Common Sense Safety and Security Strategies for Teens and Young Adults

By Patrick Payne Okoronkwo

Common Sense, Safety, and Security Strategies for Teens and Young Adults presents step-by-step nuggets for staying safe and secure for this vulnerable group of people. As this age group navigate the troubled waters of youth and its associated crises of development, a well-researched guide for staying safe and secure at home, in school, and while driving (especially avoiding road rage situations and being well comported when stopped by the police); understanding and participating in neighborhood watches; hitchhiking and associated risks; staying drug- and substance-free; meeting on a first date; being street-smart in strange environments; encountering law enforcement; understanding and relating with the police; etc., is a compelling necessity. The devastating consequences of alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancies are sufficiently discussed.

Rendered in simple, easy-to-read format devoid of technical jargons, every young person will find this book a worthy and life-transforming companion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532025686

Patrick Payne Okoronkwo

Patrick Payne Okoronkwo is a decent and diligent seeker of the truth in the Lord. An educator by training, a safety and security professional by vocation, Patrick is the author of the book titled “Common Sense Safety and Security Strategies for Teens and Young Adults” published in July of 2017 by iuniverse. He is married with children, and lives in Houston Texas with his family.

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Copyright © 2017 Patrick Payne Okoronkwo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-2567-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-2568-6 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 06/09/2017

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the Justice Network Programming anchored by John Walsh whose channel inspired me.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Security And Safety Defined

Chapter One

Being Safe And Secure At Home

Additional Measures

Things That Should Arouse Your Suspicion In Your Neighborhood

Keeping Your Home Safe While You Are Away

Neighborhood Watch

Why Neighborhood Watch

Challenges Of Neighborhood Watches

If You Live Alone

Chapter Two

Girls On A First Date

Jogging And Walking

Strange Persons

Chapter Three

Security Tips When Taking A Taxi Ride

Red Flags

Taking A Bus Ride

Chapter Four

Parking Your Car

Car Jacking

Knowing Their Tricks, Being Prepared

Avoiding Carjacking

Ways You Can Respond To A Carjacker

Driving Security Tips

Actions That May Help

Avoiding Road Rage

Very Angry And Unpredictable Folks Behind The Wheels

What Causes Road Rage?

Comporting Yourself During Road Rage

How To Avoid Road Rage

Emerging Trends

The Rage Room

Chapter Five

Hitch-Hiking

Giving A Hitchhiker A Ride

The Hitchhiker

Chapter Six

Online Safety And Security

Tips On Email Safety And Security

Automatic Teller Machine (Atm) Safety

Telephone Security

Check If Your Cell Phone Is Bugged

How To Know If Your House Or Office Phone Has Been Bugged

Identity Theft

Private Sales

Chapter Seven

Staying Street Smart

Street Smartness

Urban Survival Skills

Training Your Gut

Chapter Eight

Tips For Staying Safe And Secure While Partying

Safety Nuggets

Tips For Hosting A Party

Security Tips For Shoppers

Chapter Nine

Alcohol And Substance Abuse Among Teenagers

Under The Influence

Facts

Source: Psychology Today

Mental Toll Of Alcohol And Substance Use

Physical Toll Of Alcohol Use

Social Consequences

Health Implications

Gateways

Preventing Underage Drinking And Drug Abuse

Chapter Ten

You And The Police

Why Are They Stopping You Anyway?

The Police, A Synopsis

Police Education At The Home Front

Teenagers And The Police

Chapter Eleven

The School

Chapter Twelve

Neighborhood Security Watch

Introduction

Notes And References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I acknowledge the tireless and rugged dedications of Mr. John Walsh, Ralf Woolfolk and the entire Justice Channel Network. I am yet to meet these wonderful Americans in person, but I am immensely grateful for the opportunity of knowing of them through the Justice Network.

My profound gratitude goes to Pastor David Pantermuehl (Grace United Church of Christ), Dr. David V. Mason, Esther Pantermuehl, Barney Featherwisch and the entire Grace United Church of Christ members.

I also acknowledge the unquantifiable contributions of my wife, Halima Patrick Payne, and my two sons Judah and Joshah.

INTRODUCTION

It is incontrovertible that a sizable percentage of our young people (especially students) die from avoidable causes during school age. While the racial, economic, social, cultural and religious demographics may present slight variations, the constant is, there is death in our schools, on the streets and homes, and it is taking our young ones to their untimely graves at an alarming rate. This I make bold to say even at the risk of fear mongering. They die in the hands of their fellow students (most probably a mentally disturbed student accessing firearm, and exacting maximum fatalities on the fellow students and staff, gangsters, bullies including cyber-bullies, drugs and other criminal elements at school), the security agencies (the police and avoidable deaths caused by the use of excessive force or overkill), criminal negligence of the school facility, etc. While I may not want to bore readers with the records and fact-checked details, I find it a compelling necessity to lend my voice to the crusade for students’ safety and security in their formative years especially while at school.

