Safety Tips in a New Town

Moving, while stressful, can actually be pretty excited. It’s almost like a clean slate, in a way. But while moving may be quite exciting (all the new restaurants to try and activities to do), it can also be a bit dangerous if you don’t know your way around. Maybe there is a certain part of town that you just shouldn’t be wandering around at night, or maybe this city is actually serious when they say an evacuation is in order. Either way, here are a few tips to keeping yourself safe in a new, unfamiliar city:

1.) Do your research. Even if you just do a simple Google search, something is bound to come up. Better yet though, contact the local police department before your arrival. They will be able to tell you where to look to find local crime statistics and even possibly spots to avoid (such as their highest areas of theft or assault). If you are going to a city with a gang problem, it might also be necessary to be aware of the colors you wear in certain neighborhoods.

2.) Be smart with your exploring. Love to explore? I completely understand. Exploring needs to be done in a smart manner, though; if you want to visit the local parks, do so during the day when there are plenty of people around. Central Park, for example, is a fantastic place to get to know, but you should definitely be visiting it during the day.

3.) Don’t make it obvious that you’re new in town. Snatchers tend to prey on those that are clearly unfamiliar with their surroundings. So keep your guidebooks and camera a little out of sight. You don’t want to be standing in the middle of nowhere looking completely lost and vulnerable.

4.) Leave the valuables at home. There is no reason for you to be walking around with your passport or social security card, so leave those things at home. Carry only absolute essentials, like your debit card and ID. If you need cash you can use an ATM, and if these things get stolen they are fairly easy to replace.

5.) Explore with a friend. Getting lost in a new city can be fun, for a while, but it can quickly turn scary if you end up in a poor location or can’t find your way back. If possible, explore with a buddy before you head out on your own. This will allow you to get your bearings straight before you try it for the first time.

6.) Use common sense. If you get an uneasy feeling about a particular location, leave. If the guy sitting across from you on the bus is freaking you out, change seats. There is nothing wrong with trusting your guy, especially in an unfamiliar location.

And don’t forget; for dorm safety items (like pepper spray, safes and personal alarms), check out our store at www.secureoncampus.com, and for dorm decorations (like dorm lighting, fun drinking games, and wall decals) check out our store at www.thegoodlifeoncampus.com!

3 New Safety Concerns for College Students in Winter

Well folks, November has finally come around, which means the snow and cold won’t be far behind (if it hasn’t hit some spots already), and with plenty of snow and cold comes a whole new batch of safety concerns. So read on, take notes, and be safe this winter!

1.) Cold related sicknesses. Sure, it seems like no big deal (after all, what’s a little cold every now and then?), but we’re talking more about something like hypothermia. Every year, I hear about some college student getting drunk at a holiday party, trying to walk home (or just walk to across the street) and then never quite making it and freezing to death in the bushes outside their house. It’s colder than you think out there, and you need to be smart. Not that walking around town drunk was ever a good idea, but keep a little closer eye on your friends this year.

And if you do lose your friend, find their phone. I recently just installed a “lost phone” app (called Find iPhone) on mine and my boyfriend’s phone. If he can’t find his phone, I use the app on mine and it makes his phone beep while showing me exactly where it is on a GPS map. So see, it’s convenient if you can’t find your phone, or if you can’t find the person that is probably with the phone.

2.) Car dawdling. This time of the year is a jackpot for predators looking to jump an innocent victim on their way to their car. Not only do people generally take longer to get into their car (clearing the snow off of the door handle, scraping ice off the windshield), but it also takes people longer to leave. They sit in the car until it warms up a bit. They text while their windshield thaws. Don’t do that! Your best idea would be to install an electric starter that you can use from inside. Your vehicle remains locked, but it’s warming up without you inside it. That way you unlock it, put the key in the ignition and leave.

And if you can’t install an automatic starter (I know, my car is too old for this kind of luxury), please be smarter about how you prepare yourself. Have someone out there with you to help you clear off the snow or ice. Do their car at the same time while you’re out there. Start your car, go back inside and watch from a window inside, and carry some pepper spray or a personal alarm on your keychain just in case anything does happen.

3.) Less awareness. Walking somewhere in the winter time gives a whole new set of challenges. Very often you don’t have the best footing (walking on partially frozen sidewalks), you can’t hear much between the hat covering your ears and the wind whipping by, and you probably aren’t focused on your surroundings; you’re focused on staying warm. Personally, I’m guilty of this all the time; I put my hands in my pockets, look straight down and walk as fast as I can in the general direction of my destination.

