Protect Your Home and Family With a Camera

 
In this age when home invasions and break ins are quite common you can discourage such criminal activity or at least make sure you have photographic or video evidence of the criminals involved -- if you have installed a high quality residential camera system.



Many of these systems are wireless and quite easy to install as well as connect to your camera in your home as well as your computer at work, or even your laptop if you are on the road a lot.



You might think that any camera would be easy to take out by someone before they break in or invade your home but while some of these cameras are quite large not all of them. You can also install what is often called a pinhole camera with lenses no larger than the eraser at the end of a pencil and these can be concealed above doorways or windows without much expertise. Of course it is not a bad idea to have one of the certified companies install these for you to make sure the installations and set up are done correctly.



The critical thing in all of this is that you don't just run out and buy the first residential camera system you see. Do your homework. Check out several brands first as well as the services of companies who specialize in such residential camera system installations.



There is a wealth of such information on the Internet such as: www.homesecurity.com, www.surveillancevideo.com, and www.youdoitsecurity.com for starters.

Remember to do your independent research and build a good background knowledge of what is out there in the way of residential security camera systems and ask a lot of in-depth questions when speaking to sales and service people before buying and installing any system.



A security camera system can be a valuable ally in your efforts to protect your property and family – if you go about selecting and installing a system carefully.


 

 

How Well Do Your Know Your Site?

Whether your site is some construction project, an industrial or retail complex or condo tower if you are a professional security officer – or whether it is your home, office, or other place of business how well do you know the layout? In an emergency could you get around it in the dark – without the aid of a flashlight?



You should be able to so you could navigate through the building or area quickly and safely if some emergency did happen and you were caught without a flashlight – or it was too dangerous to let others who had invaded your property know where are.

You should practice this on a regular basis of some sort, particularly if you live or work in an area which has a history of break ins, building invasions, or other problems like power failures etc.



You should know where all the doors lead to and where all the places of refuge can be found. If you frequently work outside in the late night or early morning hours you should know where all the routes inside your site or property lead to as well as what roads or trails lead up to the perimeter of your site or property. You should know where they come from as well as who normally uses these routes – and where they would take you if you had to retreat from the area for some reason. 




And you also want to keep in mind whether roads or trails, or access points  converging on your position from two or more different directions would leave you vulnerable to attack from two directions. Then keep an eye of these routes periodically while you are working – in an alert – not paranoid fashion.



This type of awareness about your property or site should become a habit, particularly for security people stationed in outside area but often it does not All too often you can walk or drive right up behind them from a direction they were not monitoring and catch them completely off guard – particularly guards sitting in their own vehicles listening to the radio or I pods etc.



No, problems do not happen often on most sites, but it takes only one when you are not alert to ruin your day (or night).


 

 

Create The Whole Picture

Create the whole picture when you meet new people; it could be critical to do this.

This was clearly illustrated in a recent incident involving a young Asian man who attempted to hide his true identity when he boarded an airplane headed for Vancouver, B.C., by wearing a mask that created the impression of a very old man. This combined with false identify papers initially helped him slip past trained officer at loading check points who assumed he was this elderly person returning to Canada.

He would have gotten away with this except he made two mistakes: First he forgot to make sure his hands matched his facial features and for some reason he decided to abandon his mask in the airplane's washroom mid flight.

The alert passenger next to him had already alerted the flight crew that something was suspicious about this person because young hands did not match his old facial features so when he emerged from the washroom as a young Asian man the crew immediately alerted the authorities in Vancouver and he was nabbed when the airliner landed.

Who knows how many other people use such disguises. If you read Eye Spy magazine you'll agree that there are probably many, many incidents like this in other settings. And this type of thing can be very hard to detect as any good makeup artist will show you.

I can be done, however, if you get into the habit of capturing or creating the complete picture of the person you are confronting or see – their face, their eyes, -- their hands -- as well as other features and even body language – everything you notice about that person.

Do they create a picture of the person her or she is supposed to be?

 

 

 

 

 

Create A Clear Picture of Suspects

One of the most critical pieces of evidence in any criminal encounter is a clear description of the suspect. Yet it is often the most flawed with some innocent person being convicted of crimes they had nothing to do with and police officers being sent on search missions with a description of the suspect that is the complete opposite of reality.

This happened in the case of one bank robbery I heard about during which the Bank Manager had a rifle barrel inches from her head during the ordeal. After the robbers fled and the police arrived she told then that the suspect was stocky and obese with black hair so for some time this was the type of person they were looking for but they never found him – because in reality he was quite tall, muscular and had blond hair. Another witness luckily had also observed him and when this person came forward with a more accurate description the police were able find him and lay charges.

The Bank Manager couldn't believe how her description was the complete opposite of what the person actually looked like – but then the trauma of having an assault rifle pointed at your head can cause your mind to play games like that.

This faulty description problem is a big one for police forces throughout North America and the rest of the world. It is not as easy as you might think to capture an accurate picture of somebody, sometimes in just a few seconds and then recreate accurately for police artists and investigators. And it is one reason why more and more I try to carry a good digital camera (some cell phone cameras I hear are excellent) when I do security in case I need to get that accurate description of a suspect.

Just remember that while in most areas of North American it is quite legal to take a picture of a person on the street some persons will get quite agitated if they even think you are taking a picture of them. So always make sure that you do not endanger your safety while doing and that you have the permission of the security agency that you are working for.

