The City of Jasper, Indiana

Incorporated on January 13, 1896 the Jasper Fire Department is a volunteer department consisting of one full time fire chief, one assistant fire chief, one captain, seven lieutenants and 30 firefighters. As an ISO Class 4 Department, we protect a 36 square mile response area that has a permanent resident population of approximately 16,000. We provide fire, rescue, EMS and hazardous material response for our jurisdiction which includes the City of Jasper and Bainbridge Township. The department also assists with surrounding mutual aid fire departments when called upon. The department responds from 3 fire stations consisting of four engine companies, one rescue squad, one 75 foot ladder, one 100 foot ladder platform and a chief's vehicle.

Mission:

To prepare and maintain a well trained, healthy team that responds in a rapid manner, works safely and makes a positive difference in the community.

Vision:

To adequately plan, provide and train for the present and future. Our goal is to have the requirements of today handled and prepare for the needs of tomorrow.

Values

Family
Treat everyone you work with and provide services to as if they are your own family.

Pride/Integrity

Take ownership of everything you do, see, hear and say.

Honesty

Honesty in all situations is expected and required.

Quality of Service

Train for and provide the highest quality of service at all times to everyone.

Efficiency

Plan for and function as efficiently and effectively as possibly.

Personal and Home Safety

Checklist for Violence Prevention

Do my family and I...

• Understand the dangers of weapons, especially firearms, and how to prevent accidents?
• Talk about the costs ? personal and financial ? of violence?
• Think carefully about the kinds of entertainment we watch and hear?
• Know and practice ways to settle disputes without violence?
• Understand and practice basic self-protection strategies?

Do my neighbors and I...

• Know each other reasonably well?
• Work together to make our neighborhoods safe for children?
• Agree on how and when to step in to prevent childrens' quarrels from becoming violent?
• Discuss how we feel about weapons, including firearms, and what rules and standards we agree on?
• Help each other by joining and taking an active role in Block Clubs and Neighborhood Watch?
• Know that there are positive ways for our children to spend their time and energy after school?
• Identify, discuss, and solve (or get help to solve) troubling conditions in our area?
• Work with police, school officials, civic groups, and others to address larger issues for the community?

Does my community...

• Have and enforce sound laws and regulations for secure weapons storage and against weapons violence?
• Provide safe ways for residents to dispose of unwanted weapons?
• Actively provide resources and know-how to help residents learn how to solve problems without violence?
• Provide mentoring and other outreach services to troubled youth and families?
• Enlist young people in addressing violence problems?
• Coordinate community groups to develop comprehensive anti-violence strategies and plans?
• Offer an attractive array of both family-oriented and youth-focused events?
• Have clear standards that reject violence as a presence in the community?

Crime Prevention for People with Disabilities

A physical disability ? impaired vision, hearing, or mobility ? doesn't prevent you from being a victim of crime. Common sense actions can reduce your risk.

• Stay alert and tuned in to your surroundings, whether on the street, in an office building or shopping mall, driving, or waiting for the bus or subway.
• Send a message that you're calm, confident, and know where you're going.
• Be realistic about your limitations. Avoid places or situations that put you at risk.
• Know the neighborhood where you live and work. Check out the locations of police and fire stations, public telephones, hospitals, restaurants, or stores that are open and accessible.
• Avoid establishing predictable activity patterns. Most of us have daily routines, but never varying them may increase your vulnerability to crime.

At Home

• Put good locks on all your doors. Police recommend double-cylinder, deadbolt locks, but make sure you can easily use the locks you install.
• Install peepholes on front and back doors at your eye level. This is especially important if you use a wheelchair.
• Get to know your neighbors. Watchful neighbors who look out for you as well as themselves are a frontline defense against crime.
• If you have difficulty speaking, have a friend record a message ? giving your name, address, and type of disability to use in emergencies. Keep the tape in a recorder next to your phone.
• Ask your police department to conduct a free home security survey to help identify your individual needs.

Out and About

• If possible, go with a friend.
• Stick to well-lighted, well-traveled streets. Avoid shortcuts through vacant lots, wooded areas, parking lots, or alleys.
• Let someone know where you are going and when you expect to return.
• Carry a purse close to your body, not dangling by the straps. Put a wallet in an inside coat or front pants pocket. If you use a wheelchair, keep your purse or wallet tucked snugly between you and the inside of the chair.
• If you use a knapsack, make sure it is securely shut.
• Always carry your medical information in case of an emergency.
• Consider keeping a cellular phone or installing a CB radio in your vehicle. On Public Transportation
• Use well-lighted, busy stops. Stay near other passengers.
• Stay alert. Don't doze or daydream.
• If someone harasses you, make a loud noise or say "Leave me alone." If that doesn't work, hit the emergency signal on the bus or train.

Take a Stand!

• Join, or help organize, a Neighborhood Watch group. Make sure their meetings are accessible to people with disabilities. For example, do they need a sign language interpreter? Can individuals who use walkers, crutches, or wheelchairs enter the meeting place?
• Work with local law enforcement to improve responses to all victims or witnesses of crime. Role-play how people with disabilities can handle threatening situations.
• Work with a rehabilitation center or advocacy groups to offer a presentation to schools and other community organizations on the needs and concerns of individuals with disabilities.

Don't Leave Your Street Sense at Home When You Travel

• Use traveler's checks and credit cards instead of cash whenever possible. Take only those credit cards you need.
• Carry a purse close to your body, not dangling by the straps. Carry a wallet in an inside coat or from trouser pocket. Better still, wear a money pouch underneath your clothing.
• Be alert for pickpockets in crowded areas like airline, bus and train terminals, major tourist attractions and public transportation.
• Don't look distracted or lost. Walk confidently and stay alert to what's happening around you.
• Stay alert for staged mishaps, like someone bumping into you or spilling a drink, a stranger offering to snap a family photo or a pedestrian jumping in front of the car and falling so you leap out to investigate.

Before You Go

• Plan ahead. If you're traveling by car, get maps and plan your route. Have the car and tires checked out before you leave.
• Leave copies of the numbers of your passport, driver's license, credit cards and traveler's checks with a friend in case you need to replace them.
• Put lights and a radio on timers to create the illusion that someone is at home when you go away. Leave shades, blinds and curtains in normal positions. Stop the mail and newspapers or ask a neighbor to take them in.

Once You're There

• When you check into a hotel or motel, check out the locks. Look for deadbolts or solid doors with peepholes. FYI... the new coded electronic cards are safer than ordinary key locks.
• Be sure your luggage is locked. Keep it close to you at ? all times.
• Keep valuable in a hotel safe or safe deposit box. Better still, leave them at home.
• Ask the hotel staff or police about the neighborhood's safety and what areas to avoid.
• Lock belongings in your suitcase or keep them out of sight.
• Don't display guest room keys in public or carelessly leave them on restaurant tables, at the swimming pool, or other places where they can be easily stolen.
• Immediately report any crime to the police.

Don't Let Your Guard Down Just Because You Live in the Country

Rural communities have their own unique crime problems - like theft of crops, timber, livestock, and expensive farm equipment. Vandals do more than break mailboxes, they can destroy crops and fields. Alcohol and drug abuse problems plague rural youth as well as those in the suburbs and cities. And of course, crimes like burglary, rape, assault, and auto theft happen in rural areas, but less frequently than in cities.

Invest some time and money in prevention now. What's the payoff? Better security around your property, less worry about crime and your family's safety.

Be a good neighbor - when you're out and about, keep an eye on neighbors' homes, livestock, and equipment. Tell them and the sheriff or police about anything that makes you uneasy or suspicious.

Check the Doors and Locks

• Make sure outside doors - in your home and outbuildings - are solid wood or metal and have dead bolt locks.
• Use the locks!
• Secure sliding glass doors with commercially available locks or with a broomstick or wooden dowel in the track to jam the door in case someone tries to pry it open. Insert screws in the upper track going into the fixed frame, to prevent anyone from lifting the door from its track.
• Secure double-hung windows by sliding bolt or nail through a hole drilled at a downward angle in each top corner of the inside sash and part way through the outside sash. Secure basement windows well.

Check the Outside

• Keep your house, driveway, barns, and other buildings well-lighted at night. Use timers that automatically turn on outside lights when it gets dark.
• Consider motion sensors that set off lights or alarms.
• Prune back shrubbery that hides doors, windows, lights, and would-be burglars.
• Keep your fences in good repair. Secure all access roads with gates or cables stretched between posts cemented in the ground. Make them visible with flags or streamers.
• Warn thieves that you're on the alert with "No Trespassing," "No Hunting," and other signs around your property.

Mark Equipment and Livestock

• Operation Identification - marking tools, guns, and equipment with a permanent identification number such as driver's license or Social Security - has helped reduce theft in many rural areas. Work with law enforcement to determine the best methods, and make it a community project.
• To help stop modern rustlers, tattoo all livestock (usually on the ears). Although it's easier to use eartags or neck chains, these can be removed. Mark young stock soon after birth.
• Take regular counts of all livestock.

Protect Your Equipment

• Secure gas pumps, gas tanks, storage bins, and grain elevators with sturdy padlocks or dead bolts. Keep small equipment - like mowers, bikes, snowmobiles - locked in a barn or garage. Keep guns locked and unloaded in a secure place away from curious children and would-be thieves.
• Never leave keys in vehicles or farm equipment.
• Always lock your trucks and other vehicles when they're not in use. And don't leave tools in the open back of a pick-up truck or in an unsecured truck bed toolbox.
• Don't leave major equipment in a field overnight. Lock it in a barn or shed near the house, or park where it can be seen from your house or a neighbor's.
• If machines must be left out for long periods of time, disable them by removing the rotor, distributor, or battery.

