www.1001TopWords.com |
Organizing an Arson Watch Program
A wide variety of participants are needed to launch a successful Neighborhood Arson Mobile Watch program. In this section, necessary participants are listed, along with a description of the kind of support needed from each. As many of you know, implementing a community-based project requires the interest, cooperation, and support from many people. But it all is definitely worthwhile! Increasing the safety of a neighborhood benefits everyone from children and parents, to local businesses. Not only does reducing arson activities in our area increase everyone's quality of life, but it can also help increase property values. We are aiming for zero tolerance for arsons and quicker response from natural fires. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE The local Chamber of Commerce is the ideal organization to coordinate the program. They should be asked to help build interest in the program by announcing the program to its members at meetings, and running press releases in newsletters or membership mailings. (Be sure to check the press release section for samples). The Chamber of Commerce should also be requested to act as liaison between their members and the Local, State and Federal Agencies. They will need to schedule with the USDA Forestry Service, Fire Department and Community Relations Officer of the Police Department a time to come and talk to their members, (more than one meeting may be necessary). Once the program is started, Chambers collect and keep track of participants and schedule training sessions, and issues certificates of completion to participants (a nice touch!). In addition to training, signage and print material are needed. The Chamber can contract one of their members to make the magnetic signs and order the cling stickers with the imprinted logos, and print flyers. Other tasks that Chambers can perform to increase the success of the program are to create a list of target participants, send flyers to these targeted businesses and individuals, and alert media sources. MEDIA SUPPORT Local Radio stations are very supportive of the community. Request that they play public service announcements. Also, you will find that local newspaper will place flyers in the papers to announce the project, local cable stations will tape video of participants driving down the street and interview seminar participants. ORGANIZING CHAIRPERSON This will be the person who provides the necessary phone calls and keeps all the different groups happy and coordinates the program. It is best to have a prominent volunteer type individual for this, someone who is already known for the community involvement; maybe even sits on a few non-profit boards and municipal committees. Someone everyone likes. The Chairperson will be in charge of making great quotes in the media, organizing participants and volunteers and scheduling meetings. Follow ups, thank you letters and personal invitations. Also keeping track of all the events and making agendas and cooperating with neighboring cities that follow this plan later. Other responsibilities include interfacing with non-profit groups to make sure they can participate, and contacting Board of Realtors, Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimist, Lions, Elks, clubs etc. In short, an ombudsman to council people, Mayor and City Manager. Setting up a Neighborhood Arson Watch Program in your community can be rewarding and save you and your family from harm and perhaps maybe even someone's life. If you would like more information, please visit our free online 21-page E-Book at: http://www.lancewinslow.org/arsonwatch.pdf Review this information and discuss it with your local community leadership and see what you come up with, perhaps this might help? If you decide that such a program is beyond your available time to insure its success, please feel free to pass this information on. "Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Alarm System: Contacts (Window & Door Switches) Alarm Contacts- Contact switches are magnetic switches used to protect doors and windows for the most part. There are three main styles that are used by most alarm companies. They are recessed contacts, surface mount contacts and roller-ball contacts. Essentials For Hurricane Season According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, the East Pacific expects 15 to 16 tropical storms. Nine of these end up becoming hurricanes with five becoming deadly major hurricanes. If you live in the southeastern part of the U.S. then you know that hurricane season started on June 1st. Are you prepared for Hurricane season? Did you know that Hurricane season lasts until the end of November? Have you gone out and bought all the supplies that you may need? This article is written to help you prepare for any kind of hurricane. It will also provide you with a list of items that are essential for any storm. Six Common Criminal Types And How To Avoid Them "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" that saying is as true for crime, as it is for health. After taking literally thousands of reports over the years I spent as a police officer; I found that a lot of crimes that had happened could have been prevented. The easiest and most effective way of dealing with crime is not be a victim of it in the first place. This is easier said then done, and no matter how cautious you are you can still be a victim. Nothing will give you a 100% guarantee; however, there are things you can do to at least limit your odds of being a victim. But first; you have to know what you are preventing yourself from, in order to know how to prevent against it. This article will in general show you some of the common criminal types, and give some suggestions on how to avoid them. I have made up my own classifications for these people based upon my experience as a police officer. Life Insurance - Wise Investment to Protect Your Home or Excessive Caution? Life insurance is typically taken out to offer valuable financial protection