PREVENTING KIDNAPPING

KNOW THE RULES...

ABDUCTION and KIDNAPPING

Prevention Tips for Parents and Guardian

1. Teach your children to run away from danger, never toward it. Danger is anyone or anything invading their personal space. If anyone should try to grab them, tell them to make a scene; loudly yell this person is not my father/mother/guardian; and make every effort to get away by kicking, screaming, and resisting. Their safety is more important than being polite. Teach your children if they are ever followed in a vehicle to turn around and run in the other direction to you or another trusted adult.
2. Never let your children go places alone, and always supervise your young children or make sure there is another trusted adult present to supervise them if you cannot. Make sure your older children always take a friend when they go anywhere.
3. Know where your children are and whom they are with at all times. Remind children to never take anything or respond in any way if approached by anyone they don’t know, and also remind them to never approach a vehicle without your permission. Teach them to run away as quickly as possible to you or another trusted adult.
4. Talk openly to your children about safety and encourage them to tell you or a trusted adult if anyone or anything makes them feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused. Discuss safety issues with your children so they will understand the need for precautions. Advise your older children about steps they may take to help safeguard themselves. Know your children’s friends and their families. Pay attention to your children and listen to them. If you don’t, someone else may. And others may have ulterior motives for befriending your children.
5. Practice what you teach by creating “what if” scenarios with your children to make sure they understand the safety message and are able to use it in a real situation.
6. Consider installing an alarm system in your home with a monitoring feature. If you do not have an alarm system, consider purchasing less expensive wireless door and window alarms. Make sure your home is secured with deadbolt locks, and ensure landscaping around it doesn’t provide places for people to hide. Check other access points such as gates, and make sure they have been secured. Consider installing exterior lighting around your home. Make sure your home is fully secured before you go to sleep and items such as ladders have been stored inside. Prepare a plan to vacate your home in case of any emergency. This should include but is not limited to a fire. Have a plan if an intruder tries or gets into your home.
7. Make your children part of securing your home. If you have installed an alarm system, demonstrate it to your children and show them how to make sure doors and windows are locked. This will not only help calm their fears but will also help make them part of your “safety plan” at home.
8. Have a list of family members who could be contacted in case of an emergency. Designate a family member or close associate who would be able to fill the role of advisor in case of an emergency.
9. Be alert to and aware of your surroundings. Know the “escape routes” and plan what you would do in different emergencies. Practice “what if” scenarios, so you will be well prepared. Know the location of local hospitals and best routes to take to reach them. Know how to reach the nearest local law enforcement agency or sub-station.
10. Know your employees and coworkers. Do background screening and reference checks on everyone who works at your home, particularly those individuals who care for your children. Their knowledge of your family is extensive so make sure you have an equivalent understanding of them.
11. Consider varying your daily routines and habits. Do not take the same routes or go at the same time on your regular errands. If you take your children to school, change that route as well.
12. Take steps to secure personal information about yourself. Consider getting a post office box and registering everything you may there including your vehicles and drivers’ licenses. Have personal bills sent to your place of work or the post office box. Be discreet about your possessions and family’s personal habits and information. Take steps to protect your identity by not revealing too much information and notifying authorities of any irregularities.
13. Report any suspicious persons or activities to law enforcement. If you feel anyone in your family has been targeted or is being stalked, immediately report this information to law-enforcement authorities. Do not wait.
14. Remember you are your best resource for better safeguarding your family. Stay alert, informed, and vigilant about personal-security issues.

Travel Safety Tips

Traveling to unfamiliar destinations can bring to you the sort of troubles you do not want to experience while on the road namely: robbery, rape, or murder. Tourists often fall prey to perpetrators because they do not prepare properly before embarking on a trip. Some things you should do to prevent your travels from becoming a tragedy:

