Safeguarding Week; Personal Safety
This week marks National Safeguarding Week, where we’ll be sharing articles on ways to protect yourself, your finances, and more. The Ann Craft Trust describes Safeguarding Week as: “A time for organisations to come together to raise awareness of important safeguarding issues. We hope the week will enable more organisations and individuals to feel confident in recognising signs of abuse and neglect and recording and reporting safeguarding concerns.”
Today we’ll be sharing personal safety tips, and ways to protect both yourself and your belongings. We hope you find the following article useful and informative.
Protecting yourself and your belongings when you’re out and about is really important. With the rising cost of living, many thieves will be on the lookout for opportunities to make a quick buck at your expense. From mobile phones, to your car or your home, there are lots of different ways to increase your protection for your own personal safety and for your belongings.
Cars
Car theft has seen a huge increase in 2022, with the cost of cars skyrocketing from increased demand after the height of the pandemic. Make sure your car is insured first and foremost, as if your car is stolen and can’t be recovered, you will be given a courtesy car and money towards a new car purchase. You can also use additional anti-theft measures, such as a steering lock, a car tracker, or even a dash-cam, which can send the video to your smart phone in the case of a break-in. Check out NextBase’s thorough list of anti-theft measures here.
Mobiles and personal items
We’re all guilty of walking around with our mobile phones in our hand, or our bags open at times. While this should be acceptable in a perfect world, sadly many thieves or muggers will use this as an opportunity to target you. Make sure your bag, purse/wallet and coat pockets are zipped up when you’re out and about, and try not to hold your phone in your hand. If you can, put your phone or expensive items like headphones in your front pocket of your pants, as it makes it harder for someone to pickpocket you. Also, make sure your debit or credit cards are properly put away and not hanging around in your pockets. A top tip is to make sure expensive technology, such as your phone or headphones, are included in your home insurance so that you can receive a payout should you ever be subject to a crime. Reader’s Digest have a comprehensive list of ways to protect yourself as much as possible when out and about which you can find here. The Met Police have suggested a few simple ways to protect yourself daily here.
Your Home
The home is where the heart is, and most of your important belongings too. Thankfully, home burglaries have been decreasing year-on-year since 2003 according to Statista, but it’s always good to keep yourself covered to lessen your chances of a break-in. Always check that your home insurance is in date and includes items of value. When you leave your home, make sure your windows are closed and your doors are locked. If you can, put up a security camera (or two) such as a Ring doorbell, which records footage and sends it to your device for easy access. Make sure to keep valuables hidden away and out of sight, as many thieves will scout your home beforehand. If you’re going away for a while such as on holiday and no-one else will be in, you can ask your trusted neighbour or loved ones to keep an eye on your home and bring your post in so as not to alert thieves to the fact that you’re away. The Met Police have lots of resources on protecting your home on their website here.
If you are ever burgled or have items stolen such as your phone or your car, make sure you report this to the police as soon as possible so that they can investigate.