Guard Your Crops

• Store harvested crops in protected and locked locations.
• Consider marking grain, hay, or similar crops with nontoxic confetti that is easily removed by storage or processing facilities.
• Keep a record of your valuable timber. Mark each with a paint stripe.
• Keep storage areas neat and well-organized so that any theft will be noticed immediately. This also warns potential thieves that the owner is watchful.
• Check employees' references. Before they start, talk about your crime prevention measures.

Help Your Neighbors

• Get together with others in the community to start a Neighborhood or Farm Watch group. Involve all ages, and work with law enforcement. Recruit from churches and civic groups. Use CB radios or cellular phones to patrol and report suspicious activities to the sheriff or police.
• When you go away, stop delivery of your mail or newspapers or ask a neighbor to pick them up. You want to create the illusion that someone's at home and following everyday routines. Have neighbors check your property, and return the favor when they leave on business or vacation trips.

Take a Stand

• Ask equipment dealers and farm suppliers to display crime prevention information.
• If your school district doesn't have an alcohol, drug, and crime prevention curriculum in place, help start one.
• Check out recreational opportunities for teens - work with schools, 4-H, or Future Farmers to fill the gaps, both after school and on weekends.
• Educate young people about the hazards of operating farm machinery and being around livestock. For example, tractors are involved in 69 percent of farm machinery deaths, and young people raised on farms often operate these machines at early ages.

Don't Make It Easy For a Thief To Steal Your Wheels

One vehicle is stolen every 20 seconds in the United States. Stolen cars, vans, trucks, and motorcycles cost victims time and money - and increase everyone's insurance premiums. They're also often used to commit other crimes.

The Basic Prevention Policy

• Never leave your car running or the keys in the ignition when you're away from it, even for "just a minute".
• Always roll up the windows and lock the car, even if it's in front of your home.
• Never leave valuables in plain view, even if your car is locked. Put them in the trunk or at least out of sight. Buy radios, tape and CD players that can be removed and locked in the trunk.
• Park in busy, well-lighted areas.
• Carry the registration and insurance card with you. Don't leave personal identification documents or credit cards in your vehicle.
• When you pay to park in a lot or garage, leave just the ignition key with the attendant. Make sure no personal information is attached. Do the same when you take your car for repairs.

Add Extra Protection

• Each the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on the windows, doors, fenders, and trunk lid. This helps discourage professional thieves who have to either remove or replace etched parts before selling the car. Copy the VIN and your tag number on a card and keep it in a safe place. If your vehicle is stolen, the police need this information.
• Install a mechanical locking device - commonly called clubs, collars, or j-bars - that locks to the steering wheel, column, or brake to prevent the wheel from being turned more than a few degrees.
• Investigate security systems if you live in a high-theft area or drive an automobile that's an attractive target for thieves. You may get a discount on your auto insurance.
• Look into CAT (Combat Auto Theft) and HEAT (Help Eliminate Auto Theft) partnership programs where individuals voluntarily register their cars with the police, and allow the police to stop by during certain hours when they normally would not be driving (such as midnight to 5a.m.). All participants display decals in a designated area on their vehicles.

What About Carjacking?

Carjacking - stealing a car by force - has captured headlines in the last few years. Statistically, your chances of being a carjacking victim are very slim and preventative actions can reduce the risk even more.

• Approach your car with the key in hand. Look around and inside before getting in.
• When driving, keep your car doors locked and windows rolled up at all times.
• Be especially alert at intersections, gas stations, ATMs, shopping malls, convenience and grocery stores - all are windows of opportunity for carjackers.
• Park in well-lighted areas with good visibility, close to walkways, stores, and people.
• If the carjacker has a weapon, give up the car with no questions asked. Your life is worth more than a car.

Beware of The "Bump and Rob"

It works like this. A car, usually with a driver and at least one passenger, rear-ends or "bumps" you in traffic. You get out to check the damage. The driver or one of the passengers jumps in your car and drives off.

If you're bumped by another car, look around before you get out. Make sure there are other cars around, check out the car that's rear-ended you and who's in it. If the situation makes you uneasy, stay in the car and insist on moving to a police station or busy, well-lighted area to exchange information.

Be on the Lookout

• If your car's stolen, report it to the police immediately. Also, report abandoned cars to the local agency that handles their removal.
• When buying a used car from an individual or a dealer, make sure you have the proper titles, that the VIN number is intact, and the "federal sticker" is on the inside of the driver's door. That sticker should match the VIN.
• Suggest that any dealer, rental car agency, or auto repair shop you use offer auto theft prevention information in the waiting rooms.
• If joy riding is a problem in your community, work to improve recreational programs and job opportunities for young people.

Family Vacation Fun and Safety

Planning a family vacation? Whether your destination is Disney World, Denver, or Denmark, there are certain things you need to keep in mind. Making the trip fun and enjoyable for everyone is key; that's what it's all about. But just as important to the success of your trip will be steps you take to make it a safe one.

Before You Leave

Preventing crime during family travel starts with making sure your home is protected while you're away. The key is to make it look like you never left:

• Keep shades and blinds in their normal position.
• Don't stop mail and newspapers, ask a neighbor to pick them up every day.
• Put timers on several household lights so they turn on and off at appropriate times.
• Arrange to have grass mowed while you're gone.
• Make sure all your door and window locks are in working order - and use them. Activate your home alarm (if you have one).
• You might even leave a radio on - or put it on a timer. Ask a neighbor to park in your driveway overnight - anything that might suggest someone's home. And don't forget to lock all doors and windows when you leave.

Packing for Prevention

Preparing for a family trip requires a lot of planning. You need to decide where you're going, where you'll stay and how you'll get from one place to another. You also need to decide what to take with you. Planning can decrease the chances of crime joining you on your journey. Some tips on what to take:

• Clean out your wallet or purse before you go; take only essential credit cards. Plan to use credit cards or traveler's checks instead of cash wherever possible.
• Carry your purse close to your body, or your wallet in an inside front pocket. Better yet, take "fanny packs" or wear a money pouch under your clothes.
• Pack as lightly as possible. Lots of heavy, cumbersome bags will slow you down and make you more vulnerable to getting robbed.
• Expensive designer luggage can draw unneeded attention to your belongings. Pack your things in inconspicuous bags.
• Keep a separate record of the contents of checked luggage. And keep anything of value such as medicine and jewelry in a carry-on that stays with you.
• If you are going on an extended vacation, consider shipping large bags to your destination in advance. For the return trip, mail bulky new purchases home, or ask merchants to do it for you.

Out and About

Your home is secured and you're packed. Now it's time to go. While you and your family are traveling, it's important to remember that tourists make tempting targets for thieves. Often lost or distracted, weighed down with bags, and carrying cameras, tickets and money, unsuspecting travelers attract crime like a magnet.

The best advise for you and your family is to do all you can to blend in with the crowd.

• Don't display expensive jewelry, cameras, bags, and other items that might draw attention.
• Check maps before you go out so you can tour confidently.
• Stick to well-lighted, well-traveled streets at all times - no shortcuts.
• Always lock your car when it's parked, even if the stop is brief. Keep valuables out of sight, preferably locked in the trunk. Don't advertise that you're a tourist by leaving maps and guidebooks on the seat or dashboard - keep them in the glove compartment.
• Traveling safely with your family also means sticking together and keeping an eye on your children at all times. Make sure they know where you are staying (name and address), and teach them what to do if they get lost or separated. You might want to agree on a meeting place, just in case. And by all means, make sure your kids know not to accept rides or favors from strangers.

Make your family vacation a memorable one for all the right reasons.

Home Security: Invest In It Now

If you were locked out of your house, would you still be able to get in? Maybe you keep an unlocked window in the back, or a hidden key in your mailbox or on top of a window ledge?

You may think this is a good idea, but guess what? If you can break in, so can a burglar!

One out of ten homes will be burglarized this year. For a small amount of time and money you can make your home more secure and reduce your chances of being a victim.

Many burglars will spend no longer than 60 seconds trying to break into a home. Good locks - and good neighbors who watch out for each other - can be big deterrents to burglars.

Check The Locks

Did you know that in almost half of all completed residential burglaries, thieves simply breezed in through unlocked doors or crawled through unlocked windows?

• Make sure every external door has a sturdy, well-installed dead bolt lock. Key-in-the-knob locks alone are not enough.
• Sliding glass doors can offer easy access if they are not properly secured. You can secure them by installing commercially available locks or putting a broomstick or dowel in the inside track to jam the door. To prevent the door being lifted off the track, drill a hole through the slide 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 into a 45 degree angle between the inner and outer frames, then insert a nail that can be removed. Secure basement windows with grilles or grates.
• Instead of hiding keys around the outside of your home, give an extra key to a neighbor you trust.
• When you move into a new house or apartment, re-key the locks.

Check The Doors

A lock on a flimsy door is about as effective as locking your car door but leaving the window down.

• All outside doors should be metal or solid wood.
• If your doors don't fit tightly in their frames, install weather stripping around them.
• Install a peephole or wide angle viewer in all entry doors so you can see who is outside without opening the door. Door chains break easily and don't keep out intruders.

