By Stan Welch
Lloyd Robison, director of Community Services for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, is quick to draw the distinction between crime prevention and crime reduction.
“We can’t prevent crime, but we can show you how to reduce your chances of being a victim of crime,” he explained in a telephone interview earlier this week. One way in which his division does that is an on-site security assessment survey.
“We come to the citizen’s home and do a walk around inspection and assessment. We check locks, lighting, doors, windows, hinges and even landscaping factors. For example, hedges and shrubs can provide an ambush point for an intruder, or provide cover near windows and doors.”
Robison and his staff do ten to twelve residential assessments a month. They also perform a similar service for churches, and businesses. They show businesses what to look for in a suspicious employee, and also do presentations on identity theft. “We do school presentations on various aspects of safety and security. We probably do a total of 180-200 presentations a year.”
For all their efforts, Robison says the most telling statistic about home and vehicle break-ins is that they aren’t break-ins at all.
“Sixty per cent of all illegal entries into cars and residences are through unlocked doors. People just forget or don’t bother to lock their doors. That just makes it way too easy for the bad guys.”
Robison said that most people learn of the service when he speaks to larger groups or attends crime watch organizational meetings. “Once they know about it, most of them want us to come out and help them to make their property safer.”
If you would like an on-site security assessment, which is done at no cost to the homeowner, simply call the Community services office at 222-3937 and make an appointment.