If you choose not to use a camera you can still create more accurate descriptions of suspects by regularly working on your description skills before something happens. You came do this both while you are working as well as during your time off when you are out in public. Just make a habit of taking a good look at people passing you on the street once in a while ( Don't stare of course.) Then after they have passed try to recreate that person visually in your mind in as much detail as possible.

It is like learning to ride that bicycle when you were a child. At first you were quite rough. But the more you practiced the better you became. Learning to recreate a person's appearance after only a quick glance is just like that. Before long you will get better and better. And you will be only be a big asset to your security agency, their client, and the police but you will also be able to detect anybody who might be stalking you quickly as you will remember faces from the past much easier.

How Well Do You Use Your Senses?

Professional security officers are taught to use at least four of their senses – sight, smell, hearing, and even touch to detect problems around the sites they are stationed at. Objects that suddenly appear around the site that weren't there on earlier patrols such as cigarette butts or wrappers etc on the ground as well as unusual sounds, and smells such as drugs or alcohol, like radar or sonar on a ship, can be early alerts that something is wrong – either somebody slipped by you or that some other problem such as a fire is starting or equipment is starting to malfunction

But others too can make good use of their senses to detect problems or dangers around them -- but few of us are very good at it. I have seen this many times in the prospective security guards I have taught. Although I mention at the beginning of the five day course that I am going to ask them to describe the entrance lobby and stairway leading up to the second floor classroom on the last day of the class invariably very few of them can do it without a lot of trouble.

Yet you can learn to use these senses to protect yourself and your property more effectively. It is just like learning to ride a bicycle. Make a point of paying attention to who is walking down the street beside you and what they look like. This could pay off in spades as some would say as this would help you to provide the police with accurate descriptions of suspects if something does happen.

A good example of just how critical the ability to accurately people around you and remember what they can look like is the experience of a friend of mine. While doing some working on a street in one part of the city he noticed both a middle-aged man on one of those mobile scooters observing him as he passed by and a tall man with a goatee, accompanied by a much shorter Asian woman also passing by him twice. There was something about both the man on the scooter and this couple that sent off alarms. And sure enough a two weeks later both the man on the scooter and this couple started showing up near another site my friend was working on – for no good reason.

This is possibly a continuing saga so it is going to be interesting to see exactly what – if anything these people are up. The important thing is that because he made a point of create that accurate picture of these people in his memory my friend is now more prepared for trouble and also has a photograph of all of them.

Develop such effective use of your other senses is also critical. Pay attention to what different things smell like such as the smell of smouldering wires, as well as the different sounds the electric fan or other appliances and other equipment in your home or other location makes when it is working properly. You should become familiar with all of the regular sounds and odours around you house or other structure as well so that other sounds which could warn you of danger or problems will stand out clearly.

It is really worthwhile to work at developing these senses. If we do we will not only appreciate our surroundings more but also be more secure as we go about our daily activities.

 

How Would You Respond?

If you were a security officer sitting on a lonely street or lane in the early hours of the morning – or at any time for that matter and a car or motorcycle suddenly turned down the street and started towards you then continued passed you and turned around at the end of the lane or street to approach you from the rear how would you respond?

Would sit there and wait for it to pass you again from the rear or stop beside you? Waiting for it to do either of these things could be risky, especially in a dangerous neighbourhood.

A far better response would be to already have your car in motion traveling in the opposite direction of this vehicle by the time is passing you the first time head towards the end of the lane or street.



Then you can either leave the area in as normal a manner as possible until you are sure about the other driver's intentions or turnaround and travel back to meet and pass the other vehicle as it heads towards. This will give you a good opportunity to get a good look at the driver – and if possible – get a picture of the vehicle and plate number with your cell phone camera.

One veteran security professional I know makes a practice of this type of thing and is sure from the reaction of the -- some – of the other drivers – who often wear a mask of anger and confusion – as they invariably leave the area – that he has avoided some unpleasant situations with this tactic. Drivers who have just made a wrong turn might look at little bewildered by your reaction to their approach too but they don't tend to get upset.

It is a little trick that all drivers who find themselves in suddenly uncomfortable situations like this could practice Remember that sitting in a stationary vehicle – especially for any length of time makes you very vulnerable to attack.


Naturally this is not something you are going to do with every vehicle that approaches you while your are parked. The security professional I just mentioned often waits until the vehicle passes him the first time and observes the people inside the other car first. But he already has vehicle idling so all he has to do is throw it into gear if he has to move quickly.



(See Also:  It Could Happen below)

 

Never Forget It Could Happen

Most of us walk around oblivious to potential dangers around us, conveniently putting out of mind the possibility that something or somebody very dangerous could be "invisible", but very close to us or one of our family members or a friend

A current news story on our local television station (CTV) here in Vancouver illustrates this. According to the story a group of friends were walking through a local Vancouver area park when one of them, a teenaged girl about 15 or 16 years old, fell behind her friends and was suddenly attacked by a youth or young man with a baseball bat who jumped out of the bushes.

He beat the young lady so severely that she later died of her injuries in the hospital.

Although it is unclear exactly why the young lady fell behind her friends on the park path and we would make ourselves paranoid wrecks if we all walked around like we were members of some historic Spark military phalanx while we are going about our business, social, or recreational activities what happened is a reminder that we DO NEED to stay aware of the possibility of the unexpected happening on such occasions.

This is true even if we or our friends have never been mugged or attacked – or become the victim of an accident before. It takes only once to cause us a lot of grief.