Crime Prevention & Safety Resources

At Home Alone: A Parent's Guide (PDF)
By following safeguards, you can help ease some of the worry of having a child at home alone after school. Take measures to protect your kids even when you aren't around.

Cybersafety for Kids Online: A Parents' Guide (PDF)
The Internet has opened up a world of information for anyone with a computer and a connection! But just as you wouldn't send children near a busy road without safety rules, you shouldn't send them on the information superhighway without rules of the road.

Don't Let Your Family Go Down the Tube - Use Television Wisely (PDF)
Help your children keep television in perspective by teaching them to enjoy other activities and to evaluate what they do watch.

Raising Streetwise Kids: A Parent's Guide (PDF)
Kids today need to know common-sense rules that can help keep them safe and build the self-confidence they need to handle emergencies.

The Smart Route to Bicycle Safety (PDF)
Since accidents can turn a bicycle adventure into a bicycling tragedy, here are some tips to help make your children's ride a safe one.

Talking With Your Kids About Drugs (PDF)
Don't put off talking to your children about alcohol and other drugs. Open communication is one of the most effective tools you can use in helping your child avoid drug use.

Talking With Children About Violence (PDF)
No one wants to see children victimized. No one wants to see kids hurt each other. Many things today send the message that violent behavior is okay. Adults need to give children tools for avoiding violence, and let them know violence is not okay.

What To Do if Your Child is Missing (PDF)
Education and prevention are the most effective measures to ensure the safety of our children. This information provides guidelines to help protect your children from abduction by strangers. In addition, since many children are missing because they have run away, guidelines have been included to assist parent in spotting a potential runaway and a checklist for parents who suspect their child has run away.

Everyone's Doing It: Planning a Successful Community Crime Prevention Project (PDF)
Are you tired of walking by playgrounds that are filled with trash and broken equipment? You know kids won't play there because it's such a mess. Make a difference by cleaning up that playground as a community crime prevention project.

Keeping Insider Information Inside (PDF)
Protect confidential information against insider leaks, and corporate espionage.

Take Crime Prevention to Work (PDF)
Local law enforcement agencies will experience greater cooperation and success with crime prevention programs if they include local businesses and corporate offices. Presentations at local businesses are designed to provide basic information and tips on crime prevention.

Safer Seniors (PDF)
An increasing population of senior citizens, including those in assisted-living communities, has made police officers aware of the challenges of reaching this group with safety information. Strong support from the police chief and elected officials helps ensure that time, staff, and resources are dedicated to aiding seniors.

Calling All Hotheads (PDF)
Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. It lets us know when something is wrong and makes us take action. These anger management tips will help keep anger in its place.

Making Peace (PDF)
Conflict is part of everyday life. We can't always avoid anger of conflict, but we can learn to manage it without violence.

Power Tripping (PDF)
Bullying is repeated and unprovoked aggressive behavior; there are things you can do without making things worse.

Identity Theft (PDF)
Many consider identity theft to be the fastest growing crime in America, affecting almost half a million people each year. Having your wallet stolen is the easiest way to steal your identity, but so is discarding financial information in your mail, and giving out your PIN to ATM and phone cards.

Protecting Your Privacy: Keeping an Eye On Your Private Information (PDF)
Email, the Internet, automated tellers, computer banking, long distance carriers, and credit cards make our lives more efficient. However, electronic transactions can leave you vulnerable to fraud and other crimes.

Safe and Secure in an Electronic World (PDF)
Consumers can help protect themselves from online fraud by using secure Internet connections, keeping records of their online transactions, regularly reviewing credit card and bank statements, reviewing website privacy policies, and patronizing reputable online businesses.

Safe Surfing (PDF)
It is just as dangerous to leave children unsupervised and unrestricted on the internet as it is to leave them unsupervised on the streets. Establish guidelines children can follow for appropriate Internet usage.

Shopping Safely Online (PDF)
Convenience, good deals, and choices are all good things that the Internet offers. But before you use it, be cybersmart and make your online experience a safe one.

Vehicle Burglary - A Crime of Opportunity (PDF)
Vehicle Burglary is most often a crime of opportunity. Our own carelessness is often causing our vehicles to be broken into as well as stolen; however, you can minimize your chances of being a victim by taking away the opportunity.

A Safety Checklist for Apartments (PDF)
A guide to checking your apartment building for safety measures. Consider starting or joining an Apartment Watch.

Checklist for Violence Prevention (PDF)
Checklist of points to remember in evaluating family and community safety.

