Public Transportation Safety

Be safe during your use of your Public Transportation Systems

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SAFETY

Public transport is normally very safe and most taxi companies are reputable licensed firms whose drivers have been vetted, so here is some advice that should help you feel more confident when traveling by bus, train, metro or taxi.

On the Bus

• Use a bus stop you know is usually busy and is well lit
• Know the departure and arrival times and try and let someone at the other end know which bus you plan to catch. They could always meet you at your stop
• Sit close to the driver. If someone starts up a conversation, be pleasant and confident, but don’t give away personal information like where you live or work

By Train

• Wait on a well-lit section of the platform, close to the exit or where there are other people around. Many stations now have CCTV cameras and staff that are trained to deal with emergencies
• When you get on the train try to sit in a busy compartment and keep any bags and personal possessions you have next to you
• If you feel uncomfortable switch seats or even consider getting off the train and catching the next one. Only do this if the station where you are getting off is manned and busy
• Know where the emergency button or cord is situated or any help points at the station

Taking a Taxi

• Carry the phone number of a taxi or mini cab firm you know, and whenever you book a taxi ask them for the driver’s name and the type of car they will be driving
• Try and book the taxi you need to bring you home before you go out. Give your name and when the driver arrives make sure they know the name it was booked under. If you have to book your taxi in a public place, do it quietly where people are unlikely to overhear your name and address
• If you can, share a taxi with a friend and have your money ready and keys handy at the end of your journey so that you can enter your home quickly
• If ever you feel uneasy in a taxi ask the driver to stop in a busy place that you know well, and get out.

Please forward to your friends and family. Feel free to use this information for your facility and clients!

Again, I hope this info is useful for your safety and protection of your community and facility. Please view our other safety and tactical blogs, faceboook, and website for more safety, security, crime prevention topics! www.guardtrainingcenter.com

Martin

Training Director

Guard Training Center

www.guardtrainingcenter.com

Holdup Prevention

Robbery Prevention

CRIME CLOCK STATISTICS: FBI Reports

VIOLENT CRIMES 23.9 Seconds
One Murder Every 34.5 Seconds
One Forcible Rape Every 6 Minutes
One Robbery Every 1.3 Minutes
One Aggravated Assault 39.1 Minutes

PROPERTY CRIMES 3.4 Seconds
One Burglary Every 14.3 Seconds
One Larceny-Theft Every 5.0 Seconds
One Motor Vehicle Theft Every 39.7 Seconds

Use the measures outlined in this page along with our other previous blogs: (Preventing Sexual Assaults) (How to Prevent Burglary) (Tips for Handling Bogus Calls) (Avoiding Violent Crimes) (Everything on ATM Security) (Avoiding Crimes when Parking) and don’t forget to view our Officer Safety/Tactics blogs!

Guard Training Center  www.guardtrainingcenter.com

 Feel free to use information with your clients and friends!
• Call the police at once if you notice suspicious strangers loitering near or in your place of business. (Casing the Joint).
• Never block the view into your store by crowding display windows. It is important to maintain visibility into your business establishment at all times.
• Secure your teller and cashier operations. Install barriers to keep unauthorized persons out of these areas.
• If practical, mark doorways at varying heights to allow proper identification of robber’s height.
• Install a holdup alarm system.
• Install a timed delay switch to turn off exterior lights after your employees have gone for the night.
• Use two people to open and close your business. Establish a system of prearranged signals. One person should stay outside until the other gives the all clear signal.
• Keep cash on the premises to a minimum. Make frequent pickups of money from registers and make regular bank deposits.
• Do not establish a habitual routine when making bank deposits. Robbers will soon learn it.
• Keep the safe in your place of business locked at all times.
• Check the references of job applicants before you hire them.
• In the event you are contacted about an emergency at your business, and the call is of questionable validity, please verify the call with the police dispatcher, before going to your business.
• Have frequent meetings with your staff in order to familiarize them with holdup prevention measures which you have initiated.

If You Are Held Up:

• Remain calm.
• Do not resist.
• Be identification conscious. Observe the holdup suspect carefully for future identification.
• Report the robbery immediately-dial 911 and don’t hang up.
• If possible, protect the crime scene: do not let anyone disturb it. Wait for police.
• Cooperate with police. By doing as they request you will help solve the crime.
• Reduce Criminal Opportunity
• and Protect Your Business

What other strategies can you share with us? We hope these tips may help you stay stay. If you knnow anyone who can benefit from these tips please feel free to forward.