This is stupid: very, very stupid. Predators know how to spot an easy target from a mile away, and someone with their hands in their pockets that isn’t even looking 10 feet in front of them is definitely an easy target. Plus, it’s cold out. A predator might wait all night for the perfect victim on a warm summer’s eve, but in 10 degree weather in the middle of winter? They’re going to take the first bait that comes along. So don’t be an easy target. Better yet, get a ride.  

And don’t forget to check out our store full of college safety equipment at www.secureoncampus.com!

Do you have any additional winter safety tips?

Safety Questions Renters Always Forget to Ask

If you’re looking for a home to rent, chances are you know the general questions. You need to know how much they’re asking for rent, if it’s close to public transportation (but not actually living on top of a subway station), and you’re probably going to inquire about leasing guidelines. However, even after you’ve looked at the place (seen the size of the rooms, etc.), there are a few things you still might overlook. Here are some important questions you’d be sorry not to ask beforehand:

1.) How’s the cell phone signal? Nothing is quite as annoying as trying to carry on a conversation with someone while constantly moving around the house trying to chase a seemingly non-existent signal, even when your cellphone provider boasts supposedly “exceptional” signal strength. You’re going to want to know you can call 9-1-1 from anywhere in your home, including under the kitchen sink…just in case.

2.) How’s that elevator? Don’t be surprised if an apartment eight stories up brags about an elevator and then after you move in you find out it’s only for moving heavy freight. Or maybe it has an elevator, but it’s been out of service for three years. Or maybe it has a working elevator perfectly acceptable for people to use; it just moves at a snail’s pace. You might not think this even qualifies as a safety issue, but the first time you come home on crutches and try to navigate up eight flights of stairs, you’ll think differently about the value of that elevator.

3.) Who handles the maintenance? This includes both interior and exterior maintenance. If you live in a house instead of an apartment, you could be expected to do all of the exterior upkeep (like mowing the lawn and shoveling snow). If you live in an apartment, there may be a few different people that you need to call depending on the circumstances. A doorman may handle your mail, a super may handle basic maintenance issues or emergency issues (you smell gas in your apartment) and your landlord may handles more serious issues with your rental. Make sure you have a list of all the appropriate people you need to call should a problem arise, and don’t forget, if something comes up and you need help now, don’t bother calling your landlord, dial 9-1-1 and explain it later. 

4.) What’s the parking situation? Many places offer a free parking space out front or even in a driveway, but if you’re looking to rent in New York the issues of parking is a whole other ballgame altogether. Parking is not only incredibly expensive, but having a set parking space will save you hours of time trying to find one when you arrive home every night. Plus, having to park half a mile away from your front door puts you at risk! If you can get a place that has a garage or a private parking, do it. It means you can walk from your car to your front door in a safe environment.

And don’t forget to check out our online store (www.secureoncampus.com)  for any necessary safety equipment you may need, like pepper spray, personal alarms or the iWitness Smartphone Service.

Dorm Safety Essentials

It’s getting to be that time of year: you’ve probably been thinking about what you need to take with you to college, but you’re not going to pack until maybe the day before. You’ll use the excuse “I need to pack” to get out of virtually every uncomfortable situation (dinner with your grandparents), but let’s be honest; your room isn’t any more packed than it was 2 weeks ago.

So before you really get started, let’s go over what you need to bring with you; as far as safety goes. Pack these essentials first then use your spare suitcases to pack everything else.

1.) Locks. Theft is far and above the #1 reported incident on college campuses. Between things in your dorm, things in your car and things in your backpack, you’ve probably got a lot of expensive stuff lying around. And with locks being incredible affordable and practical, there’s really no reason not to own one. We’d recommend putting one on your closet (once you get to know you’re roommie you can remove it, but in the beginning you may wonder where the hell all your clothes have started disappearing too), on your dorm storage trunk (or any dorm trunk, for that matter), on your backpack and on your glove compartment in your car, if you can.

2.) Safes. Just like locks are important, so are safes. If you can’t afford a regular safe for the majority of your stuff (student ID, birth certificate, etc.), at least spring for a laptop safe. Our most basic model holds laptops up to 17 inches, is fire insulated, has double steel walls and can be secured to anything non-mobile with a 48-inch cable. You paid a lot of money for that laptop, don’t let some jackass get it for free.

3.) Fire Extinguishers. It may seem silly (your dorm has one, every building has one), but let’s be realistic. You start a fire in your room (yes, it happens), are you going to have time to pull up the dorm map and figure out where the hell the fire extinguisher is? Probably not. Just go to your room and get the one you brought with you. Better safe than sorry.

