Tips for When You're Out

Here are 18 ways to protect yourself while you are out:

• Try to arrange to have a companion with you when out walking.
• Plan your route. Use well-lit streets.
• Walk on the curbside away from buildings where an assailant could conceal himself.
• Don’t stray away from the well-traveled path or take short cuts through alleys.
• Don’t have that "one drink too many". Street criminals look for victims whose defenses may be impaired by alcohol.
• If you think you’re being followed by someone on foot, change directions or head for a store or a group of people.
• If you are on foot and think you are being followed by someone in a car, change directions.
• If a driver stops to ask for directions, don’t get too close to the car and risk being pulled in.
• When shopping, don’t carry or flash large sums of cash.
• Women should carry purses close in to their bodies, with a hand on a clasp, if possible. Purses should not be dangled.
• Consider carrying a shoulder bag. It’s harder for a purse snatcher to grab.
• When carrying armfuls of packages, women should tuck purses in between the packages and the body.
• Carry your keys in your pocket, so if your purse is taken, you won’t lose them.
• Never leave purses on store counters or sitting on the floor in a restroom.
• Be alert for suspicious looking persons when you enter a public restroom.
• Men should carry their wallet in an inside jacket pocket or a front pocket.
• Beware of the person who crowds you in an elevator or group of people. He may be a pickpocket.
• Don’t hitchhike. You have no way of knowing who is going to pick you up or what their intentions are.

For more information about crime prevention call the Rockville City Police Department Community Services Officer 240-314-8922.