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Old December 25, 2001, 09:13 AM   #9
David Scott
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Join Date: February 11, 2000
Posts: 2,456
Good info here. I would also suggest that reading newspaper crime reports will give you a knowledge of the environments, times and situations in which criminals choose to act. Street criminals, being stupid and probably drug-addled, don't have a lot of imagination or planning skills. They do the same stuff over and over till they get caught.

When out and about, I watch for people who are "loitering without purpose". I know that such people are more likely to be a problem in certain parking lots, after dark, away from the store lights. I've formed the habit of walking wide of my truck till I can verify there's no lurkers.

IMHO you're less likely to be the target of a direct assault than you are to get caught up in a business robbery, and there are signs for these too. One that's been mentioned on TFL before is the C-store customer who browses aimlessly till all the other customers leave. Another is when two or three people enter a business separately, as if they don't know each other, but keep exchanging glances and nods as they move to opposite corners so they can cover everyone. Sunglasses, hoods, hats and physical posture/movement being employed to mask the face from security cameras are a telltale. And I won't even enter a store if I see a car backed into a parking space, with a driver at the wheel and the engine idling.

The price of freedom -- including freedom from fear of crime -- is eternal vigilance.
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"As I looked at my two young sons, each with his gun, and considered how much the safety of the party depended on these little fellows, I felt grateful to you, dear husband, for having acquainted them in childhood with the use of firearms."

-- Elisabeth Robinson, in The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
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