Tips for a Safe Halloween

Tips for a Safe Halloween

Halloween can be a fun holiday for kids, but a worrisome one for parents. Concerns about children's safety--whether they are out in the neighborhood or back home with bags of booty--can darken the day more quickly than a black cat. But not to worry! To make Halloween a treat, follow these safety tips.

ADULTS

• Welcome trick-or-treaters with your porch lights and any exterior lights on.
• Patrol your street occasionally to discourage speeding motorists, acts of malicious mischief and crimes against children.
• Report any suspicious or criminal activity to your police department immediately.   
• Do not give homemade or unwrapped treats to children.

MOTORISTS

• Exercise extreme caution when driving a vehicle.  Be on the alert for excited youngsters, whose vision may be obscured by masks, darting out into traffic.

TRICK OR TREAT TIPS

Make sure your kids dress up safely

• Make sure costumes are flame retardant so children aren't in danger near burning jack-o-lanterns.
• Keep costumes short to prevent trips, falls, and other bumps in the night.
• Try make-up instead of a mask. Masks can be hot and uncomfortable, and they can obstruct a child's vision, a dangerous thing when kids are crossing streets and going up and down steps.
• Make sure kids wear light colors or put reflective tape on their costumes.

Make trick-or-treating trouble free

• Create a map of a safe trick-or treating route and set a time limit for your children to "trick-or-treat".
• Trick-or-treaters should always be in groups so they aren't a tempting target for real-life goblins. Parents should accompany young children.
• Make sure older kids trick-or-treat with friends. Together, map out a safe route so you will know where they are going. Tell them to stop only at familiar homes where the outside lights are on.
• Try to get your kids to trick-or-treat while it's still light out. If it's dark, make sure someone has a flashlight and pick well-lighted streets.
• Do not go inside anyone’s home. Remain on the porch at all times.
• Do not accept rides from strangers.
• Remind kids to keep a safe distance from moving cars.
• Cross only at street corners, never between parked cars, and never diagonally across an intersection.
• Look in all directions before crossing the street, and obey all traffic signals. Walk, never run, across the street, and use sidewalks, not the street, for walking.
• Do not take shortcuts through back yards, alleys or parks.
• Do not eat any treats until parents have inspected them.
• Discard any homemade or unwrapped treats.

Check all treats before eating

• It's hard for kids to hold back from eating their treats until they get home. One way to keep trick-or-treaters from digging in while they're still out is to feed them a meal or a snack beforehand.
• Check out all candy in a well-lighted place when your trick-or-treater gets home.
• What to eat? Only unopened candies and other treats that are in original wrappers. Don't forget to inspect fruit and homemade goodies for anything suspicious. By all means remind kids not to eat everything at once or they'll be feeling pretty ghoulish for while!
• Halloween can be a lot of fun for parents and kids alike--if everybody remembers the tricks and treats of playing it safe.

COSTUMES etc:

A note to parents:

• Make sure your children’s costumes are not flammable.
• Do not permit your children to wear cumbersome, floor length or vision-impairing costumes.
• Reflectorized stripes make your costume more visible.
• In lieu of masks, we recommend face make up.
• Wear comfortable, safe shoes.
• Call 9-1-1 if you suspect any tainted candy.

Consejos para un Halloween seguro

La celebración de “Halloween” puede ser muy divertido para los niños, pero inquietante para los padres. Las preocupaciones sobre la seguridad de los niños  - ya si están afuera en la vecindad o en casa con sus bolsas de dulce – pueden oscurecer la noche más rápido que un gato negro. Pero no hay que preocuparse!  Para tener un Halloween feliz, sigan los siguientes consejos de seguridad:

ADULTOS

·       Dar la bienvenida a los niños en disfraz  con las luces del exterior de su casa prendidas.

·       Patrullar sus calles ocasionalmente para disuadir a los conductores que manejan a alta velocidad, a los actos de comportamiento maliciosos y los delitos contra los niños.

·       Reportar cualquier actividad criminal o sospechosa al departmento de policía inmediatamente.   

·       Nunca se regala dulces hechos en casa o sin envolver.

CONDUCTORES

• Tengan mucho cuidado manejando su vehículo. Esten alertos para los jovencitos emocionados que tal vez ya tengan la vista obstruida por mascaras.  

CONSEJOS PARA RECOGER DULCES

Asegurar que sus niños esten vestidos de manera segura

·       Asegurar que el disfraz sea resistente al las llamas de fuego para que los ninos no esten en peligro cuando se acercan a las linternas de calabaza.

·       Mantener los disfraces cortos de la bastilla para prevenir caidas y tropiezos.

·       Intenar usar maquillaje en vez de una mascara. Las mascaras pueden causar calor y ser incómodas. También pueden obstruir la vista del niño y puede causar peligro al cruzar la calle y al subir escalones.