Stay Safe out there!

Martin

Training Director

Guard Training Center

www.guardtrainingcenter.com

Preventing Sexual Assault

• Always be aware of your surroundings.

• Stay in well-lit areas as much as possible.

• Walk confidently, directly, at a steady pace. A rapist looks for someone who appears vulnerable.

• Walk on the side of the street facing traffic.

• Walk close to the curb. Avoid doorways, bushes and alleys where rapists can hide.

• If you think you are being followed, walk quickly to areas where there are people and lights. If a car appears to be following you, turn and walk in the opposite direction or walk on the other side of the street.

• Be careful when people stop you for directions or money. Always reply from a distance and never get too close to the car.

• If you are in trouble or feel you are in danger, don’t be afraid to attract help any way you can. Scream, yell or run away to safety.

• Always lock your car. Keep your car locked when you are away from it to keep someone from hiding and waiting inside.

• When you are inside the car, lock the doors for safety.

• Look inside and around your car before you get in.

• Be aware of other people in parking areas, especially those close to your vehicle.

• If you think you are being followed, drive to a public place or a police station to get help.

• If your car breaks down, open the hood or attach a white cloth to the antenna. If someone stops to help, stay inside your locked vehicle and ask them to call the police.

• If you choose to carry any type of weapon for self-protection, give careful consideration to your ability and willingness to use it. Remember there is always the chance that it could be taken away and used

As always, we hope these tips can help you stay safe. Know anyone who can benefit from these tips? Share them! Add any of your own tips down below.

Stay Safe out there!

Martin

Training Director

Guard Training Center

www.guardtrainingcenter.com

www.guardtrainingcenter.com

15 Tips for Safer Web Browsing

Using the internet can be a very risky thing if you are not careful. We have compiled a list of tips to help you keep your information safe!

1. Upgrade your Web browser to 128-bit encryption.

2. Read Web site privacy policies carefully and make sure you understand them. Look on your favorite Web sites for privacy seals of approval from BBBOnline, TRUSTe, ePublicEye, or CPA WebTrust.

3. If you’re reluctant to provide certain information on an online form, don’t.

4. Set up a special free email account with Yahoo, Hotmail, or other free services and supply those addresses when you fill out forms.

5. Before you give your credit card number to any commerce site, make absolutely sure it’s secure. Look for a closed padlock icon at the bottom of the screen or https in the URL.

6. Delete all the cookies in your cookie directory (generally c:\windows\cookies) frequently.

7. Disable cookies in your browser (an extreme measure) or set your browser to alert you to cookies, or to accept only cookies that return to their original server or, better yet, install cookie management software (such as Webroot Software’s WindowWasher or The Limit Software’s CookieCrusher) to control which cookies your PC will accept.

8. Use an anonymous browser such as Anonymizer to hide your identity and filter cookies.

9. If a Web site gives you the option to opt out of tracking, take it.

10. If you have a fast and constant DSL or cable connection, get some personal firewall software, such as Symantec’s Norton Personal FireWall or Network ICE’s BlackICE Defender, and install it, FAST!

11. Turn off file and printer sharing in Windows if you’re not using it. Intruders will have an easier time accessing your files if this is activated.

12. Elect not to accept news or updates from Web sites you visit.

13. Fake your return address when you use chat or newsgroups.

14. Turn off your Instant Messaging software when you’re not using it.

15. Set your Instant Messaging software to allow only people you trust (in your buddy list, for example) to access you.

Have any other tips to share? Add them below!

Stay Safe out there!

Martin

Training Director

Guard Training Center

www.guardtrainingcenter.com

www.guardtrainingcenter.com

10 Deadly Errors

In our field, we encounter numerous “routine calls”. We conduct numerous traffic stops, investigative detentions, and calls for assistance. Most of the time, we go on to the next call. Remember, never get complacent and “NO CALL IS NEVER ROUTINE!”

Detective Pierce R. Brooks, a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) homicide detective, wrote a book called “…officer down, code 3″ in 1975. Brooks listed the Ten Deadly Errors that he identified as being the most common, repeated reasons for officers being killed in the line of duty.

Below is a refresher for vexperienced officers and new knowledge and techniques for new officers.

1. Failure to Maintain Equipment and Proficiency – Go to the range, your department training is not enough!  Practice shooting on the move, limited lighting (most officer involved shootings occurred during darkness), unknown distances. Ensure your duty gun is clean at all times. Have spare batteries for your flashlight, better yet, have a rechargeable one! Practice those vital skills, when was the last time you practiced handcuffing? Deploying your OC? Baton strikes? During your annual agency training right? Get out there and practice your skills.

