The example of a home invasion robbery that happened not so long ago somewhere in the United States could save as a reminder here that we must be most vigilant on our own turf. The father of the family had stepped outside the door (it was not mentioned, as far as I can remember whether this was the front door or the back) for a smoke during the night and upon going back in failed to do any kind of safety check and he was followed in by two men with guns who then subjected the family including children to a ordeal lasting somewhat of an hour while ransacking the house.
Your home security is only as good as you. You must always remember that. The same applies to your personal security.
Even the best home alarms, unless they happen to be those with panic buttons (fine if you can get to one of them) and constant monitoring, do not help if you do not ensure that you do not have uninvited guests right behind you when you step inside of your home.
Nothing, not even the best technology, can ever substitute for your own vigilance.
The same also applies when you step out of your home, your personal fortress, into the wide open world out there. Have a way of ensuring visually, and if you can do and afford electronic measures so much the better, that the coast is clear, that no possible assailant or burglar, wishing to gain entry the easy way into your home by pushing you back inside, is lurking around.
You are more in danger, in my view, in surroundings that are familiar to you, such as your “home turf”, what the villains in England would call “manor”, than in a strange neighborhood or even town or country. Why is that? Because on your home manor, th area that you move in every day you are more relaxed, as a rule, and your personal security perimeter is closer and you let people come closer to you than that would be the case if you were moving thru an area unfamiliar to you. On our home patch we very often let our guard down and don't perceive the threats that may be lurking as quickly as we would in other instances. But this guard must not slip. Towards people you know personally and with whom you are on friendly terms even if as acquaintances only the guard can be lowered but anyone in your own area that you do not know must be perceived as a potential threat. Vigilance in your own garden, on your landing, if you live in an apartment, in your own roads, has to be as acute and sharp as in unfamiliar territory.
Always watch your six o'clock!, as they say. Make it a habit to look behind you every so often, develop good peripheral vision and learn to be totally aware of your surroundings at all times.
I have personally made it to a habit to come to a semi-stop and to turn around rather sharp and abruptly frequently, though in an unpredictable manner and pattern, to ensure than I am not being followed, stalked and targeted, and that not only in unfamiliar surroundings but even in places that I know and where I live. I probably do this more so when it is getting darker or in the mornings before it is fully light but I also do do that rather as a norm during daylight hours.
Too many people who do become victims of a crime are not aware (enough) of their surroundings and especially nowadays are rather distracted, mostly by the fact that they have earphones on listening to their MP3 players, which are often turned up way too loud with the high volume making them deaf to their surroundings, or are chatting on the cell phones. Not only are those people deaf to their surroundings but they are in fact most of the time entirely oblivious to what is going on around them and move, it seems, entirely in a loittle world of their own. Anyone behaving like that might as well be wearing a sign saying “target” on their back.
Do not make yourself a victim.
Be aware of what is going on around you at all times.
Be aware of what is going on around you at all times.
© M V Smith, May 2007
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