Crime Prevention for People with Disabilities (PDF)
A physical disability does not prevent you from being a victim of crime. Common sense actions can reduce your risk.

Don't Leave Your Street Sense at Home When You Travel (PDF)
A basic plan for safe and secure travel.

Don't Let Your Guard Down Just Because You Live in the Country (PDF)
In addition to many of the types of crime found in cities, rural communities have their own unique crime problems - like theft of crops, timber, livestock, and expensive fame equipment. Investing in prevention pays off in better security around property, less worry about crime and your family's security.

Don't Make It Easy For a Thief To Steal Your Wheels (PDF)
Stolen cars, vans, trucks, and motorcycles cost victims time and money - and increase everyone's insurance premiums. They're also often used to commit other crimes.

Family Vacation Fun and Safety (PDF)
Planning a family vacation? No matter where you are headed, there are certain things you need to keep in mind. The steps you take to make your trip a safe one are important to its success.

Home Security: Invest in It Now (PDF)
Making your home safer from crime doesn't always mean installing expensive alarms. Effective home security starts with properly locked doors and windows and visible, well-lighted entryways.

Home Security Checklist (PDF)
A guide to use as you check your home for safety measures.

Lock Crime Out of Your Home (PDF)
Home security inspections reduce burglary and/or breaking and entering by making the home a more difficult target; they may also diminish home robberies and larceny of property stored in the yard. Inspections can be requested from your local law enforcement agency.

Safer Seniors (PDF)
An increasing population of senior citizens, including those in assisted-living communities, has made police officers aware of the challenges of reaching this group with safety information. Strong support from the police chief and elected officials helps ensure that time, staff, and resources are dedicated to aiding seniors.

Street Sense: It's Common Sense (PDF)
Road rage, auto theft, street crime - You can reduce your chances for being a victim by taking common sense precautions.

The Hidden Crime: Domestic Violence (PDF)
One out of every four women in this country will suffer some kind of violence at the hands of her husband or boyfriend. There are no easy answers, but there are things you can do to spot a problem or protect yourself.

The Scoop on Vandalism (PDF)
Vandalism - the willful destruction or defacing of property - is a crime. It's expensive to repair, and makes communities unattractive and unsafe. It isn't cool. Help send a clear message that teens don't tolerate vandalism!

Shoplifting (PDF)
Shoplifting is an expensive problem that everybody pays the price for. A big department store can spend millions a year on security, but it may lose as much as $2,000 a day to shoplifters, so prices go up as the stores try to recover their losses. And shoplifters give teenagers a bad name.

Also see:
Conflict Resolution/Anger Management; School Safety; Sexual Assault; Substance Abuse: Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Abuse; and Teens at Risk

Live in an Apartment? (PDF)
Apartment Watch members make their homes more secure, watch out for each other and their community, and report crime and suspicious activities.

A Checklist for Starting a Neighborhood Watch (PDF)
The basic list of activities for getting a Watch started and keeping it going as a handy checklist reminder.

Neighborhood Watch: Make it a Permanent Force for Community Betterment (PDF)
Motivating residents, mobilizing the neighborhood, keeping the momentum going. Here's what it takes to keep it going successfully.

Neighborhood Watch Organizer's Guide (PDF)
Step-by-step suggestions for organizing Neighborhood Watch in your community.

Take a Stand Against Crime: Join a Neighborhood Watch (PDF)
Basic information for participants in Neighborhood Watch - what to look for, what to do, how to report suspicious activity.

Taking Back Your Neighborhood (PDF)
If crime has a strong grip on a neighborhood, it's hard to take the first steps toward reclaiming your streets. Neighbors can counter fear and protect each other by working with police and organizing group activities.

Also see:
Don't Be a Victim / Personal and Home Safety

A Dozen Things Teachers Can Do to Stop School Violence (PDF)
When crime, drugs, and violence spill over from the streets into the schools, a safe learning environment becomes increasingly difficult. These are twelve important ideas that can help teachers reduce or stop school violence.

A Dozen Things Principals Can Do to Stop School Violence (PDF)
Violence seems to become an acceptable way to settle conflicts. Students cannot learn and teachers cannot teach. These are twelve important ideas that can help principals reduce or stop school violence.

A Dozen Things Parents Can Do to Stop School Violence (PDF)
Safe schools begin at home. These twelve suggestions will help you set the stage for your children's safety and success in school.

A Dozen Things Students Can Do to Stop School Violence (PDF)
Students have a huge effect on their school environment.

