Police Share Tips To Protect Property And Avoid Crime

Police officials will visit the Success Village (Success and Granfield Avenues) today at 3:30 p.m. distributing “friendly reminder” cards featuring tips to avoid being victims of car break-ins and burglaries, according to police spokesman Bill Kaempffer.

The Success Village area has experienced an increase in car break-ins. The Police Department recently launched “Operation Friendly Reminder”  to remind folks about simple precautions that can help them avoid being victims. “Today is another example of boots on the ground trying to prevent crime,” says Kaempffer. “Incidents are being actively investigated by the detective division and patrol but there is an educational component as well.”

News release:

Chief Offers Tips on How to Keep Property Safe

With the holiday season approaching, the Police Department has launched “Operation Friendly Reminder” to help people avoid becoming victims of property crime.

“We’re approaching the time of year when police departments across the nation see increases in car break-ins,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “People doing holiday shopping will run into a store leaving their earlier purchases in plain view in the back seat and return to their car to find them stolen.”

The Police Department earlier this year printed two-sided palm cards in English and Spanish with helpful tips to remind people how to avoid being victims of property crime. One was completed in a burglary-reduction effort and the other to reduce car break-ins. The cards were created to enhance community awareness.

Here is how the program has worked: After an incident, officers routinely canvass neighborhoods and knock on doors looking for witnesses or additional information. The idea is to keep the cards in police cruisers for officers to hand out or leave at houses or on car windshields as they make their rounds.

Police Chief Joseph. L. Gaudett said the program is designed to remind people of common-sense tips to protect their property.

“We’re trying to be proactive. Our job is crime reduction and, perhaps, by handing out these cards we can prevent the next break-in before it happens,” said Chief Gaudett. “Most of the tips come down to common sense, but it is so easy to get complacent and think, ‘I’m just running into the store for five minutes.

“This is simply reinforcing what most people already know.”

The program will expand during the holiday season. The palm-card program has been ongoing in all City neighborhoods, but the Department will additionally focus its educational efforts in retail hubs over the next two months. The department is creating similar flyers to post in retail store windows.

“When officers are patrolling in a commercial lot over the next few months and observe packages in plain view, we’ll simply slip a card under the windshield wiper,” said Chief Gaudett. “Better to get a friendly reminder from us than a painful one from a criminal.”