Check The Outside

Look at your house from the outside. Make sure you know the following tips:

• Thieves hate bright lights. Install outside lights and keep them on at night.
• Keep your yard clean. Prune back shrubbery so it doesn't hide doors or windows. Cut back tree limbs that a thief could use to climb to an upper-level window.
• If you travel, create the illusion that you're at home by getting some timers that will turn lights on and off in different areas of your house throughout the evening. Lights burning 24 hours a day signal an empty house.
• Leave shades, blinds, and curtains in normal positions. And don't let your mail pile up! Call the post office to stop delivery or have a neighbor pick it up.
• Make a list of your valuables - VCRs, stereos, computers, jewelry. Take photos of the items, list their serial numbers and description. Check with law enforcement about engraving your valuables through Operation Identification.
• Ask local law enforcement for a free home security survey.

Consider an Alarm

Alarms can be a good investment, especially if you have many valuables in your home, or live in an isolated area or one with a history of break-ins.

• Check with several companies before you buy so you can decide what level of security fits your needs. Do business with an established company and check references before signing a contract.
• Learn how to use your system properly! Don't "cry wolf" by setting off false alarms. People will stop paying attention and you'll probably be fined.
• Some less expensive options... a sound-detecting socket that plugs into a light fixture and makes the light flash when it detects certain noises, motion sensing outdoor lights that turn on when someone approaches, or lights with photo cells that turn on when it's dark and off when it's light.

Burglars Do More Than Steal

Burglars can commit rape, robbery, and assault if they are surprised by someone coming home or 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 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.
• Gun are responsible for many accidental deaths in the home every year. If you choose to own a gun, learn how to store it and use it safely.

There's More You Can Do

Join a Neighborhood Watch group. If one doesn't exist, you can start one with help from local law enforcement.
Never leave a message on your answering machine that indicates you may be away from home now, say "I'm not available right now."
Work with neighbors and local government to organize community clean-ups. The cleaner your neighborhood, the less attractive it is to crime.

Lock Crime Out of Your Home

Making your home safer from crime doesn't always mean having to install expensive alarms ? effective home security starts with properly locked doors and windows and visible, well- lighted entryways.

Exterior Doors

All exterior doors should be either metal or solid wood. For added security, use strong door hinges on the inside of the door, with non-removable or hidden pins. Every entry door should be well lighted and have a wide-angle door viewer so you can see who is outside without opening the door.

Locks

Strong, reliable locks are essential to effective home security. Always keep doors and windows locked ? even a five-minute trip to the store is long enough for a burglar to enter your home.

Use quality keyed knobs as well as deadbolts ? deadbolts can withstand the twisting, turning, prying, and pounding that regular keyed knobs can't.

When choosing a deadbolt, look for such features as a bolt that extends at least one inch when in the locked position, to resist ramming and kicking; hardened steel inserts to prevent the bolt from being sawed off, and a reinforced strike plate with extra long mounting screws to anchor the lock effectively.

Most deadbolts are single-cylinder; they operate from the outside with a key and from the inside with a thumb latches. Double-cylinder deadbolts require a key to open the lock from both outside and inside your home. These locks are especially effective for doors with glass within 40 inches of the lock ? an intruder cannot break the glass and unlock the door by reaching through.

Some jurisdictions do not allow these locks, check with your local law enforcement or building code authorities before installing a double cylinder deadbolt. As one alternative, security glazing can be applied to glass panels in or near the door, or shatterproof glass can be installed, though these options can be expensive.

Sliding Glass Doors

Sliding glass doors can offer easy entry into your home.To improve security on existing sliding glass doors, you can install keyed locking devices that secure the door to the frame; adjust the track clearances on the doors so they can't be pushed out of their tracks; or put a piece of wood or a metal bar in the track of the closed door to prevent the door from opening even if the lock is jimmied or removed.

Windows

Most standard double-hung windows have thumb turn locks between the two window panels. Don't rely on these ? they can be pried open or easily reached through a broken pane. Instead, install keyed locking devices to prevent the window from being raised from the outside, but make sure everyone in the house knows where to find the keys in case of an emergency. Some jurisdictions have restrictions on this type of lock ? check with your local law enforcement before you install them.

An easy, inexpensive way to secure your windows is to use the "pin" trick. Drill an angled hole through the top frame of the lower window partially into the frame of the upper window.Then insert a nail or eyebolt.The window can't be opened until you remove the nail. Make a second set of holes with the windows partly opened so you can have ventilation without intruders.

Lighting

Lighting is one of the most cost-effective deterrents to burglary. Indoor lighting gives the impression that a home is occupied. If you are going to be away from your home, consider using automatic timers to switch interior lights on and off at preset times.

Outdoor lighting can eliminate hiding places. Install exterior lighting near porches, rear and side doorways, garage doors, and all other points of entry. Entryways to your home always should be well lighted. Place lights out of reach from the ground so the bulbs cannot be removed or broken.Aim some lights away from the house so you can see if anyone is approaching, or install motion- sensing lights, which turn on automatically as someone approaches.

Shrubs and Landscaping

Your home's walkways and landscaping should direct visitors to the main entrance and away from private areas.The landscaping should provide maximum visibility to and from your house.Trim shrubbery that could conceal criminal activity near doors and windows. Provide light on areas of dense shrubs and trees that could serve as hiding places. Cut back tree limbs that could help thieves climb into windows, and keep yard fencing low enough too avoid giving criminals places to hide.

Safety Checklist for Apartments

Check Out Your Apartment

Does Your...

• Entry door have a deadbolt lock and peephole?
• Sliding glass door have a wooden rod in the track so it can't be opened and pins in the overhead frame so it can't be lifted out?
• Landlord or building manager tightly control all keys?
• For extra security, leave a radio playing or a light on while you are gone. Always tell neighbors and the building manager when you leave for a business trip or vacation.

Check Out Your Building

• Is there some kind of control over who enters and leaves the building?
• Are walkways, entrances, parking areas, elevators, hallways, stairways, laundry rooms, and storage areas well-lighted, 24 hours a day?
• Are fire stairs locked from the stairwell side about the ground floor, so you can exit but no one can enter?
• Are mailboxes in a well-traveled, well-lighted area and do they have good locks?
• Are things well maintained--are burnt-out lights fixed properly, shrubs trimmed, trash and snow removed?

Check Out the Neighbors

• Get to know your neighbors. Join or organize an Apartment Watch group so neighbors can look out for and help each other.
• If you live in a large building or complex, think about a tenant patrol that watches for crime around the building, provides escort services for the elderly and handicapped, and monitors coming and going in the lobby.
• Work with landlords to sponsor social events for tenants--a Sunday breakfast, a picnic, a Halloween Party.
• Look beyond problems to root causes--does your building need a better playground, a social evening for teens, a tenant association, need landscaping, a basketball hoop?
• Work with the landlord for changes that make everyone proud of where they live.

Street Sense: It's Common Sense

Basic Street Sense

Wherever you are - on the street, in an office building or shopping mall, driving, waiting for a bus or subway - stay alert and tuned in to your surroundings.

Send the message that you're calm, confident, and know where you're going.

Trust your instincts. If something or someone makes you uneasy, avoid the person or leave.

Know the neighborhoods where you live and work. Check out the locations of police and fire stations, public telephones, hospitals, and restaurants, or stores that are open late.

On Foot - Day and Night

• Stick to well-traveled streets. Avoid shortcuts through wooded areas, parking lots, or alleys.
• Don't flash large amounts of cash or other tempting targets like expensive jewelry or clothing.
• Carry a purse close to your body, not dangling by the straps. Put a wallet in an inside coat or front pants pocket, not a back pocket.
• Try to use automated teller machines in the daytime. Have your card in hand and don't approach the machine if you're uneasy about people nearby.
• Don't wear shoes or clothing that restrict your movements.
• Have your car or house key in hand before you reach the door.
• If you think someone is following you, switch direction or cross the street. Walk toward an open store, restaurant, or lighted house. If you're scared, yell for help.
• Have to work late? Make sure there are others in the building, and ask someone - a colleague or security guard - to walk you to your car or transit stop.

On Wheels

• Keep your car in good running condition. Make sure there's enough gas to get where you're going and back.
• Always roll up the windows and lock car doors, even if you're coming right back. Check inside and out before getting in.
• Avoid parking in isolated areas. Be especially alert in lots and underground parking garages.
• If you think someone is following you, don't head home. Drive to the nearest police or fire station, gas station, or other open business to get help.
• Don't pick up hitchhikers. Don't hitchhike.
• Leave enough space to pull around the vehicle in front of you when you're stopped at a light or stop sign. If anyone approaches your vehicle in a threatening manner, pull away.
• Beware of the "bump and rob." It works like this: A car rear ends or bumps you in traffic. You get out to check the damage and the driver or one of the passengers jumps into your car and drives off. Look around before you get out; make sure other cars or around. If you are uneasy, stay in the car and insist on moving to a busy place or police station.

On Buses and Subways

• Use well-lighted, busy stops.
• Stay alert! Don't doze or daydream.
• If someone harasses you, don't be embarrassed. Loudly say "Leave me alone!" If that doesn't work, hit the emergency device.
• Watch who gets off with you. If you feel uneasy, walk directly to a place where there are other people.

Road Rage

People are losing their lives on the highway every day because of "road rage." A majority of drivers get angry when someone cuts them off or tailgates them. About 70 percent of drivers get angry at slow drivers. Violent incidents on the road recorded by police have increased 51 percent over the last five years.

