Report Suspicious Activity to the Police.

Emergency:  911

Non-emergency:  301-279-8000 

Home Safety Tips:  How to make your home a safer place

Prevention is important, but most people don't take the steps they need to protect their home.  There are some things you can do to help prevent a burglary from occuring at your home:

• Install good quality deadbolt locks on all exterior doors and any doors from attached garages.
• Door areas should be well lighted, and doors should have a wide-angle viewer so that you can see who is outside without opening the door.
• All exterior doors should be metal or solid wood, and have strong door hinges on the inside of the door with hidden or non-removable pins.
• During days and evenings when the weather is nice, don't leave your windows open while you are gone. 
• Lock your windows and doors.  Utilize window coverings such as curtains or mini-blinds to decrease visibility into your home.
• Use automatic timers all of the time, not just when you are away.
• Consider using motion detectors to illuminate when activity is occuring near your home.
• Plant thorny bushes around windows to make it more difficult for someone to enter through them.
• Shrubbery can be an asset or hindrance to criminals.  Be sure to prune large trees so their limbs don't provide roof access or second-story window access.  Keep shrubs trimmed below window sills and low around entrances.  You don't want to provide concealment for a burglar.
• When at home or away always keep your garage door shut.
• Install automatic openers that will allow you to stay in your car until safely parked in the garage.
• Burglars often try to find out if anyone is home by phoning.  If you get several suspicious "wrong number" calls or "nobody-at-the-other-end" calls, alert the police.  Warn family members, especially children, not to give out information by phone.
• Do not keep large sums of cash around your home.
• Make sure emergency vehicles can find your home in an emergency.  Minutes lost hunting for the correct address can be costly.  Have your house numbers clearly mounted on a high contrast background and make sure the numbers can be easily read from the street at night.
• Engrave your belongings with your driver's license number whenever practical.
• Consider installing a monitored home security system.  Some insurance companies may qualify you for up to a 20% discount on your homeowner's insurance if you install a home security system.

Personal Safety at Home

• Don't enter your home if you see signs of forced entry.  Go to a neighbor's house, call the police and note the description of any strange cars or people near your home.
• If you detect an intruder, don't confront them. 
• If a stranger wants to use your phone, don't let them inside.  If they say they have an emergency such as their car breaking down, take down the details with your security door closed and make the call for them.
• Never tell a stranger you are home alone.
• All representatives of legitimate companies have ID cards.  If you're even a little bit unsure about a person at your front door, write down their ID or badge number and make sure you lock the door before calling their company for verification.

Take a Stand Against Crime:  Join a Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch is one of the most effective and least costly ways to prevent crime and reduce fear.  It forges bonds among area residents, helps reduce burglaries and robberies, and improves relations between police and the communities they serve.

• Any community resident can join - young and old, single and married, renter and home owner.
• A few concerned residents, a community organization, or a law enforcement agency can spearhead the effort to organize a Watch.
• Members learn how to make their homes more secure, watch out for each other and the neighborhood, and report activities that raise their suspicions to the police.
• You can form a Watch group around any geographical unit:  a block, apartment, park, business area, public housing complex, or office.
• Watch groups are not vigilantes.  They are extra eyes and ears for reporting crime and helping neighbors.  Neighborhood Watch helps build pride and serves as a spring-board for efforts that address community concerns such as recreation for youth, child care, and affordable housing.

How to get started:

When a group decides to form a Neighborhood Watch:

• Contact your Montgomery County Police District station.  A Community Services Officer will help in training members in home security, reporting skills, and for information on local crime patterns.
• Select a coordinator and block captains who are responsible for organizing meetings and relaying information to members.
• Recruit members, keeping up-to-date on new residents and making special efforts to involve the elderly, working parents, and young people.
• Work with local government or law enforcement to put up Neighborhood Watch signs, usually after at least 50% of all households are enrolled.

For more information about the Neighborhood Watch Programs, you can go to http://www.usaonwatch.org.

Senior Citizens Protecting Themselves Against Crime

Everyone must face the realities of aging.  Situations vary as do the ways people deal with growing older.  Regardless of the circumstances, however, most older people say they worry about crime.  Many fear becoming victims of crime.  As a group, older people can be a powerful and active force.  As individuals, they often can be vulnerable and may need help.

Older people can be vulnerable to:

• Frauds and scams - some of the elderly can fall victim to fraudulent schemes and can be favorite targets for con artists.  Telemarketing fraud is a particular problem.  Often, the amount of money lost can be devastating.
• Elder abuse - mistreatment occurs both in domestic and institutional settings.  Abuse does not have to be physical.  Passive neglect may leave seniors in unclean, poorly heated housing, existing on inadequate diets.
• Violent crimes - many older people are afraid they are easy targets.  Aware of their diminished strength and mobility, they realize that chances of outrunning or fighting off an attacker would be slim.
• Property crimes - burglaries, theft and vandalism can be especially distressing to older individuals whose security and well-being are tenuous.  The ability to replace stolen or damaged property may be limited and their lives may be permanently affected.

The Triad Solution:

One of the main reasons that seniors may be vulnerable is that they are isolated within the community.  Lines of communication break down.  Contact with others, including law enforcement officials, may be infrequent.  The Triad approach seeks to address and resolve this situation.

Triad, developed by national organizations (American Association of Retired Persons, International Association of Chiefs of Police, and National Sheriffs' Association), is organized and operated at the county or community level.  Triad means:

• A three-way commitment among the chief(s) of police in a county, the sheriff and older and retired leaders.
• An agreement to work together to reduce criminal victimization of the elderly.
• Dedication to preventing crime and enhancing the delivery of law enforcement services to older persons.

For more information on how Triad can work in your community, write to:  Triad, National Sheriffs' Association, 1450 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia  22314-3490.