3 Travel Tips For Crime Prevention

When you are away from home, out in public or away traveling, here are three tips for crime prevention to help keep you from becoming a victim…

Know Your Area Of Travel

Particularly before you head out to a new area of travel, discover more about it or the place where you will be. Take a look at a map (online or otherwise) and capture a basic understanding for the routes of travel. Search for and read online reviews about a given place.

Try to find out ahead of time if the area or particular destinations suffer from higher crime. One tool to understand the history of crime for an area is an online resource, CrimeReports.com which show area maps dotted with crime reports in Canada, the U.S., and the UK.

Basically, better security is inherent when you don’t just go blindly into an area or place unfamiliar to you without doing some preliminary recon.

Situational Awareness Around You

Most people are mostly ignorant of their surroundings, and pay little to no attention to what’s happening beyond the few feet in front of them (or their smart-phone screen). If there is to be a victim, they often are the first to become victims. Predators look for the weaker prey. Someone who is always looking down, or who appears to be in their own little world, are prime targets for criminals.

Instead, scan around you from time to time. Walk with confidence, with your head up straight and walk with purpose – shoulders back, and confident. Not only might you avoid troublemakers, but they might avoid targeting YOU. Use situational awareness.

Eye Contact

While walking, or in crowded public places, make purposeful but relatively quick eye contact with others. Most people purposely avoid eye contact in public places – they want to remain in their own little world; and by looking down or avoiding eye contact they believe they are safe in their cocoon. The reality is that they are entirely wrong.

Occasionally scanning and making quick eye contact with others, will signal any potential criminal that you are not afraid. Staring though, will provoke.