Hey Hey everyone, I hope all is well for you today. We had a bit of a cold night up here in Maine. When I went to bed at around midnight it was 34 outside and when I got up this morning at 7 it was 39. Yikes! I thought winter was over but apparently I was wrong. Good news is today is shaping up to be very nice, not a cloud in the sky so far. But enough with the weather report for today.
I was reading the local paper this morning and read an article that surprised me. Well it wasn’t a huge surprise since I had been expecting it but it is alarming none the less. Like I said, I live in Maine which is considered one of the safest states in the country. This article was talking about the rising crime rate in Maine. During 2008 Maine saw a jump of almost 1% in our overall crime. But what I thought was very disturbing was the fact rural crime was up almost 7% from 2007. That’s a pretty scary thing.
One point I have always tried to get a crossed was the fact that no matter where you live you are at risk of being a victim of a crime. It is a fact of life and there is no getting away from it. That doesn’t mean you have to install security bars on the windows and never go outside. It just means you want to take proactive steps to make sure you are protected.
There are many ways you are able to do this. For you home you can do a few simple things to make sure your home is protected. I always recommend taking a little time and walking around the outside of your home and pretend to be a burglar. Try and find all the different ways you can gain entry to your home. Let’s say you come to a window that is able to open easily, than you would want to take some steps to secure it. The best way to do this is to get a window jam. You can either buy one or make one yourself. If you make one yourself all you have to do is measure a piece of wood that is long enough to go from the top of the lower part of the window up to the top frame. Then you put it in place and it will make it almost impossible to open the window even if it is unlocked.
If you spend some time finding all the weak areas in your home security than you can make your home much safer without spending much money at all.
There are also many ways to keep yourself protected when you are out and about. There are things you can buy like stun guns or pepper spray. If you want to find out where to buy pepper spray just head over to our main page and you will find a great selection. If you want to find the best stun guns for sale we have you covered there too
But there is also ways you can do it without spending money. The best way to avoid being a victim of a crime, like a mugging, is to be very aware of your surroundings. If you are the type of person that does a lot of walking around or walks to work than pay attention to the areas you walk through. You will notice things you never did before like dark places where criminals can lurk.
You want to pay attention to locations that have no street lights. They tend to be a prime place for muggings to happen because it is easy for a criminal to hide in the shadows. Another thing to watch out for is area where there are not a lot of people such as parking lots or alleys. These are a hot spot for criminals to attack. If a criminal is planning on robbing someone they want to do it in a place where no one will notice. As an example if you are walking through the parking lot coming out of work or from shopping you want to pay attention to what the few people out there are doing. The people that are in parking lots are normally heading to their car or heading to the building. If you see someone just standing there not walking around you want to avoid that person. The key is to look for activity that doesn’t match the situation.
There are many other ways to stay safe and these are meant to serve as examples of what you can do. In upcoming posts I will be going into more detail on ways to do this. I hope this gives everyone and idea of things they should be doing to be safe.
I’ll leave it at that for today I have to get back to finishing off getting our new office set up.
Be Safe,
Barry