1.  Never list your home address on the luggage tag. If on business, put the company's address on the tag; if visiting friends you can list their address. Use covered luggage tags as well.
2.  Stay with your luggage until the luggage is checked. If you must put your bag down, keep one foot on the handle.
3. Carry important papers with you; NEVER check anything that you simply cannot afford to lose. Photocopy your passport, driver's license and credit cards.
4. Bring a small flashlight. You never know when you'll suddenly be "in the dark" and find yourself in unfamiliar surroundings. At night, keep your flashlight by your bed.
5. Make sure that your prescription medicines are filled properly and labeled accurately. In some countries certain prescription medicines are forbidden.
6. Never wear anything that projects affluence. No gold chains, expensive watches and rings, luggage, or other paraphernalia should be in easy view. Better yet: leave your jewelry at home.
7.  If possible travel with only one or two credit cards.
8.  Women particularly should never accept a drink from a stranger. Keep an eye on your drink at all times.
9. Vary your schedule; try not to come and go at the same time everyday.
10. Only stay in a hotel that uses cards to open room doors and make sure your room has a peephole and a deadbolt lock. Secure the chain and secure the door by pushing a rubber stop under it.
11. Stay in a room near a stairwell. Never take the elevator if a fire or smoke is detected. Always stay in a hotel where the doors enter the hallway and not directly from the outside.
12. Do not wear name tags in public.
13. Do not use unmarked taxi cabs.
14. Sit behind the driver so you can see him, but he cannot see you.
15. Pay the driver upon arriving at your destination and while you are still sitting in the vehicle.
16. If you must rent a car, rent only from a reputable company. Any operating problems that occur could signal sabotage.
17. Be aware of 'staged' car accidents meant to catch you off card.
18. Back into your parking spaces to facilitate a quick exit.
19. Park only in well-lit and well-traveled areas.
20. If your cell phone does not work outside of the country, consider renting one that does for the duration of your trip.
21. If detained for whatever reason by an official, ask for identification. If in doubt, tell them that you want to see his superior. Keep your emotions in check.
22. If traveling with children, bring along an updated photograph of each child in the event that you become separated from them.
23. Write your child's name and your hotel number on each card; include a close friends or relative's contact information on the card. Give a card to each child which they will carry with them as long as you are away. Destroy once home.
24. Discuss with your family what they would do in event of an emergency while away from home, e.g. whom to call, how to contact emergency personnel, etc.
25. Do not discuss travel plans, your room number or any other personal information in public within earshot of strangers.
26. Bring along a basic first aid kit with bandages, iodine, mosquito repellant, sunscreen, alcohol packets, dramamine, pepto bismol, diarrhea medicine, etc.
27. Familiarize yourself with train and bus schedules before traveling. Have an alternate plan in place in the event your transportation plans change.
28. Do not flash your passport in public. Discreetly show important documents to officials only.
29. Consider purchasing portable alarms that emit a loud sound.
30. Watch for scams on the street. Children working with adults are notorious as pickpockets.
31. Never flash your money in public. Exchange funds with reputable and recognized exchangers only.
32. Have tips ready in advance for service personnel.
33. Consider renting an escort [security] service if traveling in areas where crime is high.

The key to safe traveling in any area is situational awareness. Distractions because of luggage, children, hotel personnel, strangers, etc. can put you at risk. Know your surroundings and stay in control of every situation.

UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM

It is very important for all of us, including the public, to have a clear understanding of what terrorism is and how it works. A correct appreciation of the problem will greatly help us deal with the situation more effectively. Following are some valuable lessons learned from past events:

At the outset, we must consider that those faceless cowards can choose the time, place and even the manner they would carry out an attack. Hence, all preventive measures can only somehow reduce the threat but cannot guarantee total safety.

With said reality, we must be resilient; that is, capable and always ready to surge back and restore our lives to normal right after an incident. Never should we allow terrorists to dictate on us.

In examining the nature of terrorism, we are dealing with a multi-dimensional problem. Discussion is centered mostly on the criminal justice aspects: prevention and punishment. The overriding questions are not technological or legal; they are philosophical and political.

Political considerations form the framework in which the activity of those engaged in terrorism is interpreted. We usually hear people say “A man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter”. Simply stated, terrorism can be held to revolve around one's political point of view and this is the major impediment standing in the path of a universally acceptable definition of the term.

However, regardless of the diversity in our political, religious or social outlook, we should be one in looking at the more important issue. Motivation notwithstanding, the rhetoric of terrorists should not be allowed to conceal their true identity. They are first and foremost, criminals. No doctrine or belief could justify killing helpless, innocent people.

Because of the enormous damage they inflict, there is a misconception that terrorists are big in number and so strong. To the contrary, terrorism is the strategy of the weak, a weapon of those small bands of rascals who are prepared to use violence but who believe that they would lose any contest by sheer strength.

Terrorism is means to an end, not an end in itself. Let alone, terrorism can accomplish nothing in terms of political goals; it can only aim at obtaining a response that will achieve those goals for it. Said another way, terrorist violence is aimed not so much on the target upon which the initial act is committed but to much wider audience who will view and interpret the act.

The success of terrorism is due in large part to the miscomprehension of the strategy by its opponents; which is failure to focus on the critical issue of how to respond properly to provocations and threats.

Brutality and repression are induced responses that will alienate the government from the masses, thus set the stage for revolution. In dealing with the problem of terrorism, paramount is the rule of law and our respect for human rights.

To be able to correctly interpret events, we must clearly distinguish terrorism from an ordinary criminal act. Not all violent incidents, however terrifying, can be categorized as works of terrorists. The political and social objectives which drive terrorists to act give terrorism a character of its own.

Likewise, it is different from regular, as well as guerilla war because in terrorism, innocents are killed deliberately. Its very wickedness makes it a vulnerable strategy.

One possible purpose of a terrorist act is to create strife among the various sectors in a society. Some radicals pull religious verses out of context to suit their objective. But murder has no home in any religious faith. All of the world's major religions preach the values of love, peace, charity and respect for the sanctity of life. Hence, we must not fall into the enemy trap by institutionally faulting religion or its members for the upheaval.

Publicity tends to exaggerate the threats that terrorism pose to society. If we fail to understand its nature, possibility is high that we will make our fears very much greater than the actual threat.

Most of the victims of terrorist violence are innocent bystanders. Obviously then, terrorists are enemies of the humanity thereby making public support an essential factor in our war against terror.

Note: Join the war against terror. Please reproduce this hand-out and give to friends and neighbors.