2. Improper Search, Improper Use of Handcuffs – Most officers get hurt during handcuffing procedures. Many have been killed due to improper searching. If possible, always handcuff first, search second! Do you know how to do a controlled search and handcuffing of a subject? What if he resists? Practice this vital skill. Subjects will place and hidden weapons anywhere in their body or belongings. Ensure to double lock the cuff and handcuff behind the cuff. In Florida, 3 law enforcement officers where brutally murdered by a homicide suspect when he was handcuff in the front. The subject pulled out a Handcuff key that he had! And killed the officers!

3. Sleepy or Asleep – If you are not properly rested, you become a danger to yourself, your partner, and the community. You will lack alertness.

4. Relaxing Too Soon - Do not relax until the call is over even though the situation appears to be “Code 4”. Many officers can tell you a guy that was “cool” and then suddenly snapped. Many subjects act “cool” and “compliant” and will not hesitate to hurt you if you relax to soon!

5. Missing Danger Signs - Danger signs could be verbal (“I’m going to hurt you” “I’m not going back to jail man”, non-verbal (psychological: “Mad dogging you” “stare downs” “cracking their knuckles and even their stance”, bulges on their clothing, the time and location of encounter, or many other indicators. A suspect who keeps touching his hip while talking to you could be giving you a non-verbal indication that he is armed. Is he keeping his gun or weapon side away from you? Watch their stance! Are they fidgeting? They might be ready to act! A specific type, style, or color of clothing could be an indication of gang or criminal affiliation.

6. Bad Positioning – Always call out your location! When responding to a disturbance, don’t just walk straight to the front entrance, arrived from the flank, the rear, use stair cases, use the element of surprise! Know where you cover is. Are you going to go inside a small room and talk to the subject or have the subject come out or you stand adjacent to the door using it as cover?

7. Failure to Watch the Hands - Remember, the subject’s hands will kill you, not their stares or looks! Always look what they are holding in their hands. Advise them not to reach for their pockets.  Hands will retrieve a gun from the waistband, a knife from the pocket, or a baseball bat from behind the door. Can you see their hands? Where are the hands? What are they doing?  Most of the times when we talk to a person, we maintain eye contact. But remember, their eyes/stares don’t kill you, its their hands!! WHERE ELSE CAN A KILLER STRIKE FROM, BUT FROM THEIR HANDS!!!! When you talk to a subject(s) look at their hands, what are they holding? Are they reaching for something?

8. Tombstone Courage – Call for back up, call for back up, wait for back up, wait for back up! Don’t rush in if you don’t need to. Get all the facts if possible, description, and type of call, subject’s location and so forth. Take your time and wait for backup. Sometimes you have to go to a call along, but most of the time you don’t, wait for your partner or back-up!

9. Preoccupation – Why are you playing with your smart phone in your car or post? If you are messing with your computer or cell phone, how can you watch their hands or pick up on other danger signs? There might be times when you are having serious financial or relationship problems. If you are stressed out and completely preoccupied due to your emergency, talk to your supervisor, there is no need for you or your fellow officers to get hurt. There is no shame is asking for help.

10. Apathy – This will never happen to me, I’m too smart, I’m highly trained. Don’t think it can happen to you? Think again. Bad things happen on all sorts of calls, on all shifts, and to officers of all levels of experience.

What else can you add to each of the above Ten Deadly Errors?

Stay Safe out there!

Martin

Training Director

Guard Training Center

www.guardtrainingcenter.com

What Type of Ballistic Proof Vest should I Wear on Duty?

HISTORY

Since the beginning of recorded time, humans have used different types of materials as body armor to protect themselves from injury during hunting, battle, and other high risk situations. Animal skins were the first protective clothing and shields used as armor. As technologies developed in civilizations, armor become more advanced. From leather to wooden shields and then to metal shields came into use. Eventually, metal was used as body armor, in what we now associate with knights of the Middle Ages. The invention of firearms around 1500 made the use of metal body armor not very effective. At that time, the only real protection against firearms were trees, rocks, stone walls, and natural barriers. Since we cannot carry trees and stone walls on us, we developed various forms of ballistic vests.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Technology Assessment Program, now the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC), began a program of developing testing standards for this new technology. Many, if not most, security and law enforcement personnel are unaware of the background of that system.