·       Asegurar que niños traigan puesto colores claros o cinta reflectiva sobre sus disfraces.

Recogiendo dulces sin algún problema

·       Crear un mapa de la ruta mas segura para recoger dulces y establecer un límite de tiempo que sus niños puedan estar fuera.

·       Los niños siempre deberán estar en grupos. Padres deben acompañar a los niños pequeños.

·       Asegurar que niños mayores recogan dulces con sus amigos. Juntos, hagan su mapa de la ruta mas segura para que usted sepa donde van a estar. Decirle a los niños que solamente paren en las casas que tienen sus luces exteriores encendidas.

·       Tratar de recoger dulces cuando todavía hay luz afuera si es posible.Si está oscuro, asegurar que alguien tenga una linterna y que escogan calles con bastante luz.

·       Nunca entrar la casa de la persona que reparte dulces. Mantenerse en la entrada de la casa solamente.

·       Nunca aceptar un paseo en coche con un desconocido.

·       Recordar a los niños que mantengan una distancia segura de los coches en movimiento.

·       Cruzar las calles solamente en las esquinas, nunca entre coches estacionados y nunca diagonalmente a dentro una intersección.

·       Mirar en todas direcciones antes de cruzar la calle y obedecer las leyes de tráfico. Caminar, nunca correr, al cruzar la calle y usar la banqueta para caminar.

·       Nunca tomar vías cortas por las yardas, callejones, o parques.

·       Nunca comer dulces hasta que un adulto los revise.

·       Deshacerse de todos dulces hechos en casa o sin envoltura.

Revisar todos los dulces antes de comer

·       Es difícil que los niños puedan resistir comerse los dulces hasta llegar a casa. Una manera que pueda ayudar es dandoles de cenar antes de salir a recoger dulces.

·       Revisar todo los dulces en un lugar bien iluminado cuando su niño llegue a casa.

·       ¿Que se puede comer? Solamente los dulces que se mantienen en su envoltura original.

·       Halloween puede ser muy divertido para los niños y los padres si todos se acuerdan de usar estos consejos de seguridad.

DISFRACES etc:

·       Asegurar que el disfraz de su niño sea resistente a las llamas de fuego

·       No permitir que su niño se vista en disfraz demasiado largo o que obstruya la vista.

·       Rayas reflectantes hacen que el disfraz sea mas visible.

·       En vez de mascaras, se recomienda maquillaje.

·       Usar zapatos comodos y seguros.

·       Llamar at 9-1-1 de inmediato si sospecha dulces contaminados

Burglary Prevention Tips

Have you ever been locked out of your home? Were you able to get in anyway? Now think about it…if you could break into your own home, it’s just as easy for someone else to break in, too.  Strong locks—and good neighbors who look out for one another—can be effective deterrents to burglars. Here are a few tips that can help you keep you—and your property—safe and secure.


Check Your Locks

Make sure every external door has a strong, well-installed dead bolt lock. Key-in-the-knob locks alone are not enough.

Sliding glass doors offer easy access if they are not properly secured. You can secure them by putting a broomstick or dowel in the inside track to jam the door or by installing commercially available locks. To prevent the door being lifted off of the track, drill a hole through the sliding door frame and the fixed frame. Then insert a pin in the hole.

Lock double-hung windows with key locks or “pin” your windows by drilling a small hole at a 45 degree angle between the inner and outer frames, then insert a nail that can be removed. You should secure basement windows with grilles or grates (but make sure that they can be opened from the inside in case of fire).

Never hide keys around the outside of your home. Instead, give an extra key to a neighbor you trust.

When you move into a new house or apartment, re-key the locks.

Check Your Doors

While we all like to feel that once we close and lock our doors, we’re safe and secure, the truth of the matter is that a lock on a flimsy door is about as effective as locking your car door but leaving the window down with your wallet on the front seat.

All outside doors should be metal or solid wood.

Install a peephole or wide-angle viewer in all entry doors so that you can see who is outside without opening the door. Door chains break easily and don’t keep out intruders.

If your doors don’t fit tightly in their frames, install weather stripping around them.

Check the Outside

Take a look at your home from the outside, and keep in mind the following tips to help make your home as safe as it can be:

Burglars hate bright lights. Install outside lights and keep them on at night. Motion-detector lights can be particularly effective.

Keep your yard clean. Prune shrubbery so it doesn’t hide windows or doors. Cut back tree limbs that a burglar could use to climb to an upper-level window.

If you travel, create the illusion that you are at home by getting timers that will turn lights (and perhaps a television or radio) on and off in different parts of your home throughout the day and evening hours. Lights burning 24 hours a day signal an empty house.

