This week’s story of the every other week comes straight from watching the news.
Nearby where I work, a 15-year old girl is missing for several days and then is found dead along a roadside.
An unfamiliar adult in broad daylight grabs another young girl in broad daylight at a mini mall, but she manages to free herself and escape abduction.
A young girl in the same neighborhood reports being followed by a subject in a car who followed her and pulled alongside her several times until she began to run and summoned help from a gardener who was working nearby.
A suspect is arrested down in southern California after stabbing a woman, and then confesses to killing a young boy who had been reported missing in Northern California.
A man enters a woman’s car, hides in the rear seat, and upon her return he forces her to drive to a rural area where he brutally rapes her.
I turned off the news and switched to watching reruns of Seinfeld after becoming discouraged. I don’t know why, but every year about this time we are shocked by hearing about some really hideous crimes that take place. It seems the pre-holiday season can really bring out the worst in some people.
It reminds me of the reason why we wrote “CopTalk” in the first place, and why we started this webpage. People have to be made aware of two things.
The first being, knowing what they can do to help themselves in regards to personal safety.
The second being, understanding what does and doesn’t happen to the predators in society who thrive on innocent victims, both adult and children alike.
I commend the young lady at the mini mall who recognized that she was in potentially “serious trouble” and ran for help. The young lady who was walking along the street also recognized a “potentially serious situation” and ran to an adult working near-by for assistance.
Very accurate descriptions of the vehicles used in these incidents were given to police, and with a little luck and help from observant neighbors we might get lucky. All it takes is one neighbor to view a vehicle that looks out of place in the neighborhood, who in turn calls the police.
The information most helpful to us is the following:
Approximate year of the vehicle. (Even just saying older verses newer is a help.)
Make. (Compact; Full size, 2-door, 4-door, Station wagon, Mustang, Honda civic)
Color. (Some vehicles are 2-tone. Try to list both colors, like “blue over white”)
Number of occupants. (One, Two, Four? Sex, Race? Hat’s Hair styles)
And most importantly… A license plate number!
Even a partial plate is better than nothing.
ANYTHING that you can remember is a help!
What was the color of the license plate? The color of the numbers or letters?
A passenger car plate usually has a number, three letters, and three numbers.
A commercial plate on a van or pickup truck has a number, one letter, and the rest numbers.
When I was a new cop I used to get confused when trying to read off all these numbers and letters to the dispatchers, but you’d be surprised with how fast you can rattle these off with a little practice!
When you’re driving down the road, or if you’re out for a jog, or walking the dog, practice reading off vehicle license plates to yourself from either parked cars or vehicles passing by. Maybe it sounds dumb to you, maybe it doesn’t, but this is definitely a case of proving “practice makes perfect!”
They say that cops are “trained observers”. We don’t have special powers; we’re just trained in many different things to look for in a variety of situations. You can be a trained observer the same as any cop, But It Takes PRACTICE!
You could be following a drunk driver down the freeway when you pick up your cell phone to call us. The dispatcher will LOVE you for the detailed description you give of the vehicle and you’ll be much less nervous if you are PREPARED!
With predators cruising through a neighborhood looking for young women or girls, You Could Be Saving A Life!
In watching the stories above, I remembered a story a couple years back where a man and a woman with long criminal histories cruised through a neighborhood in the early evening hours and abducted a young woman who was jogging in her neighborhood. A neighborhood not used to crime or such horrid incidents.
The young woman’s body was found several days later in another part of the state. She had been brutally sexually molested and murdered in a van that had been equipped as a rolling “kidnap chamber” complete with handcuffs and restraints.
Women and young children have to be made aware that there are sick people out there who can uproot your life in a matter of seconds.
What can you do?
• DON’T jog, walk, or bicycle alone.
(In this day and age this applies to daylight hours as well as in the evening.)
• Jog with a friend or in a group.
• Carry a cell phone if you have one. If not, think about getting one.
(I remember a call one night where a couple was jogging and the woman’s husband collapsed from a heart attack.) Because she carried a cell phone, not only were we notified immediately, but the dispatcher was able to provide valuable life-saving instructions to the wife while we were enroute. Because of this, the man survived!)
• Stay in populated areas.
• Be constantly aware of your surroundings.
• Don’t let young children walk home to or from school alone.
(I’m still amazed at the number of small kids that I see on the street in the mornings and afternoons with nobody around watching them!)
• Remind your kids the importance of not talking to strangers!
I live across the street from a park. I take my dog “Gilligan” over there several times a day. I constantly have very small children come up to me and ask to pet the dog. I look around for parents and I see NONE! I almost get an uncomfortable feeling because in this day and age, we’re forced to feel like it’s wrong to be talking to small children alone.
What if I wasn’t a cop?
What if I looked around and saw nobody watching, and scooped up your child in a second and drove away?
It’s OK for a kid to come up and ask to “pet the dog” but ONLY if Mom or Dad is right there watching!
Make sure your kids have a “Plan” to follow if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation.
More importantly, don’t let your kids get into an uncomfortable situation. Be there for them!
• Women, you want a good work out? Enroll in Karate or some other form of
self- defense. Most bad guys aren’t expecting you to be well prepared in self-defense
and many times that “element of surprise” is the deciding factor in a situation ending with favorable results.
• Soccer and Tee ball may be good for the kids, but consider self-defense classes for them as well. It’s fun for them, as well as being great exercise and INFORMATIVE!
• Get certified to carry Mace or Pepper spray.
The list goes on and on. Many of these things we cover in our book. Many victims don’t have to be victims, if they just prepare!
Put yourself in the position of the woman who was “surprised” by a male subject who had “hid” inside her car while she was away from it. I don’t have the factual particulars on this incident, but I’m thinking along the lines of her leaving the car unlocked “just for a minute” to pop into the store or to go pay for gas at the pumps. (Keyword here is unlocked)
She gets back into her car “without looking in the rear seat” and drives off to have the most horrifying experience of her life begin. A knife at her throat and a sinister low voice ordering her to drive into the country where she is raped.
The scars of that incident will be with this woman the rest of her life, but if any good comes from it, it will be that YOU learned from it and took steps to prevent this from happening to you!
Don’t leave your car locked for any reason. Anywhere, anytime!
Always look into your vehicle before you enter it. Always!
Watch and see who is parked or standing near your vehicle. I’m not telling you that you have to be paranoid, but I am telling you that “Expecting the Unexpected” can keep you from becoming a victim! When a knife or gun is at your throat, it’s a little late to start thinking about being prepared.
Be observant to suspicious activity.
Call us when you see someone or something out of place.
Look out for each other. Help stop those horrible stories on the news by
Getting Involved!
If you don’t, who will? We can’t be everywhere at once as much as we’d like to be.
We need your help, and we’re not afraid to ask for it… How bout it?
If you need some more help in learning what to look for, I’m thinking there’s a pretty good book out there called “CopTalk” that just might be able to help you out in a few areas…hint hint.
See you in a week. With the holidays approaching we’re going to try and post new updates every week instead of every other week. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and as always,
Stay safe!
Netcops P.S.I.