4.) Pepper Spray. Pepper spray comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes now, so you don’t have to look like a paranoid freshman with a giant canister of pepper spray attached to their belt loop. And even if you think you’ll never need it (we hope you’ll never need it), it’s better to have it just in case.

5.) Your iWitness App. This isn’t going to take up storage room but it’s just as important. We’d recommend downloading the service long before you get to college so if the time ever comes to use it you won’t be fumbling with your phone.

Introducing the iWitness Self Protection Smartphone Service!

What’s the problem with carrying a weapon, anyone? Let’s go through the pros and cons:

Pros:

- You can use it to protect yourself

Cons:

- You often need a permit to carry one

- If it’s taken from you in a struggle the attacker can use it against you

- It isn’t safe for small children to carry

- You can’t carry it in certain public places, such as on an airplane or in a classroom

- If you panic while in control of it, someone may be hurt unintentionally (such as a bystander)

- You may be seen as a threat (someone shoots you because they notice you’re carrying a knife)

Plus, believe it or not, a weapon is nowhere near the greatest deterrent of crime. Just because you have a gun doesn’t mean you won’t be attacked.

In fact, according to a 2010 study by Valerie Wright, Ph.D. titled Deterrence in Criminal Justice; Evaluating Certainty vs Severity of Punishment, it’s not the severity of punishment that criminals fear, it’s the certainty of punishment. Meaning it doesn’t matter what the punishment is if you get away with it.

So what’s the #1 deterrent? Witnesses. It’s the reason no one is nervous about going to the park in broad daylight and why it’s always recommended to meet a first date in a public place. Not only are people there to see an incident should one take place, but there are cameras as well. But you’re not always able to be in a public place, surrounded by people, in broad daylight. Sometimes you need to get to the library at 10:00 at night to pull an all-nighter. Sometimes you get home late and have to walk the distance from your car to your dorm alone, in the dark. What do you do then?

That’s where the iWitness smartphone service comes in. Plus, it literally solves all of the issues listed above for a method of self-defense. It’s safe to carry in public places, it’s safe for children to use, a criminal can’t turn it against you, no one else will get hurt accidently while you use it and you don’t need a permit to carry your cellphone. So what is it, exactly?

Basically, it’s a smartphone app that sends video and audio recordings of the event to a secured server (meaning if they break your phone the evidence is still safe), while automatically dialing 9-1-1, tracking your location and emitting flashing lights and an audio alarm.

With just a push of a button, you’ve got criminals’ worst fear staring them in the face; the fear that they’ll get caught. Even if they have a weapon, using it will be their downfall, whereas if they have a gun and you have a gun, all they have to do is know how to use theirs better. Arm the app at the first sign of danger and you’ll never be alone again.

And what does this service cost? Only $2.50 a month (or $29.99 a year), which is hardly anything compared to the peace of mind it provides.

http://www.secureoncampus.com

Here’s a video to help explain things:

Would any of you get some use out of this service?

What to Do If Someone Starts Following You

Every once in a while you’ve got to walk somewhere alone through generally considered “unsafe” territory. Maybe it’s on your way home late from a library cram session and the shuttles have stopped running, you can’t get ahold of your roommate and you have no vehicle of your own. Yup, you’re probably going to make the sketchy walk from the library to your dorm. We get it; we’ve been there.

So what happens if you’re being followed? Well hopefully you have the new iWitness phone app, for one, but if you don’t here are some basic tips to keeping yourself safe with a stranger on your trail:

1.) Stay calm. Panicking is only going to cloud your thoughts. Besides, how do you know they just don’t happen to be walking to a similar area as you are? Slow your breathing and try to clear your head.

2.) Find other people. Do you see any businesses nearby with people in them (a bar, a coffee shop, or even a warehouse with night shift workers)? Do you know of a friend that lives nearby or a party that might be going on just a block down the street? If so, you might want to take a quick detour, at least for a few minutes.

3.) Don’t stop. If you think you’re being followed, the worst thing you can do is stop and let them catch up. Keep walking at a brisk pace until you get more details about the situation.

4.) Have your cell phone ready. Arm your iWitness app, call a cab or anyone that can come help you. Just be sure you keep moving.

5.) Run. Just have an idea of where you are running to. Running straight into a dark, dead end alley isn’t going to help your cause at all. On the other hand, if you see a spot a block away with people, run there, don’t walk. Your follower may see the people too and understand the time they have to make a move are limited.