for your family in the event of your death, upon which a payment is made to your financial beneficiaries, heirs or family members. The extent of this payment will depend on your insured sum and earnings. Life insurance and life assurance may be interlinked in advertisements, though bear in mind the two policies are different. Life assurance is a form of financial protection which is also an investment, as you should always get a pay-out at the end of the term of the policy. Life insurance on the other hand is simply financial protection for your family, avoiding the issue of debt in the event of your death. Turn Your Home Into A Fortress The best way to turn your home into a fortress is to carefully and strategically consider all your options. First you need to make a layout of your property and look at an aerial diagram of your home. Then you will need an aerial of the neighborhood, you can go to Google maps for this. Aerials pictures can provide you with possible escape routes of burglars. Drainage ditches, side roads, school playgrounds and wooded areas. You can also get an idea of every possible way the burglars might try to park a moving van without being seen or without being noticed. Often burglars look for areas where they can park a van or pick-up undetected for hours while they load up your prize possessions. Protect Your Family From Solar Flares Protect your family from solar flares. Solar flares emit dangerous gamma radiation, which affects everything from gravity waves to the Earth's tectonic system. These solar flares are dangerous to human life. The Gamma Radiation is dangerous to the human bio system. Many severe solar flares can cause cancer and It heats up the atmosphere and can drastically change weather patterns too. We have had some serious solar flares in the last few years, which have affected our lives. Some say that Earthquakes are in part due to the disruption of the natural electromagnetic distribution of the Earth along with causing disruptions in gravity waves. Garage Door Openers--Buy the Best Gagage Door Opener only Buying the right garage door opener has not never been more simpler.Whether you want to buy one for residential use or the commercial use read the tips below and buy the garage door opener which ideally suits you . Alarm System: Sirens Alarm Sirens- There is both inside and outside sirens. Many towns have a noise ordinance, which should prevent your installer from putting yours outside, unless you are on a ranch where you need to know what's going on while your out in the barn. You would not want a neighbor running over to your place during an alarm as they might be confronting a dangerous situation. It is better to let the police do that instead. Emergency Telephone Numbers Emergency is a situation that poses an instant threat to human life or possessions though this description may be different in some areas. Deliberate bogus reports of an emergency are usually prosecuted as an offense. One should call for help any time there is a danger for life or public order. The emergency telephone number is a special case in the country's telephone number sketch. Pepper Spray Considerations Choosing the Right Pepper Spray Infrared Goggle Pop Down in Hallways for Structure Fires Most people who are killed in structure fires die from the smoke not the flames or fire. Generally they are overcome by the smoke and lack of oxygen as the fire takes all the oxygen and replaces the airspace with smoke. There needs to be a way to get these people out of the fire situation and structure immediately to prevent loss of life, however without good visibility one cannot see to get to a fire escape, stairway or exit. How to Buy a Safe for Your Home The first step is to determine who or where you will buy your safe from. There are many places to buy a safe today, you can buy from a "big box store", an office supply store, a furniture store, a hardware store, online, or even from a professional safe retailer or locksmith. Eavesdropping and Counter-Measures: Technology and Techniques You need to know how to protect yourself, since your security department or any consultant may not be truly aware of these threats and therefore not dependable. Since September 11th, a number of businesses entered the security field with little to no knowledge of the trade itself; only of its profit potential. Even outfits that have been around for some time and well-established have not been able to stay current with the latest innovations.Realistically, viewing your threat level has to be considered since everyone should expect some sort of impending privacy issue no matter how small. Thanks largely to the Internet you can arm yourself with much of the knowledge and equipment that the so-called experts use. If a respected agent of computer crimes for the Secret Service in NYC had his T-Mobile Sidekick hacked, who knows what else happens out there to others in any business.Realistically, viewing your threat level has to be considered since everyone should expect some sort of impending privacy issue no matter how small. Thanks largely to the Internet you can arm yourself with much of the knowledge and equipment that the so-called experts use. If a respected agent of computer crimes for the Secret Service in NYC had his T-Mobile Sidekick hacked, who knows what else happens out there to others in any business.We'll start acoustic ducting evaluation is the inspection of air ducts, baseboard heaters, coffee rooms, lounges, bathrooms or any way the architecture of a building can transfer sound. A simple example is to put your ear to a wall and listen. Basically anything that requires the use of the naked ear is called an acoustic bug. Softer surfaces can help muffle sounds but there are more efficient means out there. So be aware that the way an office site is designed can act as a conduit for conversations. Also, be aware of any changes can have adverse affects. Simply playing music can do wonders for masking conversations.Inspection of telephone equipment and wiring is called line