For a vest to be certified against a specific bullet type and velocity, the following criteria must be met: the vest panel must prevent penetration from the impact of six bullets spaced at least two inches apart and three inches from the edge of the vest. In addition, the deflection caused by the back-face deforming into a clay block must not exceed 44 millimeters, or 1.73 inches. During the early development phase, the researchers concluded that even though a bullet was stopped by the vest, the impact would at least leave a severe bruise and could theoretically kill by damaging underlying organs. This standard was designed to ensure a 95 percent probability of survival, with no more than a 10 percent probability of requiring surgery.

STEPS FOR SELECTING BODY ARMOR

The first step in selecting the appropriate protection level of body armor is to establish the level of protection that users need based on the realistic weapon threat they face. To date, body armor has not been known to fail to prevent the penetration of a bullet constituting a threat equal to or less than the protection rating of the armor. However, officers have died from wounds received from weapons or ammunition exceeding the rated protection of the armor.

THE SIX TYPES OF ARMOR CLASSIFICATION

NIJ Standard–0101.04 establishes six formal armor classification types, as well as a seventh special type.

Type I (.22 LR; .380 ACP). This armor protects against .22 long rifle lead round nose (LR LRN) bullets, with nominal masses of 2.6 g (40 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 320 m/s (1050 ft/s) or less, and against .380 ACP full metal jacketed round nose (FMJ RN), with nominal masses of 6.2 g (95 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 312 m/s (1025 ft/s) or less. Type I body armor is light. This is the minimum level of protection every officer should have, and the armor should be routinely worn at all times while on duty. Type I body armor was the armor issued during the NIJ demonstration project in the mid-1970s. Most agencies today, however, because of increasing threats, opt for a higher level of protection.

Type II-A (9mm; .40 S&W). This armor protects against 9mm full metal jacketed round nose (FMJ RN) bullets, with nominal masses of 8.0 g (124 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 332 m/s (1090 ft/s) or less, and .40 S&W caliber full metal jacketed (FMJ) bullets, with nominal masses of 11.7 g (180 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 312 m/s (1025 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against Type I threats. Type II-A body armor is well suited for full-time use by police departments, particularly those seeking protection for their officers from lower velocity 9mm and 40 S&W ammunition.

Type II (9mm; .357 Magnum). This armor protects against 9mm full metal jacketed round nose (FMJ RN) bullets, with nominal masses of 8.0 g (124 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 358 m/s (1175 ft/s) or less, and .357 Magnum jacketed soft point (JSP) bullets, with nominal masses of 10.2 g (158 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 427 m/s (1400 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against Type I and Type IIA threats. Type II body armor is heavier and more bulky than either Types I or II-A. It is worn full time by officers seeking protection against higher velocity .357 Magnum and 9mm ammunition.

Type III-A (High Velocity 9mm; .44 Magnum). This armor protects against 9mm full metal jacketed round nose (FJM RN) bullets, with nominal masses of 8.0 g (124 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 427 m/s (1400 ft/s) or less, and .44 Magnum jacketed hollow point (JHP) bullets, with nominal masses of 15.6 g (240 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 427 m/s (1400 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against most handgun threats, as well as the Type I, II-A, and II threats. Type III-A body armor provides the highest level of protection currently available from concealable body armor and is generally suitable for routine wear in many situations. However, users located in hot, humid climates may need to evaluate the use of Type III-A armor carefully.

Type III (Rifles). This armor protects against 7.62mm full metal jacketed (FMJ) bullets (U.S. military designation M80), with nominal masses of 9.6 g (148 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 838 m/s (2750 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against Type I through III-A threats. Type III body armor is clearly intended only for tactical situations when the threat warrants such protection, such as barricade confrontations involving sporting rifles.

Type IV (Armor Piercing Rifle). This armor protects against .30 caliber armor piercing (AP) bullets (U.S. military designation M2 AP), with nominal masses of 10.8 g (166 gr), impacting at a minimum velocity of 869 m/s (2850 ft/s) or less. It also provides at least single-hit protection against the Type I through III threats. Type IV body armor provides the highest level of protection currently available. Because this armor is intended to resist “armor piercing” bullets, it often uses ceramic materials. Such materials are brittle in nature and may provide only single-shot protection, since the ceramic tends to break up when struck. As with Type III armor, Type IV armor is clearly intended only for tactical situations when the threat warrants such protection.

I hope you found the information useful and informative in order to make an educated decision on the type of body armor you should carry on duty.

Martin

Training Director

Guard Training Center

www.guardtrainingcenter.com