• Don't allow someone to draw you into a test of wills on the highway. If someone is tailgating you, pull into the slow lane and let them pass. Don't take traffic problems personally.
• Avoid eye contact with an aggressive driver.
• Don't make obscene gestures. Use your horn sparingly, as a warning, not an outburst.
• Reduce stress by allowing ample time for your trip and creating a relaxing environment in your car.
• Driving is a cooperative activity. If you're aggressive, you may find other drivers trying to slow you down or get in your way.
• If you witness aggressive driving, stay out of the way and contact authorities when you can. Consider carrying a cellular phone in your car to contact police in the event of an encounter with an aggressive driver.

If Someone Tries To Rob You or Take Your Car

• Don't resist. Give up your property, don't give up your life.
• Report the crime to the police. Try to describe the attacker accurately. Your actions can help prevent others from becoming victims.

The Hidden Crime: Domestic Violence

One out of every four women in this country will suffer some kind of violence at the hands of her husband or boyfriend.

Very few will tell anyone--not a friend, a relative, a neighbor, or the police.

Victims of domestic violence come from all walks of life--all cultures, all income groups, all ages, all religions. They share feelings of helplessness, isolation, guilt, fear, and shame.

All hope it won't happen again, but often it does.

Are You Abused? Does the Person You Love...

• "Track" all of your time?
• Constantly accuse you of being unfaithful?
• Discourage your relationships with family and friends?
• Prevent you from working or attending school?
• Criticize you for little things?
• Anger easily when drinking or on drugs?
• Control all finances and force you to account in detail for what you spend?
• Humiliate you in front of others?
• Destroy personal property or sentimental items?
• Hit, punch, slap, kick, or bite you or the children?
• Use or threaten to use a weapon against you?
• Threaten to hurt you or the children?
• Force you to have sex against your will?

If you find yourself saying yes, it's time to get help.

If You Are Hurt, What Can You Do?

There are no easy answers, but there are things you can do to protect yourself.

• Call the police or sheriff. Assault, even by family members, is a crime. The police often have information about shelters and other agencies that help victims of domestic violence.
• Leave, or have someone come and stay with you. Go to a battered women's shelter--call a crisis hotline in your community or a health center to locate a shelter. If you believe that you and your children are in danger, leave immediately.
• Get medical attention from your doctor or a hospital emergency room. Ask the staff to photograph your injuries and keep detailed records in case you decide to take legal action.
• Contact your family court for information about a civil protection order that does not involve criminal charges or penalties.

Don't Ignore The Problem

• Talk to someone. Part of the abuser's power comes from secrecy. Victims are often ashamed to let anyone know about intimate family problems. Go to a friend or neighbor, or call a domestic violence hotline to talk to a counselor.
• Plan ahead and know what you will do if you are attacked again. If you decide to leave, choose a place to go; set aside some money. Put important papers together--marriage license, birth certificates, check books--in a place where you can get them quickly.
• Learn to think independently. Try to plan for the future and set goals for yourself.

Have You Hurt Someone In Your Family?

• Accept the fact that you violent behavior will destroy you family. Be aware that you break the law when you physically hurt someone.
• Take responsibility for you actions and get help.
• When you feel tension building, get away. Work off the angry energy through a walk, a project, or a sport.
• Call a domestic violence hotline or health center and ask about counseling and support groups for people who batter.

The High Costs of Domestic Violence

• Men and women who follow their parents' example and use violence to solve conflicts are teaching the same destructive behavior to their children.
• Jobs can be lost or careers stalled because of injuries, arrests, or harassments.
• Lives are lost when violence results in death.

Take a Stand!

• Reach out to someone you believe is a victim of family violence, or to someone you think is being abusive. Don't give up easily--change takes time. Ending the family's isolation is a critical first step.
• Urge organizations and businesses to raise community awareness by hosting speakers on domestic violence, launching public education campaigns, and raising funds for shelters and hotlines.
• Ask the local newspaper, radio station, or television station to examine the problem and publicize resources in the community through special features and forums.
• Most communities offer resources for victims of family violence. Check your telephone directory or ask a law enforcement agency.

Use Common Sense to Spot a Con

It's not always easy to spot con artists. They're smart, extremely persuasive, and aggressive.They invade your home through the telephone, computer, and the mail; advertise in well-known newspapers and magazines; and come to your door. They're well mannered, friendly, and helpful, at first. Most people think they're too smart to fall for a scam. But con artists rob all kinds of people, from investment counselors and doctors to teenagers and senior citizens, of billions of dollars every year. Cons, scams, and frauds disproportionately victimize seniors with false promises of miracle cures, financial security, and luxury prizes. One easy rule to remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

You Can Protect Yourself

• Never give a caller your credit card, phone card, Social Security number, or bank account number over the phone. It's illegal for telemarketers to ask for these numbers to verify a prize or gift.
• Beware of 900 numbers. Remember, if you call a 900 number to claim a "prize," you end up paying for the call. Make sure you understand all charges before making the call.
• Take your time and shop around. Don't let an aggressive con artist pressure you into making a decision. Demand information in writing by mail. Get a second opinion.Ask your family, friends, and neighbors what they think about certain offers.
• Stay informed about current scams in your area. Contact your attorney general's office, district attorney's office, the Better Business Bureau, or local consumer affairs office for more information.
• Remember, you have the right, the ability, and the power to say no! If the caller on the other end of the phone makes you wary, be assertive and end the conversation. Cons know that the longer they keep you on the phone, the higher their chance of success.They often prey on the trusting, polite nature of many people or on their excitement over getting a supposed prize or bargain. By saying no and hanging up the phone, you can prevent a crime from taking place.

Be a Wise Consumer

• Don't buy health products or treatments that include a promise for a quick and dramatic cure, testimonials, imprecise and nonmedical language, appeals to emotion instead of reason, or a single product that cures many ills.
• Look closely at offers that come in the mail. Con artists often use official-looking forms and language and bold graphics to lure victims. If you receive items in the mail that you didn't order, you are under no obligation to pay for them.You are free to throw them out, return them, or keep them.
• Beware of cheap home repair work that would otherwise be expensive.The con artist may do only part of the work, use shoddy materials and untrained workers, or simply take your deposit and never return. Never pay with cash. Never accept offers from drive-up workers who "just happen" to be in the neighborhood. If they're reliable, they'll come back after you check them out.

If Someone Rips You Off

• Report con games to the police, your city or state consumer protection office, district attorney's office, or a consumer advocacy group. Don't be embarrassed. Some very, very astute people have been taken in by these pros!
• Call the National Fraud Information Center at 800-876-7060, or visit their Web site at www.fraud.org for current fraud alerts.
• Some Typical Cons Targeted at Older People

Many cons choose to victimize older people. Con artists devise complex offers that confuse their targets and eventually persuade them to take up these offers.

Don't let this happen to you:

The phone rings and the caller tells you that you've won a new car. In order to claim the prize you need to mail a check to cover the taxes and delivery of the car. Weeks later, the phone rings again. You learn that the original prize company has gone out of business. But the caller tells you not to worry because his/her company has purchased the assets of the defunct company. All you need to do now is send another check to the new company to cover the costs of the legal transactions and for immediate delivery of the car. The check gets mailed, but the prize never arrives.
A mail offer, newspaper, magazine, or television ad catches your eye. It promises a quick cure for cancer, arthritis, memory loss, back pain, or other ailments. "It's an absolute miracle," one testimony reads. "I feel a million times better." You mail your check for a six-week supply of this miracle cure and wind up with a jar of Vitamin C, placebos, or even worse, pills or tonics that have not been medically tested and could worsen your condition or react negatively with the prescription medication you regularly take.

Vehicle Burglary - A Crime of Opportunity

Vehicle Burglary is most often a crime of opportunity. Our own carelessness is often causing our vehicles to be broken into as well as stolen; however, you can minimize your chances of being a victim by taking away the opportunity.

Here are some tips to remember:

• LOCK your vehicle and take the keys
• PARK carefully in well lighted areas
• USE anti-theft devices
• CLEAN it out; do not leave anything in it
• REMOVE the garage door opener
• UTILIZE your garage to park in, if possible
• MARK it; use an engraver to mark property
• REPORT suspicious activity or persons to the Sheriff?s Department at 874-5115, for crimes in progress call 9-1-1.

Lock Up:

• An unlocked car is an open invitation to a car thief. Lock up when you leave your car, and take the keys with you.
• Lock the trunk or tailgate.
• Close all windows ? professional thieves have tools that unlock cars through the smallest openings.
• Be sure vent or wind-wing windows are shut tight and locked.
• Lock your car even if you are making a quick stop at the gas station, convenience store or mini-mall.
• At night, park in well-lit areas with lots of people around when out running errands.
• Turn wheels sharply toward the curb when parking, this makes it extra difficult for thieves to tow your car.

Items to Avoid Leaving in Your Vehicle and/or View:

• Cellular phones and chargers
• Pagers
• Cd's
• Purses/briefcases
• Wallets
• Back packs
• Clothing
• Laptops/cameras
• Sports equipment/tools
• Removable stereos including the removable face plates

Operation I.D.:

• With an electric engraver, etch your driver?s license number (preceded by the letters ?CA?) on stereo equipment and other valuable items.
• Record your vehicle identification number (located on a small metal plate on the dashboard of newer cars) and store it in a safe place.
• Keep the vehicle registration in your wallet or purse, not in your car.
• Use anti-theft devices
• Consider the purchase and installation of security devices, such as:
• Interior hood lock release.
• Second ignition switch or ?kill switch? to prevent electrical current from reaching the coil distributor.
• Fuel switch to prevent fuel from reaching the carburetor.
• Locking devices for batteries, wheels, decks, etc.
• Alarm device to activate a siren, horn or lights ? or all three ? to frighten the thief away.
• Device that attaches to the steering wheel or brake pedal.