analysis. This is trickier than it seems since sometimes a possible weakness has an actual purpose to the telecommunication system. Especially if it requires constant maintenance and software upgrades.All instruments should be opened and inspected. Ideally they should be compared with a known safe phone or device. If you're not sure, just remove that piece of loose components and wiring and see if the phone still works. The wiring can be modified in a switch within the handset that essentially turns it into a microphone. If you bypass this hook switch, you can listen in from anywhere on the landline. Technicalequipment won't be able to detect this. Time Domain Reflectometry is the sending of a pulse down a telephone line. If there is some sort of disruption; a wall outlet or wiretap; a portion of the pulse will besent back to the device called a Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR). Then the time difference between the reflection and the continuous run is measured. This helps in determining the distance to the anomaly.These devices can perform all sorts of diagnostics including mapping a wire network. That can be useful in locating a hidden phone. Hidden phones have several obvious uses such as making long distance phone calls to being placed in an office across the street to receive betting requests by bookies; a practice called back strapping. If you open up the modular jacks where you connect your phone, you'll usually see four wires. In most cases only two wires are connected; commonly known as ring and tip. If you see all four connected, be aware that is not usually consistent for most wiring situations, especially in homes. The other two wires could be used for a bugging device.For instance, the microphone you use in a voice recorder can be cut in half. Connect the mike head to one set of unused wires anywhere on the phone wire. Then, so long as there are no breaks in the wire, connect the other end to the jack that connects to your recorder. Now place your recorder to be VOX (voice) activated and now you have an extremely reliable bug. By the way, this should be manually inspected for since using a specialized bug detector may see nothing wrong or inconsistent. A bug such as this that connects to a wire is called a direct tap. The other general type is called an inductive tap. This is when an instrument is outside a wire but can still distinguish what's transacting over a wire. They are harder to detect since they don't draw power from the line such a standard telephone would. These are referred to as snuffle bugs. A simple probe used in hunting wire signals has a speaker, which can display sounds. Byaccident one day I was working on an apartment intercom system while using a probe. I could hear conversations throughout the building quite clearly just through the intercom boxes mounted on walls from the master unit in the basement.If you're using wireless headsets or cordless phones, the radio signals can be intercepted. A cordless phone acts like a radio, but depending on the frequency and a few other factors, can make interception extremely difficult. With some manufacturers, you can buy the same model as your neighbors or the office and have it join their phone system. Double check Caller ID boxes to see if they also record numbers dialed besides obviously those being received. If you're using VOIP (Voice Over IP), remember that calls can be recorded in a fashion identical to intercepting data between two computers. These packets of data can reassemble an audio file. Obviously electronic devices possess semiconductor components such as diodes, resistors and such. The method to hunt for these components is called Non-Linear Junction Detection (NLJD). The NLJD unit emits a radio signal while listening for the return signal from an electronic device. This becomes very useful when a bug is embedded in a picture frame or wall. The eavesdropping device doesn't have to be active for it to be discovered. If a device is active and transmitting wirelessly (or even on a wire), you can detect it with a Radio Frequency Spectrum Analyzer. Depending on the detection device used, you can determine whether voice, data or video is being sent, and possibly listen to the data. Try to use different size antennas or buy one that collapses. Different frequencies can be detected more efficiently by using various sizes. The use of filters with antennas can also help pinpoint devices on specific frequencies. Electronics such as computers, FAX machines and especially CRT monitors can radiate electromagnetic signals or pulses that can be received by other equipment. This is known TEMPEST. One way to complicate the surveillance of this is to use certain fonts and line walls or equipment with different gauges of copper mesh wire. You can further enhance this posture by using special paints, which block radio transmissions. Radio waves will look for a leak or break, so be careful of defensive applications. One-way window tints can help in blocking signals. Since an electronic device could generate some heat they can be detected in another way. The use of a thermal imagery device can detect and actually see minute amounts of heat radiated for your viewing. You can hide the heat signatures by using creams or neoprene. Technology exists to collect information from blinking LEDs of modems, routers, print servers and similar devices. You can only see some general blinking but with the use of properly tuned optics, filters, oscilloscopes and good timing you can discern much more. One of the LEDs on your keyboard can be altered to blink while you are typing in a fashion similar to Morse Code. You can also use a tap in the keyboard that sends out radio waves again similar to Morse Code and no anti-virus software will ever be able to find it. Even when a CRT computer monitor is facing a wall the light can be in a sense read by its flickering emanations from some distance. A good defensive measure is to buy new LCD flat panel types.Another approach to attacking FAX machines is to simply record