Baltimore County Police: Increased Patrols For The Holiday Season And Crime Prevention Tips

Press release from the Baltimore County Police Department:

November 16, 2021

With the holiday season just around the corner, the Baltimore County Police Department has rolled out its holiday deployment. Across the County, the department has officers deployed to areas where residents often frequent during this time of year. While officers will be more visible at shopping centers and local malls, it is important for residents to take extra steps to stay safe as well. One way to protect yourself is by practicing situational awareness. If you are unfamiliar with situational awareness, it is simply knowing what is going on around you and recognizing the potential implication. If something or someone seems out of place, it probably is. You might be recognizing a potential threat.

Let us say you are in a parking lot or garage and someone appears to be standing around for no good reason. He or she might be waiting for someone—or that person could be an opportunist waiting to grab your shopping bags or your purse.

Remember, with the nature of the holidays and the hustle and bustle that often surround them, it is easy to get distracted. Picture someone talking on his or her phone; fumbling for a key fob; struggling to open their car door due to the arm full of bags they have with gifts in them. Preoccupied shoppers are easy targets for street robbers or purse-snatchers.

Please follow the tips the Baltimore County Police Department has provided below so that you may have a safe, fun, and joyful holiday season.

If you plan to be out of town for the holidays be sure to fill out a vacant house form. After the form is complete, email it to your precinct and officers will check on the location. If something suspicious does happen, law enforcement will have the necessary information to contact the homeowner or local emergency contact. (link will be embedded) https://resources.baltimorecountymd.gov/Documents/Police/2014pdfs/vacanthouseform141119.pdf

As the number of online purchases and sales of goods quickly increase, so does the potential risks associated with these transactions when they involve meeting a stranger. To keep citizens safe, the Baltimore County Police Department encourages anyone who makes an online purchase that involves an in-person interaction to use our police facilities.

Complete your transactions during daylight hours. Use your local police precinct as a meeting spot. The transaction can occur in the public parking lot or in front of the police facility where there is street parking.

Safe Exchange Zones aim to reduce your chances of being a victim of a crime. Police precincts and facilities listed below are Safe Exchange Zones that are available to the public.

Citizens are strongly encouraged to practice these safe approaches when engaging in business transactions with strangers.

Shoppers should always beware of purse-snatchers. Do not be distracted; thwart a would-be thief with these simple tips:

The boxes that your gifts come in say a lot about what is in your home. We have to contend with descriptive packaging that advertises to the world that we have a new computer, television, video players, games, and other expensive electronic equipment.

Burglars often canvass neighborhoods looking for items of value and they need look no farther than the curbside on trash day to see what they can steal. Do not advertise to a thief what gift you received during the holiday. Instead, break down those gift boxes, then place the pieces inside out, when possible, or place them in a trash receptacle.

Make life difficult for criminals: use a crosscut shredder to shred unwanted bills containing debit and credit card numbers. All those numbers tell a story about who you are and give personal information regarding other forms of credit beyond the receipts in the trash.

Consider having valuable gifts engraved with your driver's license number or Maryland ID number. Never use your Social Security number to engrave valuables. If the item is stolen and later recovered by police, the engraved number will allow investigators to return the property to you. Engraving also may deter thieves because the identifying information makes it more difficult for them to dispose of or sell valuables.

Easy-to-use engraving equipment and instructions are available, free of charge, to Baltimore County residents at County police precincts and through many Citizens on Patrol chapters.

For additional information on safeguarding yourself and your possessions, be sure to check out all of our crime prevention tips on the Baltimore County Police website Safety page.

More criminals are using social media to find and target properties they know might be empty. As more people share pictures of their lives online, opportunists may be able to find out where you live, and knowing that it is empty, take advantage.

This press release was produced by the Baltimore County Police Department. The views expressed here are the author’s own.