Working Safely at Home

Increasingly, businesses are allowing their employees to telecommute and entrepreneurs are running businesses from their homes. Offices are standard in many homes today and are equipped with the latest in computers, scanners, printers, faxes, and other expensive equipment. Remember, it is important to secure yourself and your equipment when you're working from home.

• Install solid doors and good deadbolt locks on all exterior doors and use them.
• Hang window treatments that obstruct the view into your office. You don't want to advertise what equipment you have.
• Consider installing motion-sensored lighting that will come on if someone is walking around your yard.
• Keep bushes and trees trimmed so that you can see into your yard and neighbors can see your house.
• Install a wide-angle viewer in the door of your home office if it is detached from the main house.
• Look into an alarm system. A basic system can be purchased for less than $100, plus a monthly monitoring fee.
• Keep a cellular phone handy.
• When meeting a client for the first time, arrange to meet in a public place, such as a coffee shop or the library ? not your home.
• Let someone know when and with whom you have appointments.
• Review your insurance policy ? almost all policies require an extra rider to cover a home office. In the event something does happen, you want to be covered.
• Mark your equipment with identification numbers and keep an updated inventory list (with photos, if possible) in a home safe or a bank safe deposit box. It's a good idea to keep back-ups of your work in a secure, separate location as well.
• Use the same caution with deliveries as businesses do. Anyone making a delivery to your home office should be properly identified before you open the door. Do not let the person enter your home.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

                                     

About this location

This shaded park features a shelter house, large playground, restrooms, sand volleyball courts, horseshoe pits and is walking distance to the Jasper Municipal Swimming Pool. 

For inquiry or to make a reservation for the shelter house, contact Janessa Wagner, Jasper Park Dept., (812) 482-5959 or recdirector@jasperindiana.gov 

Rental

Shelter house rental is $42.80 per day ($40 plus $2.80 tax). 

• CASH OR CHECK ONLY
• Lease agreement must be signed

Amenities

• Shelter
• Restroom
• Large Playground
• Volleyball Courts
• Walking Distance to City Pool
• Tennis Court

All games are played at the Jasper Youth Sports Complex.  To be eligible all participants must be ages 5-15. 

Boys T-Ball
This league is for boys 5 years of age.  The league will stress the fundamentals of batting, throwing, fielding, and base running.  Games will be played in the evenings on girls field 2.   

Boys Bantam League 6-7-8
This league is for boys 6, 7 & 8 years of age.  The league uses a pitching machine and the fundamentals of baseball are stressed.  Games will be played in the evenings on fields 3 & 4.

Boys Pee Wee League
This league is for boys that are 9 years old.  In this league they begin to pitch to each other in preparation for the minor league.  Games will be played in the evenings on fields 2 & 3. 

Boys Minor League
This league is for boys 10 years of age.  They pitch to each other in preparation for graduation into the major league.  Games will be played in the evenings on field 2.

Boys Major League
This league is for boys 11 & 12 years of age.  Games are played in the evenings on field 1.

Boys Babe Ruth League
This league is for boys 13, 14, and 15 years of age.  Games are played in the evenings starting in April on Babe Ruth Fields 1 & 2.  

Mayor

As Chief Executive Officer, the mayor is responsible for the overall operation of city government. The mayor's term of office is for four years with no restrictions on the number of terms which can be served.

Click here to visit the mayors home page with more information on the current and past mayors.

              

                                                                                                

About this location

Named for past park board member John Bohnert, this 18 acre park has something for everyone including:

• Large Playground
• Shelter House
• Restrooms
• 1/2 mile Walking Path
• Basketball Courts
• Tennis Courts
• 2 Baseball Fields
• 2 Sand Volleyball Courts

For inquiry or to make a reservation for the shelter house, contact Janessa Wagner, Jasper Park Dept., (812) 482-5959 or recdirector@jasperindiana.gov

Rental

Shelter house rental is $42.80 per day ($40 plus $2.80 tax).  

• CASH OR CHECK ONLY
• Lease agreement must be signed

All games are played at the Jasper Youth Sports Complex.  All girls going into Kindergarten through 12th grade are eligible to play.

Girls T-Ball League (6U)-This league is for incoming kindergarten and 1st graders. This program is planned to be purely a recreational league where all girls field and bat an equal amount of time. The basic fundamentals of hitting, fielding, and base running are stressed. 

Girls Mini League (8U)-This league is for incoming 2nd and 3rd graders. The girls will hit off of a pitching machine. Each player will hit every inning and score is kept.  There is a season ending tournament.  

Girls Minor League (10U)-This league is for incoming 4th and 5th graders.  The girls will hit an equal amount of innings off a pitching machine and live fast pitch.  There is a season ending tournament. 

Girls Major League (12U)-This league is for incoming 6th and 7th graders.  The girls will hit all live fast pitch and will use ASA Fastpicth rules.  There is a season ending tournament.  

Girls Junior League (12U)The Junior League is for incoming 6th and 7th graders. Incoming 5th graders are welcome if they chose to "play up".  The girls will hit all live slow pitch and will use ASA rules with the exception of some league by-laws.

Girls Senior League (18U) The Senior League is for incoming 8th through 12th graders. Seniors who have just graduated are eligible for one more year of play. ASA rules apply with the exception of some league by-laws.  

Clerk-Treasurer

The Clerk-Treasurer is the fiscal officer for the City of Jasper and the clerk of the City Council and Board of Public Works and Safety. It also serves as head of the Department of Finance and serves as the official keeper of the City's records.
The Clerk-Treasurer's term of office is for four years with no restrictions on the number of terms which can be served.

Click here to visit the clerk-treasurer's homepage for more information.

Calling All Hotheads - Tips on Keeping Cool in an Angry World

Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. It lets us know when something is wrong and makes us take action. It's when anger runs wild that people may become hostile, even violent.

Why Do People Get Angry?

• "Nobody listens to me unless I get angry." - Some people feel that the only way they can get attention is to get mad, even if it means getting in trouble.
• "It helps me get what I want." - Just like people who use anger to get attention, these people try to use anger to force others into giving them what they want.
• "He/She dissed me." - People lash out when they feel they are being disrespected or treated unfairly. They may be insecure about themselves or sensitive to certain criticisms and insults.
• "I just got frustrated." - Sometimes it's hard dealing with a lot of emotions, and we don't know how to express ourselves. The result is often frustration and sometimes rage.
• "I was sick of him or her teasing me." - While many people may think teasing is harmless and just in fun, it can really get to people after awhile. As a result, they may lash out at the person who is teasing them.
• "It's like I'm excited when I'm angry." - Anger makes our bodies produce more adrenaline. It may not be a pleasant experience, but it's definitely intense.

Getting a Grip

It doesn't matter whether you're a toddler going through the "terrible twos" or a grumpy older person, it's always a
good time to learn to cope with your temper.

Admit that you're angry.

It's hard to deal with something if you don't admit that it exists first. Try saying to yourself, "Okay, I'm really angry right now, but I'm not going to lose my cool. I'm going to deal with it."

Deal With It!

• When you start feeling angry or frustrated, stop what you're doing. Take a few deep breaths. Count to 10 or 100.
• Take a walk, stretch, laugh, go for a run, or do anything that takes your mind off the anger.
• Don't brush it off.
• Everyone gets angry sometimes ? it's perfectly normal. Ignoring your feelings doesn't solve the problem and may make things worse in the long run. Don't reject your anger as irrational or without reason. Instead, try to figure out what's making you feel that way or talk to someone.
• Identify and understand the cause.
• You've just failed your third English test this semester, and you yell at your best friend for asking you a stupid question. What's the real cause of your outburst? The test, not your friend. Knowing why you're angry helps you deal with it.
• Walk away.
• You have the power to change or avoid an anger-provoking situation ? so use it! Losing your cool isn't cool.
• Get a new perspective.
• If you're having an argument with someone, try to put yourself in that person's shoes. Understanding where they're coming from might help you resolve the situation without losing your temper.
• Vent to your friends and family.

Venting is not taking out your anger on your friends and family. It's explaining your feelings and frustrations to people you trust and who can help you deal with the situation. Or talk to a school counselor, a teacher, or another adult you trust. If you find that you are angry all of the time, and can't get a grip even after you have really tried, you may want to seek professional help.

How To Talk to Someone Who Makes You Mad

Being able to communicate with someone who makes you angry is an important skill. When talking with people who drive you crazy remember to:

• Look and feel relaxed
• Keep your voice calm
• Be direct and specific about what's bothering you
• Ask, don't demand
• Make your statement once, then give it a rest.

Redirecting Your Anger

It's easy to lose control when you're angry. There are many ways to deal with anger by turning that negative energy into something positive. There can be immediate rewards from exercising, or there are some longer-term solutions.

Get involved in a cause.

Find a group in your school or community that is trying to make a positive impact on society. For instance, you
might volunteer with an environmental group or tutor younger kids after school.

Exercise!

Physical activity is a great way to blow off steam, and spending time outside can also help you calm down. Take a
walk in the park or go for a run. Train for a 5k race. Shoot some hoops, or try a new sport. Don't think about what
makes you angry while you exercise.