6.) Yell. No criminal prefers to attack a screaming victim; it draws more attention to the scene. And don’t let the fear of embarrassment stop you; would you rather be an idiot or a dead idiot?

7.) Get as many details as possible. Don’t stop to turn around and see your follower, but if it’s possible to get some details make a mental note of it. Is it a male or female? How tall do they seem to be? Are they following you on foot or in a car? If it’s in a car, can you get a license plate number?

8.) Look for a weapon. This is listed last for a reason; weapons are only useful if you know how to use them and if they won’t be taken away from you and used against you. A metal pipe might only be handy for a second, so you’d better be ready to get your blows in. Just make sure you’re not stopping to look around for something. Just grab it and go.

For safety devices, like pepper spray, alarms, or the iWitness Smartphone Service, don’t forget to check out www.secureoncampus.com

What’s the Best Method of Self-Defense? Stopping Crime Before it Starts

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “There’s an app for that.” And while that does ring true (as well all know, there is an app for virtually everything), the area of self-defense has been surprisingly silent. Well not anymore!

Introducing the iWitness Self Protection Smartphone Service! Never again will you have to feel completely alone walking across campus in the middle of the night (we’re going to skip the lecture and just assume you had no other option). So how exactly does it work?

Well first of all, it’s best to keep the app among your favorites for easy access. After you open the app, press the “ARM IWITNESS” button. This should be done at the first hint of danger (if you notice you’re being followed, or if it’s just really dark and you’ve got an “uneasy” feeling about something).

 

As soon as you press the “ARM IWITNESS” button, your phone is armed. It’s ready to take audio and video recordings as soon as you tap the screen. This is called “Capture Mode.”

The entire time your phone is in “Capture Mode” tapping the screen will automatically call 9-1-1. There is a 5-second delay (in case this was a mistake and you don’t wish to call 9-1-1), during which you are allowed to cancel the call. Otherwise, help will automatically be summoned. Plus, if an attacker should knock the phone from your hand, the movement will also trigger an automatic 9-1-1 call.

Plus, anything you record is automatically being sent to a secure server, so if even if your phone is broken or thrown in a river the evidence is still safe. There’s simply no way around it; whoever chooses to harm you will absolutely be caught, and that’s a lot of incentive for a criminal to find another victim.

The cost for this service is simply $29.99 a year (or roughly $2.50 a month), which is really nothing compared to the peace of mind it provides.

http://www.secureoncampus.com

What do you guys think; will the iWitness App help to make college campuses a safer place?

Combining Dorm Safety with Dorm Decoration

Sure you want to be safe at college, but you don’t want your dorm room to make you look like a paranoid freak that doesn’t trust their own mother (and if you don’t trust your own mother I won’t judge; I’m sure you have your reasons). But let’s be honest, no one wants to live in an unsafe dorm room just as much as no one wants to live in a boring dorm room. So we present a few compromises:

1.) The dorm trunk. A dorm trunk is essentially a heavy duty storage container. Thing is, they usually look just about as interesting as a cardboard box, and no one wants a giant cardboard box sitting in the middle of their dorm room. Besides, space in a dorm room is hard to come by, so why would want so much of it taken up by something ugly looking? Thankfully, we’ve found the cure. We’ve got a few dorm trunks that are not only fully functional (these babies go on lockdown when you want them to), but they also look pretty damn cool. With up to 17 colors and designs, you should be good to go on stylish dorm storage.

 

2.) Pepper spray. Pepper spray, while incredibly necessary for a first-time college student, looks like crazy in a bottle. Hell if I were a guy on a date with a woman and I saw pepper spray in her purse my first thought would be, “Well I’m definitely not even going to think about going in for a goodnight kiss…” So we say disguise it. We’ve got pepper sprays that look like cute little heart-shaped containers for lipstick, but trust us, they’re anything but. That way, you still get the option of the goodnight kiss, but you also have the option of making sure that’s as far as it goes…if you want it to.

3.) Dorm lighting. Believe it or not, a well-lit dorm (or apartment) is much safer than a dimly lit dorm. So do it with style! You don’t need to have flood lights outside your apartment, but by all means have something. And if you live in a community dorm, even a gentle glow from the kitchen is often enough to stop intruders at your doorway. Everyone knows it’s super common for college kids to be awake at all hours of the night and there’s nothing wrong with letting everyone on your floor think that there’s always someone awake in your room. A basic nightlight might do the trick, but if you want something a little more believable, an interesting lamp or lightshade will keep the room from looking too boring. Besides, we kind of like the idea of studying by candlelight.