Also growing into adulthood comes at a cost. Being a formative and restive period, our teenagers are more likely to offend the law than full grown adults. They are more likely to cross the paths of law enforcement through a multiplicity of ways such as driving, partying and associated drinking, and generally trying new things like alcohol, drugs, sex etc. The consequences of confronting law enforcement cannot be over-emphasized. It could be disastrous. It could be catastrophic. The teen age is a period of semi or quasi adulthood. At this point, a lot of family rules are relaxed to ensure their smooth transition from childhood to adulthood. Certain freedoms are granted by the home and society. However, these come with responsibilities as freedom is not a license. Therefore being able to exhibit enough intelligence, manage your conduct and comport yourself in a manner consistent with the rules and regulations of the civilized world is the price tag of freedom.

This book is also intended to educate the reader on acceptable mode of conduct during encounters with law enforcement (especially the police) to ensure your safety and security. Every day, we come in contact with this unique type of people. It is very important we get the much-needed education on how to deal with them not only to make their job easier, but to have assurances of getting home safe and secure.

A synopsis of early life in terms of security and safety challenges facing our students at school, at home, shopping malls, while partying, finding themselves in strange environments, while dating, driving, eating out, etc., and the much needed native intelligence needed to navigate these troubled waters unscathed. The idea is to create an easy-to-read handbook devoid of technical and grammatical technicalities for easy assimilation.

This brief general survey presents some sort of students’ safety and security companionship making them sufficiently educated and well prepared to deal with everyday situations and even emergencies as they arise.

SECURITY AND SAFETY DEFINED

In simple terms, security deals with a totality of measures put in place to protect and defend a person or group of persons, protect a property or a facility, an environment, etc. from harm, destruction, unauthorized access, infiltration, etc. It could be electronic as well as physical or a combination. Safety on the other hand deals with all the measures put in place to protect people from hazards, fatalities and accidents at the workplace, at home, when operating machinery or driving, etc. Safety and security are intertwined and are usually difficult to discus in isolation.

All types of measures are deliberately put in place by the government, individuals, businesses, organizations, etc. to protect people and property from harm and hazards. For example, shopping malls in most cases install close circuit television cameras capable of giving video footages of events as they happen. Other measured security and safety additions are usually stone and steel barriers put in strategic points around facilities like schools and other private and public areas. These will make it extremely difficult for truck bombers and other merchants of death to ram through shops and exact maximum destruction on innocent folks. Streets usually have sidewalks and bicycle lanes, streets with busy traffics have pedestrian crosses, highways have overhead pedestrian bridges, etc. All these are measured and deliberate measures put in place to ensure safety and security of people. On an individual scale, why do we look to the left and right and left again before crossing streets? It goes to show that everyone is a line of defense when it comes to safety and security.

CHAPTER ONE

BEING SAFE AND SECURE AT HOME

A home is a place of refuge. It should be a piece of one’s world.

According to the US Department of Justice, well over two million homes are broken into every year, and most of these break-ins are done during summer period. These crimes are more common during summer weeks and usually in the day hours. The Insurance Information Institute established that Burglars won’t find your home an ‘easy mark’ if they have to take a lot of time breaking in, or if they can’t break in without a noise. Continuing in this line of thought, they pointed out that if it takes more than four to five minutes to break in, the thief will go away. Burglary is a non violent, non confrontational criminality that happens when the home owner or occupant is away from home. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) records that a house is burgled in the U.S.A. in every 15.4 second. Usually daytime events that happen when you are away at work, school, shopping, holidaying and out of town, etc., burglary is usually at its peak between July and August, that is, the summer months. It has also been established that burglary is overwhelmingly committed by males twenty five years and under.

Just like the school provides the much needed security and safety for students and its operatives, the home is another environment where safety and security measures should be replicated, and the following nuggets may be helpful:

• Let your place of residence be within defined boundaries. Make a security and safety statement with how you treat where you live, your immediate and surroundings.

• Let your entry points be within good view from the driveway and the street. Trim your plants, cut down overgrown tree branches, shrubs and anything that may obscure the view of your residence from the street.

• Install security cameras and other audio visual and heat sensing equipment and ensure they are functional at all times. Let them be linked to your phones and other appliances to ensure you can monitor events even