Preventing Street Crime
How can I keep my credit card safe?
I think the first thing to do to keep your credit card safe is to make sure that you keep it out of sight of people who will potentially see it and try to steal it from you. If you've got a handbag, make sure it's securely closed so that people can't see what the contents are of your bag. If you've got a wallet, keep it on an inside pocket. Never, ever keep credit cards or wallets in back pockets. The trousers are visible on display. Never consider leaving wallets or purses on tables in pubs and clubs. These are sensible precautions. If people don't see that you've got the credit card, they're far less likely to try to take it from you.
How can I keep my PIN safe?
The important thing is that you should never keep any record of your PIN number with your card. The two should always be entirely separate. It is particularly important to remember that a bank will never phone you and ask you for your PIN number, and likewise if you go on the internet and pay for goods, then no genuine internet site will request your PIN number, so don't disclose your PIN number to anybody. The other thing to remember is that it is very easy nowadays if you have difficulty remembering your PIN number to go to an ATM and change it yourself to a more memorable number that you can easily remember in the future, but it's also important not to make that number too obvious. Don't, for example, use numbers that relate to your own date of birth.
How can I keep safe at a cash point?
Well, there's two things actually to look out for here. One is around the actual machine itself. Is it a potential that the machine has been tampered with? Although, it is actually quite rare, there are instances where people will try and attempt to put some form of scanning device actually onto the machine and will try to scan details of your card from there. So, you just need to be conscious and aware of the machine that you're using. If there's any - if it feels like trying to put the card in - it's quite tight, then don't use the machine, walk away and report it to your bank. The secondary thing is obviously around your own personal safety at cash point machines. It's actually reasonably rare to become a victim of crime vis-a-vis by a cash point machine - but sensible precautions around seeing who else is there - is there someone reasonably near to the cash point who just seems to be looking at people using the machine? If you've got concerns around that, then don't use the cash point machine, just walk away. And, a good place to actually get cash is in sort of well-populated, well-lit areas. So, a particularly good place, for example, would actually be within the branch of a bank itself, use the security doors to go into the branch which is covered by CCTV cameras, and take your money from there. And the important thing is, having got your money, is to actually keep it out of sight as quickly as you can, so that when you walk away from the ATM, people aren't then aware that you've got significant amounts of cash on you.
How can I keep my mobile phone safe?
The first thing you can do to keep your mobile phone safe is, actually, to register it at immobilise.com. This is free of charge to members of the public and it basically asks you a few simple questions around your name and address and details of the mobile phone. You need to have the IBI number to register the phone, which you can get by dialling star-hash-zero-six-hash, *#06#, on your handset and that will show you the IBI number. You register that at immobilise and then should your phone be stolen or lost, and the police either find it on somebody or find the phone, it enables the police to reunite the phone with you. So, that's the first thing you can do. In terms of actually safe ownership of your phone, it's about being aware of when and where you use it. Mobile phones are a terrific benefit for all of us in terms of being able to contact people, to make people aware of where you are, and be reassured around where friends and family are. However, you need to have some awareness around where you use it, particularly if you're coming off of public transport systems. When we come out of the station, we want to tell someone we're late or need a lift or want to speak to somebody, and it's in that immediate vicinity outside the station in particular that if you're not careful, people see you've got the phone. If you then go on to the phone and become engrossed in a conversation, you generally intend to become insulated from what's happening around you and lose that perception that you would normally have, and you could then be at risk. So, I think the bottom line is just be aware when you come out of the station and you're going to use the phone; just look around and see the surroundings that you are in, and obviously then, if you're not too sure that you're safe, just wait until you get a little bit farther away before you use it.
How can I stay safe on public transport?
Well, the first thing to remember now in terms of staying safe on public transport is that most buses, trains, and in London, the tube stations, have CCTV on them which actually does make travelling by public transport a lot safer than it was a number of years ago. Also, British Transport Police, and in London, Transport for London, have invested significant resources in the policing and security of public transport. So actually, generally, they are very safe means of transport. That said, obviously like everything else there are sensible precautions you can take, depending on what time of day you're using public transport, to minimise the risk of you becoming the victim of crime. If you're using the bus late at night, and it's a double-decker, then generally speaking it's a better thing to be downstairs on the bus, and nearer the driver. On public transport, a train or a tube, I would suggest that you travel nearer to the front of the train where the driver is.
How can I stay safe while waiting for a night bus?
When waiting for a night bus, you shouldn't have too many problems. Obviously the general principles of safety apply - of having an awareness of the surrounding that you're in. If there are large groups around acting boisterously or aggressively and you feel uncomfortable, just move away from the actual bus stop itself, so that you're still near enough to catch the night bus when it arrives, but away from people that are making you feel uncomfortable.
How can I stay safe while taking a taxi ride?
Well, I think the first to say is that it's important to make sure that you actually are getting into a taxi. If you don't use a reputable taxi firm, you don't necessarily know who it is that's giving you a lift. It may actually not be a taxi at all. So, the first thing I would say is that before you go out, think about your journey home at the end of it and get a number of a reputable taxi firm or minicab firm. Have that in your mobile if you have one. And actually, then at the end of your evening, call that company to come pick you up, rather than waiting on potluck in the street. Assuming that you use a taxi, my recommendation would be that you would go sit in one of the back seats of a taxi or minicab rather than in the front seat next to the driver. And make it clear where it is that you want to go. If there's a group of you, plan who's going to be dropped off first, and it's a good idea, as well, for peace of mind I think, to arrange to call each other up once people have been dropped off just so that one knows that everyone has got home safely.
Why should I sit in the back of a taxi?
I think it's important that when you get into a taxi, you know exactly who's in there. If you get into the backseat, you can actually see the whole of the vehicle, and you can see that you've got a driver and no other occupants get in the front of the vehicle. There is the risk of, potentially, there being somebody else hidden in the back of the vehicle. This needs to be put into perspective: In terms of licensed taxis, that risk is very, very minimal, if not negligible or nil. But it's a sensible precaution, I think, if you're getting into a taxi, to be able to get into the back, so you can have a clear view of the whole vehicle and the occupants.
How can I tell if a taxi is safe?
The easiest way of making sure the taxi you're getting into is safe is to use a licensed taxi, which in London would be a black cab or a licensed mini-cab - a proper hire vehicle. Outside of London, use a licensed or reputable cab hire company. I think it's important that you check when you get in whether there is a driving license on display. If so, then the taxi is licensed and safe. It's also useful to check that the license plate and the cab plate on the vehicle are actually in place. I think it's important to plan ahead. If you know you're going to be using a cab to go home, make a note of a reputable company that you've used in the past before you go out. Put their telephone number in your mobile phone, if you have one, so that you're able to control which cab you get at the end of an evening rather than relying on potluck.