Leave shades, blinds, and curtains in normal positions. And make sure you don’t let your mail and/or newspapers pile up. Call the post office and newspaper to stop delivery or have a neighbor pick them up.

Make a list of your valuables, such as VCRs, stereos, computers, and jewelry. Take pictures of the items, list their serial numbers and description. This will help police if your home is burglarized.

When getting work done on your vehicle, leave only the vehicle key for the service personnel. The same goes for car park attendants and valets.

If you are having work done on your vehicle, give the service station your business address – not your home address.

Burglars Can Do More Than Just Steal

While most burglars prefer to strike when no one is home, intruders can commit other crimes such as rape, robbery, and assault if they are surprised by someone entering the home, or if they pick a home that is occupied.

If something looks questionable – a slit screen, a broken window or an open door – don’t go in. Call the police from a neighbor’s house, a cell phone, or a public phone.

At night, if you think you hear someone breaking in, leave safely if you can, then call the police. If you can’t leave, lock yourself in a room with a phone and call the police. If an intruder is in your room, pretend you are asleep.

One other important note – never leave a message on your answering machine that indicates that you may not be at home, or that you live alone. Instead, say “We’re not available right now.”

What If I Live in an Apartment?

While apartment living is a little different from living in a single family home, there are still some additional things that you can do to make sure that you, your loved ones, and your property remain safe and secure. Similar to Neighborhood Watch, members of an Apartment Watch learn how to make their homes more secure, watch out for one another and members of the community, and report crime and suspicious activity to the police. Some things you can do:

Never let anyone you don’t know into your building or past security doors.

Organize citizen patrols to walk around the apartment complex and alert police to crime and suspicious activities. Don’t forget to patrol parking lots, stairways, laundry rooms, and playgrounds.
Publish a newsletter that gives local crime news, recognizes Apartment Watch captains, and highlights community activities.

Have a reception in the lobby of your building or a cookout on common property so neighbors can get to know one another.

Start a Safe Haven Program for children – places where they can go in emergency or scary situations.

Check the complex on a regular basis for problems such as burned-out light bulbs, dark corridors, uncollected trash, or broken locks on mailboxes and doors. Report any such problems to the building manager. Keep pressure on management to make sure it provides adequate security.

Organize meetings to brainstorm how you can help each other, such as starting an escort service for the elderly.

Thefts from Autos*

One of the most common types of theft is theft of valuables from your automobile. Theft from auto is strictly a crime of opportunity that can be prevented if you take away the opportunity. Thieves generally won’t waste their time breaking into autos that don’t have valuables in plain sight.  Please take the precautions listed below to help ensure your auto is not targeted by thieves:

Keep Your Valuables Out of Sight. The best way to prevent theft from your auto is to always keep valuables out of sight. Never leave cell phones, briefcases, suitcases, or electronic devices (cell phones, iPods, laptop computers, etc.) in your car in plain view. Take these items with you, or secure them—all the time, every time.

Secure Your GPS Device. While many GPS devices are mounted in the dashboard of the vehicle, the MPD encourages anyone who uses a portable GPS device to take it with you, along with any other items of value, when you park the car.

Use Your Trunk. If your car has a trunk, use it. Put valuables in there or in a locked glove compartment. Hiding items under seats is better than leaving them in plain view, but securing them inside the glove compartment or trunk is a far better deterrent.

Don’t Tempt Thieves with New Purchases. During the holiday season especially, or any time you’re shopping, place packages in the trunk, not on the passenger seats or floors.

Remove Your Radio Faceplate. If you can unfasten your sound system and take it with you, or lock it in your trunk, do so. And don’t forget to do the same with your CDs and tapes.

Lock It Up. Also, keep your car doors and windows locked—all the time!

Remember:  “Outta sight, outta mind”—if thieves can’t see your valuables, they’re less likely to waste their time targeting your auto. Take the time to secure your valuables; it makes a difference.

As always, please for your safety do not engage a dangerous situation and report any and all crimes, suspicious activity, and persons/vehicles to RCPD by immediately calling 9-1-1.

Redwood City Police Department leads the City in raising funds for the American Heart Association

Heart Walk 2011

Did you know?

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women.
• Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease.
• Every year about 785,000 Americans have a first heart attack. Another 470,000 who have already had one or more heart attacks have another attack.
• In 2010, heart disease will cost the United States $316.4 billion.  This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity.

The Redwood City Police Department would like to commend our Records Division Supervisor, Bunny Blevins, for her tireless efforts to raise money for such a worthy cause. 

Bunny and her team helped raise a total of $2,700 in donations through a variety of fund-raising activities within the PD.  The Police Department once again led the City of Redwood City as the number one fundraiser.

Thank you for setting such a good example and contributing to such an important cause.