the noises it makes and play it back to another machine. I used to do this for a client so they could keep a record of all the faxes they made and received. There are creative and potentially illegal defenses against wiretappers and Peeping Toms. One is to transmit an extremely high pitch down the wire, thereby rupturing the listener's eardrums. I knew someone who once sent a powerful electrical spike down his phone wire thereby destroying his divorced wife's recorder. By the way, this leads to another topic-expect the device to be discovered someday. Don't leave your fingerprints on it. He found it and had it dusted, thereby producing some prints. My friend used this as leverage against the Private Investigator that planted it. Advice to Private Investigators, a word to the wise: if you do this part-time, hire someone who does this full-time. This P.I. lost his license and almost went to jail. The lawyer who recommended him got into a lot of trouble as well. He received some unwanted attention from the Feds because of his telephone dealings went across state lines and also happened to involve the Post Office. There is another budding field related to this topic called Protective Intelligence. Currently there are only a few experts who do this kind of work.A laser or an infrared beam can be used at a considerable distance from a target building. Conversational sounds can vibrate unto solid objects such as windows. The beam's reflection varies in relation to the movement to the window, which is received and converted back into something audible. To mask the sounds, you could attach a vibrating device (basically an altered electric razor) to the window.Of course if the window is open, then a laser can target another object instead of the window. A beam of light or laser can be directed to go through a window onto a solid object thereby nullifying such defensive measures again. Generally you really can't detect such attacks unless the laser, infrared or light beam is being used that moment. Certain materials can be used to detect IR emissions, as well as the use of passive night vision gear. Certain fabrics or even a curtain may actually show the spot where a beam of light or laser is being focused. Unless the room is dusty or you have an artificial can smoke, you can follow the beam up to a point and guesstimate it's location. One type of optical bug is an infrared transmitter. When placed in the area of interest for transmission of the conversation to an infrared receiver which will then translate the conversation into an audible format.Many of these same procedures used can be applied to locating hidden cameras. A relatively new device uses a series of lasers to seek out optics. This wasoriginally intended to locate snipers by bodyguards.I have listed the techniques, counter-measures and then the counter to the counter-measures to prevent any false sense of security. Usually constant vigilance is your best weapon besides knowing what to look for. Even if you find a "bug sweeper" with good credentials, certifications and experience, ask them detailed questions. Not just to test them but also for your own peace-of-mind. This makes our job easier and we appreciate greatly when dealing with knowledgeable customers. Handling a Hurricane; Part 2 - Preparing for and Surviving an Approaching Hurricane Part 1 of this article described some of the characteristics of hurricanes and the damage they can cause. In the days before high tech weather forecasting, well organized emergency services, and mandatory evacuation, major hurricanes resulted in hundreds, if not thousands of deaths. Who Abducted the Missing Child? What is going on with these people who feel they can walk onto your property or in front of your home and abduct your child? If those parents had installed a hidden camera in their home, the police could use the recordings from the camera and have a quick lead to find the child and return them safely. Being prepared for the unthinkable act of your child being abducted by installing hidden cameras is much better than wishing later you had installed cameras! Home Security System, You Are A winner Have you ever been to a local trade show or fair and filled out a raffle and later you find out you have won a Home Security System? Well, you are not alone. Sometimes everyone one wins. That's right you are not as lucky as you think you are. Well you are lucky in one regard; home security systems do work, not only do the little flags out front of the stickers near the front door help prevent crime, but an alarm sends the culprits running big time. What is Your Security Awareness IQ? Are you aware of the need for security? Alarm System: Smoke and Heat Detectors Smoke & Heat Detectors- Smoke detectors are available that will interface with your security system. The smoke detectors that are already in your home can't be tied into your security system. The device that the builder put in your home is either electrical, battery operated, or in some instances both, if you have the better quality detectors. Lifesaving smoke detectors should be in every home. If you elect to add some to your system, your existing detectors should be left in place, as they are still able to help give early warning in case of a fire. Who Has Keys to Your Castle? One area of home security that is often overlooked, and one of the most visible, is the common key. Even if you are the owner of a new house, or the first tenant of your apartment, you cannot be sure that no one else has a key to your door. Alarm System: Window Screens Alarm System Window Screens- Window screens are the ultimate perimeter device. The windows in your home look as if they have normal screens on them, however the actual screen mesh is an alarm circuit. The frame also has a contact point in it, so the screen can't be cut or removed without violating the system if it is armed. The window can be opened for ventilation and protected at the same time. Now that's a great perimeter device! |
© Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |