders
Whatever your preferred mode of transportation may be, spend some time watching the people around you. Be wary of people who are acting suspicious, or anyone who sits too close when there are plenty of seats available. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, move to another seat, or alert the driver if you feel you feel you are in danger.

While riding, you may want to read, nap or find something else to pass the time, but you should stay alert at all times. This is especially important when you have several bags or packages with you. A predator can easily grab something that belongs to you if you aren’t paying attention.

Seniors who frequently utilize public transportation may want to carry a personal alarm. This is a security device that emits a loud warning siren when activated. It is guaranteed to be heard by everyone around, and can help scare a potential thief or assailant away. You may also want to consider carrying a non lethal weapon. See our Personal Weapons For Seniors article for more information.

Safe Travel Times
Seniors usually use public transportation during the day, when other riders are likely to be present. Regardless of what time you travel, there are a few safety tips you can follow to make sure your trip is worry free.

Try to avoid riding the subway alone at night. Crime rates always go up in the dark, and the subway can be a dangerous place for any solo rider, regardless of age, after the sun goes down. Avoid bus stops that are located in isolated areas. This is important whether you are getting on or off the bus. Although taxis cost more, they may be safer to use if you are alone. Never exit a taxi in a dark area where a criminal could be hiding. Ask the driver to deliver you to a safe, well-lit location.

Public transportation provides a great solution to allow seniors to get wherever they want to go. Whenever possible, ride with friends, and follow these public transportation safety tips to help you arrive safely every time.

Souce: www.crimepreventiontips.org