Find a hobby.

Many people have a hobby that helps them unwind. Your hobby could be anything from reading, painting and drawing, music, or sports to cooking, writing, collecting comic books, dancing, or building model airplanes. Find
something that interests you!

Take Action

• Talk to your teachers or community leaders about developing a cross-age, anti-bullying program for the local elementary schools.
• Encourage your school or community center to start a peer mediation program. These programs give teens a way to resolve problems peacefully and provides a resource through which they can let out their anger.
• Encourage your school administrators to make anger management courses a requirement for all graduating seniors and for faculty as well.

Making Peace - Tips on Managing Conflicts

Irritated? Frustrated? Angry? Ready to explode? You're not alone. Whether it's an argument with a friend, aggravation because a driver cut in front of you, or rage because your ex-girlfriend or -boyfriend is going out with your best friend, conflict is part of everyday life. Anger leads to conflict, produces stress, hurts friendships, and can lead to violence. We can't always avoid anger or conflict, but we can learn to manage it without violence.

Steps To Managing Conflict

Understand Your Own feelings about Conflict.

This means recognizing your triggers, words or actions that immediately cause an angry or other emotional response. Your trigger might be a facial expression, a tone of voice, a finger being pointed, a stereotype, or a certain phrase. Once you know your triggers, you can improve control over your reactions.

Practice active listening.

Go beyond hearing only words; look for tone, body language, and other clues to what the other person is saying. Pay attention instead of thinking about what you're going to say next. Demonstrate your concentration by using body language that says you are paying attention. Looking at the ground with your arms crossed says you're uninterested in what the other person is telling you. Look the other person in the eye, nod your head, and keep your body relaxed and your posture open.

Come Up with Your Own Suggestions for Solving The Problem.

Many people can think of only two ways to manage conflict, fighting or avoiding the problem. Get the facts straight. Use your imagination to think up ways that might help resolve the argument.

Moving Toward Agreement

• Agree to sit down together in a neutral place to discuss the problem.
• Come to the discussion with a sincere willingness to settle the problem.
• State your needs, what results are important to you, and define the problem. Talk about the issues without insulting or blaming the other person.
• Discuss various ways of meeting needs or solving the problem. Be flexible and open-minded.
• Decide who will be responsible for specific actions after reaching agreement on a plan. Write the agreement down and give both people a copy.

Confronting the Issue

Good communication skills are a necessity throughout our lives. They allow us to resolve issues before they become problems and help keep us from getting angry. When talking to people, especially those who are acting confrontational,

• Look and feel relaxed
• Keep your voice calm
• Be direct and specific about what's bothering you. Use "I" statements, statements that emphasize how you feel, rather than blaming the other person. Instead of yelling, "You always interrupt me! You don't care what I think," try saying "I feel frustrated when I can't finish making my point. I feel as though my opinions don't matter."
• Ask, don't demand. Instead of saying, "Get away from me," try asking, "Would you please leave me alone right now? I am trying to talk to my friends."
• Make your statement once, then give it a rest. Don't repeat your point endlessly.

If You Can't Work It Out... Get Help

Mediation. Many schools offer programs that train students to act as mediators for their peers. Mediators do not make decisions for people ? they help people make their own decisions. Mediators encourage dialog, provide guidance, and help the parties define areas of agreement and disagreement.

Student Courts. Many schools have implemented teen courts to help students solve disputes. Teens serve as judges, juries, prosecutors, and defenders in each case. Students caught fighting on campus can use the courts to settle arguments, and teen juries can "sentence" those students to detention or community service, rather than imposing suspension or expulsion.

Anger Management. How to recognize attitudes, actions, and circumstances that trigger an angry reaction and how to control that reaction are skills that many teens ? and even some adults ? have not learned. Anger management training helps individuals take command of their emotional reactions instead of allowing their emotions to take command of them.

Arbitration. In arbitration, a neutral third party determines an action. Disputing parties agree on an arbitrator who then hears evidence from all sides, asks questions, and hands down a decision.

Where To Find Help

• Schools (check on whether they have peer mediation programs), colleges, and universities.
• Community or neighborhood dispute resolution centers.
• Local government ? family services.
• Private organizations listed in the telephone directory's Yellow Pages under "arbitration" or "mediation services."
• Law school legal clinics.

Power Tripping

Bullies don't go away when elementary school ends; bullying actually peaks in junior high. It continues through high school and even into the workplace. It can lead to serious problems and dangerous situations for both the victim and the bully.

Bullying is repeated and uncalled-for aggressive behavior, or quite simply, unprovoked meanness. It's a form of intimidation, which means behavior designed to threaten, frighten, or get someone to do something they wouldn't necessarily do. Bullies have learned that bullying works. They do it to feel powerful and in control. There are things you can do to deal with the situation without making things worse.

The Facts

Bullies keep bullying as long as it works ? as long as it makes them feel more powerful.
Many children and teens are bullies or victims of bullies, but the largest number of children and teens are bystanders ? witnesses to bullying.
Eight percent of urban junior and senior high students miss one day of school each month because of fear.
Bullying takes lots of forms: it can be physical or verbal, mild to severe.
One in four children who bullies will have a criminal record before the age of 30.
Girls can be bullies too, although bullying by girls is more likely to show up as spreading rumors, leaving people out of social events, teasing about clothes or boyfriends, or threatening to withdraw friendship. However, this doesn't mean that girls don't use physical intimidation to bully.
Although much bullying happens where adults can't see or hear it, it also happens when adults are present. Often adults don't do anything to stop the bullying.

The Victim

Anyone can be the target of bullying. However, most victims are often less ? or feel less powerful ? than the bullies. A typical victim is likely to be shy, sensitive, and perhaps anxious or insecure. Some teens are picked on for physical reasons, such as being overweight or small, wearing different or "weird" clothing, having a physical disability, or belonging to a different race or religious faith.

The Bully

The Intimidators

Some bullies are outgoing, aggressive, active, and expressive. They get their way by brute force or openly harassing someone. They may carry a weapon. This type of bully rejects rules and regulations and needs to rebel to achieve a feeling of being better than everyone else.

The Smooth Talkers

Other bullies are more reserved and tricky and may not want to be recognized as harassers or tormentors. They try to control by talking, saying the right thing at the right time, and lying. This type of bully gets his or her power secretively through manipulation and deception.

As different as these two types may seem, all bullies have these characteristics in common:

• concern with their own pleasure
• want power over others
• willingness to use and abuse other people to get what they want
• feel pain inside, perhaps because of their own shortcomings
• find it difficult to see things from someone else's perspective.

If You Are the Victim

No one solution works well in every situation, but there are a variety of strategies you can try.

• Avoid or ignore the bully.
• Hang out with friends. There is safety in numbers.
• Say no to a bully's demands from the start. If the bully threatens you with a weapon, give in to the demands and immediately tell an adult.
• Tell the bully assertively to stop threatening you (for example, "I don't like what you're doing, stop it!" or "Get a life, leave me alone.")
• Do not physically fight back: experience shows that this actually increases the likelihood of continued victimization.
• Seek immediate help from an adult.
• Report bullying to school personnel.
• If your safety is at stake, walk away or run if you need to.

Stop the Bullying

It's everyone's responsibility to stop bullying. And don't be afraid to get help when necessary. It takes courage, but you will be preventing the intimidation from continuing and possibly escalating. You can report the problem to authorities anonymously.

• Refuse to participate in taunting and teasing.
• Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
• Tell adults if you witness cruelty or hear about violence that might occur.
• Walk away from fights.
• Speak out against the bully.
• Stand tall and walk with confidence and in a way that commands respect.
• Hang out with friends who don't get involved in bullying.
• Stand up for others who are being intimidated.
• Include the person who is being bullied in your activities.
• Show compassion for the victim.

Take Action

• Work with the school administration and get students together to develop or revise your school's code of conduct.
• Start a bully education program for the local elementary school, consider a puppet show or skit that teaches kids about bullying.
• Organize a teen panel or discussion group to talk about the issues of bullying and intimidation at your school.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

Kamp 4 Kids

Kids age 4-6 love this 8 week camp that's held Monday through Friday from 9am to Noon location TBD.  Camp will run June 4-July 29th, 2022. Activities include: arts & crafts, show & tell, field trips, lots of play and Friday cook-outs.  Children that live in the Greater Jasper School District are registered each week for $45; you do not have to attend all 8 weeks.  Children must be 4 by 5/31/2022 in order to participate and not turn 7 before 6/1/2022.  

Camp C.A.R.E

Camp C.A.R.E (Campers Are Really Exceptional) is directed towards the special needs children and adults of Dubois County and also held in the lower level of the Arnold F. Habig Community Center. Activities include swimming, arts and crafts, games, cook-outs, field trips and many more exciting activities with 6 qualified leaders.

Co-ed Sand Volleyball

The adult co-ed volleyball league begins play on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 and will end no later than August 11,2021.   All games are played Wednesday evenings at Bohnert Park.  Ten people are allowed on the roster and all players must be 18 years of age and out of high school.  Entry fee is $70 per team and an additional $10 per player that lives outside Jasper City limits.  The league will be limited to the first 12 teams to sign up and pay the fee.  Both roster and payment are due at time of sign-up. 

For more information contact Janessa Wagner at the park office at 812-482-5959.

Identity Theft

In the course of the day you may write a check at the drugstore, charge tickets to a concert, rent a car, call home on your cell phone, or apply for a credit card. Chances are you don't give these routine transactions a second thought. But others may.

Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in America, affecting half a million new victims each year. Identity theft or identity fraud is the taking of a victim's identity to obtain credit, credit cards from banks and retailers, steal money from a victim's existing accounts, apply for loans, establish accounts with utility companies, rent an apartment, file bankruptcy, or obtain a job using the victim's name. Thousand of dollars can be stolen without the victim knowing about it for months or even years.

The imposter obtains your social security number, your birth date, and other identifying information such as your address and phone number. With this information and a fake driver's license, they can apply in person for instant credit or through the mail posing as you. They often claim they have moved and provide their own address. Once the first account is opened, they can continue to add to their credibility.

They get the information from your doctor, lawyer, school, health insurance carrier, and many other places. "Dumpster divers" pick up information you may have thrown away, such as utility bills, credit card slips, and other documents.

To prevent this from happening to you:

• Do not give out personal information over the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you have initiated the contact or know whom you're dealing with. Identity thieves will pose as bank representatives, Internet service providers, and even government officials to get you to reveal identifying information.
• Shred all documents, including pre-approved credit applications received in your name, insurance forms, bank checks and statements you are discarding, and other financial information.
• Do not use your mother's maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your social security number, or a similar series of numbers as a password for anything.
• Minimize the identification information and the number of cards you carry. Take what you'll actually need. Don't carry your social security card, birth certificate, or passport, unless necessary.
• Do not put your social security number on your checks or your credit receipts. If a business requests your social security number, give them an alternate number and explain why. If a government agency requests your social security number, there must be a privacy notice accompanying the request.
• Do not put your telephone number on checks.
• Be careful using ATMs and phone cards. Someone may look over your shoulder and get your PIN numbers, thereby gaining access to your accounts.
• Make a list of all your credit card account numbers and bank account numbers with customer service phone numbers and keep it in a safe place.
• When you order new credit cards in the mail or previous ones have expired, watch the calendar to make sure you get the card within the appropriate time. If the card is not received within that time, call the credit card grantor immediately to find out if the card has been sent. If you don't receive the card, check to make sure a change of address was not filed.
• Do not put your credit card number on the Internet unless it is encrypted on a secured site.
• Pay attention to your billing cycles. Follow up with creditors if bills don't arrive on time. A missing credit card bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your credit card account and changed your billing address.
• Cancel all credit cards that you have not used in the last six months. Open credit is a prime target.
• Order your credit report at least twice a year. Reports should be obtained from all three major sources: Equifax at 800-685-1111; Experian at 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); or TransUnion at 800-680-7293.
• Correct all mistakes on your credit report in writing. Send the letters return receipt requested. Identify the problems item by item and send with a copy of the credit report back to the credit reporting agency. You should hear from the agency within 30 days.
• Write to Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service, PO Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735 to get your name off direct mail lists.

Protecting Your Privacy: Keeping an Eye On Your Private Information

E-mail, the Internet, automated teller machines (ATM), computer banking, long distance carriers, even credit cards make our lives more efficient. However, as our lives become more integrated with technology, keeping our private information confidential becomes more difficult. Electronic transactions can leave you vulnerable to fraud and other crimes. Following a few simple tips can help keep your code from being cracked.

A Word On Passwords

Whether you are on the Internet or an online banking program, you are often required to use a password. The worst passwords to use are the ones that come to mind first -- name, spouse's name, maiden name, pets, children's name, even street addresses, etc. The best passwords mix numbers with upper and lowercase letters. A password that is not found in the dictionary is even better. There are programs that will try every word in the dictionary in an effort to crack your security.

Don't be a "Joe" -- someone who uses their name as their password.

The weakest link in a security system is the human element. The fewer people who have access to your codes and passwords the better. Avoid breaks in your security by

Changing your password regularly

Memorizing your password. If you have several, set up a system for remembering them. If you do write down the password, keep it at home or hidden at work. Don't rewrite your password on a post-it note and stick it on your monitor or hard drive.
Setting up a special account or setting aside a different computer at work for temporary help and other unauthorized users.
If you have the option of letting your computer or a Web site remember a password for you, don't use it. Anyone who uses your machine will have automatic access to information that is password protected.
Don't send confidential, financial, or personal information on your e-mail system.

Shopping In Cyberspace

Ordering merchandise from the Internet is the trend of the future. You can prevent problems before they occur by:

• Doing business with companies you know and trust. If you haven't heard of the company before, research it or ask for a paper catalog before you decide to order electronically. Check with your state consumer protection agency on whether the company is licensed or registered. Fraudulent companies can appear and disappear very quickly in cyberspace.
• Understanding the offer. Look carefully at the products or services the company is offering. Be sure you know what is being sold, the quality being specified, the total price, the delivery date, the return and cancellation policy, and all the terms of any guarantee.
• Using a secure browser that will encrypt or scramble purchase information. If there is no encryption software, consider calling the company's 800 number, faxing your order, or paying with a check.
• Never giving a bank account or credit card number or other personal information to anyone you don't know or haven't checked out. And don't provide information that isn't necessary to make a purchase. Even with partial information, con artists can make unauthorized charges or take money from your account. If you have an even choice between using your credit card and mailing cash, check, or money order, use a credit card. You can always dispute fraudulent credit card charges but you can't get cash back.
• Spam -- unsolicited e-mail. Report it to your online or Internet service provider.

Using ATMs, Long Distance Phone Services, and Credit Cards

Protect Your Personal Identification Number (PIN)

The PIN is one method used by banks and phone companies to protect your account from unauthorized access.

A PIN is a confidential code issued to the cardholder to permit access to that account. Your PIN should be memorized, secured and not given to anyone, not even family members or bank employees. The fewer people who have access to your PIN, the better.

• Never write your PIN on ATM or long distance calling cards.
• Don't write your PIN on a piece of paper and place it in your wallet.
• If your wallet and care are lost or stolen, someone will have everything they need to remove funds from your account, make unauthorized debit purchases, or run up your long distance phone bill.

Protect Your Privacy and the Privacy of Others

• Be aware of others waiting behind you.
• Position yourself in front of the ATM keyboard or phone to prevent anyone from observing your PIN.
• Be courteous while waiting at an ATM or pay phone by keeping a polite distance from the person ahead of you. Allow the current user to finish before approaching the machine or phone.

Protect Your ATM Cards

• An ATM card should be treated as thought it were cash. Avoid providing card and account information to anyone over the telephone.
• When making a cash withdrawal at an ATM, immediately remove the case as soon as the machine releases it. Put the case in your pocket and wait until you are in a secure location before counting it. Never use an ATM in an isolated area or where people are loitering.
• Be sure to take your receipt to record transactions and match them against monthly statements. Dishonest people can use your receipt to get your account number. Never leave the receipt at the site.

Protect Your Credit Cards

• Only give your credit card account number to make a purchase or reservation you have initiated. And never give this information over a cellular phone.
• Never give your credit card to someone else to use on your behalf.
• Watch your credit card after giving it to store clerks to protect against extra imprints being made.
• Destroy any carbons. Do not discard into the trash can at the purchase counter. Keep charge slips in a safe place.
• Protect your purse or wallet, especially when traveling or in crowded situations.
• Save all receipts, and compare them to your monthly statement. Report any discrepancies immediately!
• Keep a master list in a secure place at home with all account numbers and phone numbers for reporting stolen or lost cards.

Lost or Stolen Cards

• Always report lost or stolen cards to the issuing company immediately. This limits any unauthorized use of your card and permits the company to being the process of issuing a new card.
• Crime can be random. But there are steps that limit your chances of becoming a victim. Being aware of the threat of crime, and alert to what you can do to prevent it, will go a long way toward making your electronic transactions safe and private.

Safe and Secure in an Electronic World

Enterprising criminals can gather enough information about you through the debris of everyday electronic transactions to pretend that they are you. Once this happens, they can gain access to all your financial information.

• The most common way thieves go about getting this information is by stealing your wallet. However, other ways include:
• Looking over your shoulder at ATM's and phone booths to capture your PIN number
• Stealing mail from your mailbox
• Digging though your discarded trash
• Fraudulently ordering a copy of your credit record

And before you think, "I don't have a credit record," think again. As soon as you open a bank account, get a credit card or a loan, or start a store account, you've got a credit record.

To prevent this from happening to you:

• Don't give out your social security number. If your state allows it, use a number other than your social security number on your driver's license.
• Tear into small pieces all credit card offers, ATM receipts, bank statements, credit card statements, and other printed materials that have your account numbers on them. Use a paper shredder if possible.
• Don't send personal information over the Internet, through e-mail, or over cellular phones.
• Don't use passwords that are obvious: names (yours or those of your friends, relatives, or pets), birth date, even street addresses. The best passwords mix numbers with upper and lowercase letters. A password that is not found in the dictionary is even better because there are programs that will try every word in the dictionary in an effort to crack your code.
• Avoid break-ins by changing your password regularly and memorizing it. If you have several, set up a system for remembering them. Don't write your password on your notebook or stick it on a Post-it® note in your locker.
• Pay Particular Attention When Using ATM Cards and Credit Cards

One of many conveniences of a checking account is the debit or automated teller machine (ATM) card. This card allows you to get money from your account through a machine 24 hours a day. A money machine is useful, but there are a few precautions you should take.

Protecting Your Personal Identification Number (PIN)

Just like passwords on the computers, a PIN is a confidential code issued to you that lets you have access to your account. Memorize your PIN, and don't give it to anyone, not even family members or bank employees. The fewer people who have access to your PIN, the better.