A Drug-Free School Zone is More Than a Law and a Sign (PDF)
It is a law and a community-wide commitment to reduce drug use among young people Federal law and many state and local laws increase penalties for drug-related activities in drug-free school zones.

Bullies: A Serious Problem for Kids (PDF)
Bullies have a one in four chance of having a criminal record by the time they are age 30. School-based programs to prevent bullying typically focus on counseling bullies and their victims, teaching victims assertiveness, and establishing clear school policies that reinforce consequences for aggressive behavior.

Stand Up and Start a School Crime Watch Today (PDF)
Based on the Neighborhood Watch concept, a school crime watch encourages students to watch out and help out each other to make the entire school a safer and more enjoyable place.

Tips for Working Together to Create Safer Schools (PDF)
When crime, drugs, and violence spill over from the streets into the schools, a safe learning environment becomes increasingly difficult. Students carry weapons for protection. Gunfights start replacing fistfights. Violence seems to become an acceptable way to settle conflicts. Students cannot learn and teachers cannot teach.

Date Rape: A Power Trip (PDF)
Forced sexual contact is a crime, even if there was previous consensual sex. Date Rape is betrayal of trust and causes long-lasting emotional injuries. Date rape or acquaintance rape is about power, control, and anger - not romance.

Dater's Bill of Rights (PDF)
Helpful reminders for comfortable and safe dating.

Rape: Tough Questions, No Easy Answers (PDF)
There is no perfect way to protect yourself against rape, but there are simple things you can do to minimize your risk. This pamphlet presents the facts of rape and offers safety tips.

Sexual Assault is about Power, Control, and Anger (PDF)
Sexual assault and rape are acts of violence, and can happen to anyone. Here's the good news: you can do a lot to reduce your risk of sexual assault.

Teen Dating Violence (PDF)
By the ninth and tenth grades, 59% of youth nationwide have experienced physical abuse, and 28% are emotionally damaged as a result of sexual abuse they have encountered in a dating relationship. Forty % of girls admit already experiencing some type of emotional or verbal abuse in casual dating.

The Dangers of Drinking (PDF)
Ask your friends how many people they know who have had bad things happen to them when they or someone else was drinking. Most teenage passenger deaths are the result of crashes cause by alcohol-impaired teenage drivers.

Don't Go Up in Smoke (PDF)
Every day, we see images that depict smoking as cool, sexy, professional, and glamorous. What we don't see is that every day 3,000 children become regular smokers. This youthful smoking can have severe lifelong consequences.

Don't Lose a Friend to Drugs (PDF)
Has a friend become moody, short-tempered, and hostile? Does he or she seem out of it or spacey? Is she suddenly cutting classes and hanging out with the "wrong crowd?" Stop and think about it. Your friend may have an alcohol or other drug problem.

Dying to Drink (PDF)
The dangers of drinking and driving are clear; this pamphlet presents the facts of drinking and driving and includes suggestions for crime prevention projects.

Marijuana - Common, Dangerous, and Still Illegal (PDF)
Marijuana is one of the most widely used illicit drugs in the United States and very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana.

Methamphetamine: Nothing to Rave About (PDF)
Methamphetamine is among the most addictive substance around. The drug can easily be made from relatively inexpensive over-the-counter ingredients. The way the drug makes teens feel may seem cool; but the drug is altering their brains - maybe permanently.

Sniffing Your Life Away (PDF)
Inhalant abuse can kill - even a first-time user can end up dead after "sniffing" or "huffing" inhalants. And if it doesn't kill you, it can leave you with severe brain damage or severe respiratory problems.

The Reality of Gangs (PDF)
Gangs bring fear and violence to neighborhoods, traffic in drugs, destroy property, involve youth in crime, and drive out businesses. Gangs pull teens away from school and home into a life of violence.

Road Rules (PDF)
Getting a driver's license is a big deal for every teenager. It represents freedom, the chance to go new places, and a great deal of responsibility. While the vehicle you drive may seem like an oasis, safe from hassles of everyday life, you are still vulnerable to crime.

Streetwise: The Way to Be (PDF)
Teens are the age group most vulnerable to crime. But putting into practice some basic crime prevention tips can help you and your friends avoid becoming the victims of crime.

Take Crime Prevention to Work (PDF)
Almost any crime that can happen at home or school can happen at work. Common-sense prevention skills can help make your workplace safer.

Also see:
Community Crime Prevention; Conflict Resolution/Anger Management; Don't Be a Victim / Personal and Home Safety; School Safety; Sexual Assault; and Substance Abuse: Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Abuse