Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 1 Jun 2018

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From YouTube: Avoid Summertime Crime

Description

Corporal Shawn Vinson of the Baltimore County Police Department offers some real-world advice to prevent crimes of opportunity this summer.

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Well, as the song goes,, it's summertime and the livin's easy.

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Unfortunately, a lot of us make it easy for criminals, too.

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Corporal shawn vinson of the baltimore county police department is here with some real world suggestions on how to be smart and stay safe. This summer., thank you so much for joining us.. Thank you for having me today.

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So summertime, you're home,.

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You're out in the yard,, maybe you're doing yard work.

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What are some things that people should be conscious, of?.

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Some of the crimes that we've actually seen in the county is that the homeowner's in the backyard and somebody's breaking in to the front of the house.

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so keep your doors locked all the time,, even if you're outside just in front of your house., keep the doors locked in the front and the back and also keep your windows. Locked.

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windows, too..., yes.,.

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We've seen burglars come in through the windows.

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While the people are in the backyard or at a neighbor's house hanging out.

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And they come inside the house., so any opportunity that a burglar can take, they're gonna take.

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Also, something to be aware is to keep our sheds locked.

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We keep a lot of valuable things in our sheds.

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ellen:. That's true. power, tools, yeah...,.

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Shawn: absolutely. lawn equipment.

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These are all things that can be pawned.

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burglars will take these items,.

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They go to a pawn shop,, a quick dollar that they turn over.

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So keeping your shed locked will keep these items safe, also.

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Wow,, so even if you're mowing the lawn.

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And you just run up to the gas station to get gas for the mower,.

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Just lock everything up., lock everything up.

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Unfortunately, burglars take any opportunity that they can get.

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So the harder you make it for them,, the more safe that you'll be.

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Any suggestion about locks in general?.

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Deadbolts? anything like that?.

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Mostly any store will have a decent lock,.

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Any kind of combination lock, a directional lock;.

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Anything that'll, a key lock, is also good.

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Anything that's gonna. Take the burglar, longer.

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they'll move on.. If they see that it's gonna take them some time to get into something, they're gonna, move on to the next target.

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all right,, and how about the old fashioned security system of a dog?.

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A dog is great.

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Any kind of animal that's gonna, make a loud noise.

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Burglars don't like to encounter people,, they don't want to encounter animals.

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They're trying to take property as quick, possible.

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And get out of the area without being seen.

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a barking dog is gonna attract attention,. So that's a great idea,.

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If the dog is going to bark or something like that.

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Yeah. all right, and also in the summertime people, are.

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There's more people out and about.

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every once in a while. We'll have folks kind of walk in canvassing. The neighborhood.

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For all sorts of different things., what do you suggest as far as that goes?.

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So people will come up to your door and offer to repair your roof,.

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Do some type of home repair.?

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We always want people to be aware that there are scammers out there,.

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There are people that are gonna offer to tar your driveway.

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They're not gonna, be using high quality products.

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The most important thing you should be checking for somebody, that's gonna work on your home is that they're licensed.

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They have to be licensed from the maryland home. Improvement. Commission.-.

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They should have a number and they should be displaying that either on their contract, on their vehicles, or on their business cards..

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So you have to make sure that they're licensed to do the work and that's to protect you just in case that work's not done successfully.

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Or if there's some type of scam., if you do think you're being scammed,, you can always call 911--.

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Just call 911 if you feel suspicious.

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Absolutely., you can have an officer come out.

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That officer will investigate, try to determine if this person's a legitimate company or if there's some type of scam,.

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And then we know it's on our radar at that point.

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okay,. So if it seems too good to be true,, it probably is.

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Absolutely., if it's a rock bottom price,, there's a reason why it's so cheap.

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And it's not just that they're working in the neighborhood.

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And have some leftover material.?

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Sometimes it might be true, but you have to investigate and take it for what it is.

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If it's really cheap, there's a reason why it's so cheap.

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And the most important thing is to make sure that they are licensed.

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I guess it's true, pretty much anyone who's approaching you,.

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Whether it's in your home or on the phone with an offer,.

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You have to put your guard up.

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absolutely., any time that they're coming forward,.

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They just happen to be in the neighborhood or looking in their.

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Call you out of the blue to see if you need anything.

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Another situation that we see is that if there's a hurricane.

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Or a hail storm, you get all these companies coming out of the woodwork.

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Looking for insurance, work, work, that's gonna be covered by your insurance. Company., make sure you work with. There should be an adjustor if you are gonna, have work done through your insurance company, work with your adjustor.

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they're, aware of the preventive measures that you can take.

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To not be scammed. okay,, very good., and what about when you're, not at home?.

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If you're lucky enough to take a summer vacation down the beach or wherever you go,, what about keeping your house safe, while you're away?.

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Sure., so the most important thing that we warn people with is lighting.

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That's the cheapest way to keep your house safe., have exterior lighting with motion detectors.

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Use light timers inside your house.

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make sure your trees and your bushes are trimmed back so that you can see the house, you can see inside the windows.

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And be able to quickly look at the house and make sure that the house is secure., you can always let a trusted. Neighbor know that you'll be away.

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And also you can contact the post office and your mail carrier,.

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Or you can contact the newspaper company and have either your mail picked up by a neighbor or have them stop delivering, while you're away.

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So it's not obvious that the home is empty.

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all right, and, speaking of when you're away,, what are some things you should do to stay safe, while you're out having fun?.

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So if you are out of town, I know it's hard but stay off of social media.

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We have actually seen people post on facebook, they'll post on twitter.

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If your posts are public, anybody can see that.

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Our burglars, they do their research., they study and they look for people that aren't going to be home,.

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They're not gonna want to encounter anyone, that's home,!

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So if they know you're out of town,, if they know you're in cancun or puerto rico, and you post from there,.

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They know the pets aren't gonna be inside and that you're not gonna be there,.

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So they're gonna come in the house. okay. and sometimes, if we're going away for a long trip.

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We'll kind of let our credit card companies know that if they see transactions from elsewhere that it really is us.

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Are there other things you should do?, so the banks and the credit card companies,.

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They do have people that are monitoring your credit and they'll look and see if there is some unusual charges and you can call ahead of time.

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If you're gonna travel out of the country,, you can purchase that currency ahead of time.

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And have that with you, so that you don't have to do any kind of exchange when you're there.

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you'll want to protect your credit information as much as possible.

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Nowadays, we've seen a lot of scams of them copying credit cards,.

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Using your credit card numbers., anybody can be a victim of identity, theft.

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If you do believe you've been a victim,, you can contact three credit bureaus and they can put a credit alert on all of your credit.

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And you can notify the bank or the credit card company that you belong to.

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So, even while you're enjoying yourself, you still need to stay aware and alert.

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Absolutely., if you see something suspicious, call 911..

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Thank you very much.. Thank you for having me today.

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Sure. and thank you for watching hello! baltimore county..

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We encourage you to connect with baltimore county government on all of our social media, platforms.

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