Coping with Depression at College

Let’s talk about depression at college. No, not because there was something recently that came up in the news, but quite the opposite actually; it’s never in the news.

Depression at college is incredibly common. And why wouldn’t it be? Take anyone and uproot them from their family and friends, move them a couple hundred miles away (if not more), saddle them with an enormous amount of responsibility (homework, finals, paying their own bills, feeding themselves, getting a job, finding a girlfriend, etc.), tell them they have to choose what they are going to do for the rest of their lives and then call them a failure if their unsure and yeah…I think just about anyone faces a pretty high risk of becoming depressed.

So should you be feeling a bit depressed at your university, here are a few tips to coping:

1.) Do not generalize your experience. All universities are not the same, and it’s completely normal for your first choice to simply be a bad fit. Just as one English professor shouldn’t cause you to lose faith in all English classes, neither should one university cause you to lose faith in all colleges. A change in major, living arrangements or university itself may do wonders for your mood.

2.) College is temporary. This is not a lifelong decision! College is meant to be four years long, just like high school. You made it through high school, right? And if you want to make the time go by faster, consider taking more credits, or taking credits during breaks (Christmas Break and over the summer). You will not be in this situation forever.

3.) Depression is more common than you think. It may seem like an enormous risk, but go to your student health center and talk to someone. You’ll find that you are absolutely not alone! Depression at college is incredibly common (it’s estimated at roughly 40%…and that’s only based on reported information). So understand that you are in no way alone in this and you are in no way strange or weird for feeling this way.

4.) You don’t have to go to college. A huge source of anxiety for many college students is the idea that if they drop out of college that they are a failure; not so. College is simply a path some people take to reach a career goal; it is by no means an absolute necessity. You can choose to go into the military, to take individual trade or skill classes, or wait until you’re working for a company you’d like to advance in (a lot of times companies offer to pay for additional classes and training). Don’t freak out if you aren’t fitting into the perfect mold of a traditional college student. It just means maybe a different path would be a better option, and there’s nothing wrong with that!

Is Paranoia Getting to You? College Facts That Will Let You Rest Easy

If you were to scroll through our list of blog posts hopefully you would be able to get a decent understanding about how to make it through college the safest way possible. We’ve broken down your back to school safety kit, discussed what you should do if you have a stalker, explained how to be safe while dating in college and even written a post to parents enlightening them on the best way to openly communicate with their college student. Now all these articles are written with good intentions; we want to give you the best possible advice we can before you head out into uncharted territory. However, if you were to do a search on the internet regarding campus safety, you’d find some pretty scary stuff. So we’re going to set the record straight (it may also make your parents to feel better to read this as well, that way they won’t be as quick to assume you’re dead in a ditch somewhere if you don’t answer your cell phone on the first ring).

1.) Campus security is better than you think. A friend of mine is a local police officer, but before he was a “real” cop, he was something else…a campus security cop. When asked the differences between each job, he surprisingly answered that they thought they were better at campus security.

What?

“It’s simple,” he explained. “College kids don’t call about the little stuff. As a cop, you get a lot of calls from 80 year old women suspicious of their new neighbors and stuff like that. College kids don’t call about any of that stuff, so when there is a complaint about something, we can really devote our time to it since it’s not being wasted on insignificant crap.”

Interesting. So that means this idea that campus security will take 10 minutes to get to you at 2:00 in the morning is…inaccurate?

“Hell yeah it’s inaccurate! All we’re doing at 2:00 in the morning is either making surveillance rounds, doing paperwork or cleaning. We’ll be there in a heartbeat!”

Good to know.

2.) Not all roommates are crazy. They chances of you getting paired up with a roommate you are incompatible with are fairly high, based on your personality of course. But the chances that you will get paired up with an actual psychopath (like the ones you always hear about on television) are incredibly rare. Parents, you can rest your head at night knowing your child is very unlikely to be eaten by his or her roommate. But still purchase a sturdy dorm trunk or a dorm safe…just in case.

3.) College is not as difficult as you thought. Is college tougher than highschool? Absolutely! The classes are harder, the subject matter is harder, the professors don’t care if you fail, it’s up to you to attend class and keep your grades up, plus the pace can be quite a shock. However, most universities already know this and have resources at your disposal. You will most likely have access to free tutoring, classes that teach you specific study skills and time management abilities, as well as online resources like professor and class reviews. Millions of students that have come before you have survived college, and you will too.