Excessive or unusual foot traffic around a house. This can involve many people coming and going, people loitering around, or frequent visitors quickly entering and leaving. Frequent traffic stops, especially if someone from the house comes out to talk to these cars. Threatening activity, including obvious intimidation and violence, or a sudden increase in criminal activity around the house. The direct exchange of drugs and money.
Unattended briefcases, suitcases, backpacks, or other packages. Unusual smells or fumes. Strangers asking questions about security procedures, or taking photos or videos of a building’s security features.
The crime being committed. The crime’s location. A physical address is good, but you can also note important landmarks nearby. If you are in an urbanized area, the nearest cross streets are good to know. A description of the suspect. Look for any kind of distinguishing physical characteristic, including height, weight, build, skin and hair color, and physical markings (like scars or tattoos). You don’t need all of these things, but the more detail you can get, the better it will be. Any items in use. Are the criminals armed? Do they have tools to carry out the specific crime they are committing? A description of the victim. This can be the person being victimized, or the building, in the case of vandalism, breaking and entering, and other types of property crime.
If you have information relating to a federal crime, such as violent crime, child pornography, human trafficking, terrorism, drug trafficking, and fraud, contact the FBI or Department of Justice.
If you have a spare key, don’t leave it hidden somewhere outside your home. It’s best to leave it with a friend or trusted neighbor.
Learn if any of your neighbors have surveillance or security cameras. This kind of information can be helpful to police who need video evidence that a crime has been committed in your area.
Pre-existing groups like church organizations or social clubs (Rotary or Lions, for example) can form the basis of an anti-crime organization. Invite the police to your meetings as well. They can help provide additional information you need to fight crime in your neighborhood, and set up specific ways for people to report crimes anonymously.
Don’t buy new software because of a pop-up or other advertisement claiming to have found viruses or malware on your computer. This is just another scam to allow hackers access to your computer.
Another way you can create a strong password is to take the first letter of each word, plus numbers and symbols, in two simple sentences. For example, the phrase “My first pet was a dog named Fido. Got him in 1993. " would become the password “MfpwadnF. Ghi1993. " It is long, and has a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Since it doesn’t read as any word that would appear in a dictionary, it is harder for someone else to figure out. Plus, since it can refer to a sentence only you know, it should be easier for you to remember. [19] X Research source
Another way you can create a strong password is to take the first letter of each word, plus numbers and symbols, in two simple sentences. For example, the phrase “My first pet was a dog named Fido. Got him in 1993. " would become the password “MfpwadnF. Ghi1993. " It is long, and has a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Since it doesn’t read as any word that would appear in a dictionary, it is harder for someone else to figure out. Plus, since it can refer to a sentence only you know, it should be easier for you to remember. [19] X Research source
Many of these emails will seem legitimate, or threaten to take action against you if you do not respond. Don’t panic, and don’t respond to these messages.
