Black Friday and holiday shopping safety
With Black Friday right around the corner, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is offering a few safety tips to keep your shopping experience a positive one.If you are concerned with walking to your car if you are alone, always ask store/mall security if they will escort you and your items to your vehicle.If you know you will have multiple packages in your car while you shop, make arrangements with a friend or family member to collect gifts throughout the day at various points so that your vehicle will remain empty of high-value packages. If a friend or family member is not available to pick up your packages, it is always best to take your packages home periodically so as to keep your vehicle empty of packages.Do not flash cash or place your wallet in an unsecure area. Women should keep purses secure and keep the strap over one shoulder to avoid snatch-and-grab opportunities.Give children a card with your contact information in case they get lost.To reduce holiday thefts, be mindful of how you throw away empty boxes. Don’t advertise what you got for Christmas. Break down/cut up boxes so they fit in a trash can or take them to a recycling center.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is urging East Hamilton residents to lock their car doors.
For the past few months, the number of car break-ins in the area has increased, police say.
In the last three weeks alone, Detective Sgt. Duane Hill said about 15 vehicles had been burgled, and that seems to be a trend.
In October, Hill said, 15 to 20 vehicles were entered, nearly double the number of break-ins typically reported monthly. He said that number usually rests below 10.
Of the vehicles targeted throughout the last few months, Hill said about 95 percent were unlocked, a problem with which the department is quite familiar.
"We've got neighborhood watches and we preach and preach and preach, 'Don't leave your cars unlocked,' but they do," he said.
So far, items such as jewelry, computers and backpacks have been swiped from cars, and Hill said in October, between 10 and 15 guns were taken.
Officials hope to break locals out of the "It can't happen to me" mentality soon, knowing that with the holiday season's arrival, the number of break-ins will only increase.
"I've been doing this 28 years, and it's always been consistent. Picks up during the holiday season," Hill said.
In addition to education, the Sheriff's Office has been trying to whittle down the number of break-ins by getting patrols into neighborhoods between the hours of 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., when most of the offenses occur, but Hill said the department is limited by manpower shortages and growth in the East Hamilton area.
"There's several new neighborhoods in the county now," Hill explained. "We can't be everywhere at once."
While the department continues to work to create a safer environment, Hill said break-in prevention is still up to the owner. Setting up residential cameras and writing down the serial numbers of products can help police make arrests and return items, but locking car doors can prevent the thefts from occurring in the first place.
"Right now that's the No. 1 objective," Hill said. "[To] get them to lock their doors."