With the holiday months approaching, it is especially important to pay close attention to personal and property safety. As a former police detective, I can tell you from personal experience that no matter what the state of economy is at the time, the months of November, December and the first half of January always experience peaks in petty theft and residential burglaries. There are also more personal assaults such as pocket book thefts. If you think about it from a thief’s perspective, this only makes sense. The holiday season means more money in pocketbooks and sugar jars. It also means there are all those nice new presents just waiting to be wrapped. So what can you do to keep safe.
With all the things we have to do – going to work, picking up kids and shuttling them around for after school activities, taking care of the house – who has time to think about much of anything else? That’s why we need a reminder every year to pay close attention to the very things we take for granted. The biggest mistake you can make is to assume you will never be the one robbed or burglarized. It can happen to anyone and so being prepared is key to a happy and safe holiday season.
I have just finished a review of the Palm Beach Gardens crime statistics for the month of October (yes, I review them monthly) and have found that PGA National still has a far lower crime rate than all the surrounding communities. I confirmed this during a recent phone conversation with an Officer in the crime prevention unit. That being said, this is not the time to let our guard down. Your security department knows this and is as vigilant as ever during the holiday months.
Every so often there comes along a particular crime that stands out. Right now it is the theft of catalytic converters, and it has become an epidemic. There is a small amount of precious metal contained within the converter that can be removed and sold. These thefts are occurring all over and quite frequently. So far, most of these crimes are contained to public parking lots with the vehicle of choice being a Toyota SUV. If you observe anything suspicious in a public lot, please report it. You will not be wasting anyone’s time. Your tips can finally put an end to this.
Happy and safe holidays to all!