Never write your PIN on your ATM card or write it on a piece of paper and place it in your wallet. If your wallet and card are lost or stolen, someone will have everything they need to take all the money from your account.

Using the ATM Safely

An ATM card should be treated like cash. When using the ATM machine, select one that's code-door or double door secured and visible to street traffic. Use when others are around. Also,

• Be aware of others waiting behind you
• Position yourself in front of the keyboard to prevent anyone from seeing your PIN
• Be courteous while waiting by keeping a polite distance from the person ahead of you. Allow the person to finish his or her business before approaching the machine
• Remove the cash as soon as the machine releases it. Put the money in your pocket and wait until you are in a secure location before counting it. Never leave the receipt at the site.

Protecting Your Credit Cards

Having a credit card is a big responsibility. If you don't have your own card, a parent may lend you one for certain purchases. Whether the card is yours or your parents', here are a few tips to keep it safe.

• Give your credit card account number out to make a purchase or reservation only when you have initiated the call. Never give this information over a cellular phone.
• Never give your credit card for someone to use on your behalf.
• Watch your card when giving it to store clerks to protect against extra imprints being made.
• Destroy any carbon papers from receipts. Tear them up ? don't toss them into the trash at the purchase counter. Keep the actual charge slips in a safe place.
• Save all receipts and compare them to your monthly statement. Report any differences immediately.
• Keep a master list of all your card numbers in a secure place, preferably with your parents or another trusted adult, with all account numbers and phone numbers for reporting stolen or lost cards.
• Immediately report lost or stolen cards to the issuing company and to the police.

Safe Surfing

Cyberspace is a gigantic community of millions, where people research information for school, learn about movies, shop, listen to music, watch video clips, even develop sites of their own. As in any community, there are people and places you should avoid to reduce your crime risk.

Rules of the Road on the Internet

The best tool you have for screening material found on the Internet is your brain. If you come across sites that are pornographic, full of hate literature, or excessively violent, move on. Here are a few reminders for safe browsing on the World Wide Web:

• Never give out your name, address, telephone number, password, school name, parent's name, pictures of yourself, credit cards, or any other personal information to others online.
• Never agree to meet face to face with someone you've met online without discussing it with your parents. Only if your parents decide that it's okay to meet your "cyber-friend," arrange to meet in a familiar public place, and take an adult with you.
• Never respond to messages from unfamiliar persons.
• Never enter an area that charges for services without getting your parents' permission first.
• If you receive pornographic material or threatening e-mail, save the offensive material, tell your parents, and contact that user's Internet service provider and your local law enforcement agency.

The Sites You See (and Visit)

E-mail

E-mail is a great way to communicate with your friends and family. Sometimes you may receive messages trying to sell you something or encouraging you to visit a Web site.

It is probably best not to respond to e-mail from people or groups you don't know. These sites might be a scam to sell you something you don't want. Remember, the sender might not be who he or she seems to be. If you respond, you are confirming that you have a valid e-mail address. That information can encourage the sender to forward inappropriate e-mail or put your address on even more lists.

Chat rooms

When someone is posting a message in a chat room, other users have no way of knowing who that person really is. Though the anonymity of a chat room can be liberating, it's cool to create a different identity, some use it as a way to meet people they want to harm. Never say anything in a chat room that you wouldn't say in public. Many chat rooms have monitors or speakers who maintain order. These monitors can kick people out of the room for inappropriate behavior.

If you meet someone online and strike up a good relationship with them, they may want to go to a private chat room. Most of these rooms are unmonitored. There will be no filter for inappropriate conduct.

Harassment

Not everyone online minds their manners. When you are in chat rooms or bulletin boards there is a chance that you'll get messages that are harassing, demeaning, or just plain mean. Just ignore them. Some messages, however, may constitute harassment, which is a crime under federal law. If someone sends you messages or images that are obscene, lewd, filthy, or indecent, with the intent to harass or threaten you, report it to your Internet service provider. One trick to avoid harassment is to choose a gender-neutral name to use in a chat room and other public places on the Internet.

Assessing a Web Site

Aside from the fun ways to keep in touch with people, the Web can be a powerful research tool. But you need to be able to evaluate the pages you visit to know whether the information is accurate.

As you visit new sites keep these pointers in mind:

• Look for Web pages that have a proper title, additional resources, a contact person with his or her e-mail address, an announcement of the last time the page was updated, and current links.
• Know who are the authors or sponsors of the site. What gives them the authority to discuss the issue at hand?
• Know the code. Check the URL (Web site address) to see what the domain name includes: a .com (commercial), a .gov (government), an .org (organization), .net (network), an .edu (educational organization), or a two letter country code (country of origin). This will provide an idea of the author or sponsor of the site. Not all commercial sites want to sell you something and not all educational sites will educate you. Be an educated consumer as you sort through the information.
• Know what's happening. Is the main purpose of this site to sell, inform, or persuade you?
• Check with the author first, if you find information that you want to use for your research, about copyright privileges and permission.

Take Action

Educate your parents

• Take the time to show your parents what you do online. Show them your Web site, if you have one. Tell them who you are communicating with on a daily basis. Most likely you will be teaching your parents some new tricks.
• Talk to your parents about where you can go online and how long you can stay online. Also, tell them about activities you participate in online.
• Teach other teens about keeping safe on the Internet.
• Know your rights, where to report crimes and what you can report.

Shopping Safely Online

In the course of the day you may write a check at the drugstore, charge tickets to a concert, or apply for a credit card. Chances are you don't give these everyday transactions a second thought. But others may.They may be trying to steal your identity.

You just found the perfect antique lamp at an online auction site.You send off the check to the seller, but never receive the merchandise.Your mother has decided to begin purchasing her medicine online. Is it safe to do so?

The Internet is an exciting tool that puts a vast amount of information at your fingertips. With the click of a mouse you can buy the latest bestseller, make travel arrangements, rent a video, or purchase a gift for a friend.

Convenience, good deals, and choices are all good things that the Internet offers. But before you use it, be cybersmart and make your online experience a safe one.

• Shop with companies you know. Anyone can set up an online shop under almost any name. If you are not familiar with a merchant, ask for a paper catalog to get a better idea of their merchandise and services. Also be sure to determine a company's return and refund policies before making your purchase.
• Keep your password private. Never give your password to anyone. Avoid using a birthday or a portion of your Social Security number. If possible, use a combination of letters and numbers.
• Use a secure browser. This is the software you use to navigate the Internet. Your browser should comply with all industry security standards. These standards encrypt or scramble purchase information you send over the Internet. Most computers have a browser installed. Some browsers may be downloaded from the Internet free of charge.
• Pay by credit card. If you pay by credit card, your transaction will be protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act. Under this law, you have the right to dispute charges under certain circumstances and temporarily withhold payment while the creditor investigates them.
• Keep personal information private. Do not give out your Social Security number, e-mail address, telephone number, or address unless you know who is collecting the information, why they're collecting it, and how they'll use it.
• Save all transaction information, including e-mails and records of any phone conversations.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

Shoplifting

When you and your friends are shopping, do you get irritated or angry because you can only take three pairs of jeans into the dressing room? The ring you wanted to look at is locked in a case? You have to check all your packages at the door? Sales clerks watch you and your friends suspiciously as you look around?

Shoplifting is an expensive problem that everybody pays the price for. It hurts you in several ways ? prices keep going up as store owners try to recover some of their losses. A big department store can spend millions a year on security, but it may lose as much as $2,000 a day to shoplifters. And shoplifters give teenagers a bad name.

Who shoplifts?

• Teens. About 24 percent of apprehended shoplifters are teens between 13 and 17 years old.
• Amateurs make up the largest number, not professional thieves. These are "everyday" people who steal on impulse, because they see an item they greatly desire, or for a thrill. They tend to believe they won't get caught or sent to jail.
• Most are customers who steal frequently from places where they regularly shop.
• Some are professional thieves who make their living by stealing and selling goods, but this is a much smaller group than the amateurs.
• Drug addicts to steal to support their habit.
• Desperate people steal because they need food ? but they make up only a very small number of shoplifters.
• Kleptomaniacs, a tiny minority of shoplifters who have a mental disorder that makes it difficult to overcome their urge to steal.

Why Do People Shoplift?

Many want to see if they can get away with it. Some use the excuses, "This is a big store, they can afford it," "I don't have enough money," or "Stores just write it off as a business expense." Many teens shoplift on a dare, thinking their friends will call them "chicken" if they don't go along with the dare. Other teens are just looking for excitement.

Costs for The Individual Teen Who Shoplifts

• When salespeople or security officers catch shoplifters, they call the police, who then arrest the suspects and take them to the police station.
• Children and teens may be released into their parents' custody if it's their first offense.
• The case may be referred to a juvenile office, which can recommend an appropriate punishment, or sent directly to the juvenile court where a judge decides the penalty.
• Everyone will find out about the arrest because police or court officers will interview the shoplifter's parents, neighbors, and school while they're writing the report on the crime.
• If teens are caught shoplifting, their juvenile police records are supposed to be confidential and unavailable to future employers, but sometimes that information does get out.

Costs for Teenagers in General

• They are affected by the higher prices caused by shoplifters. A store owner loses money every time an item is stolen and has to raise prices to compensate for that loss. Store owners also have to spend additional money for special security measures, such as security guards and electronic monitoring.
• There may be fewer jobs available to teens if store owners lose money to shoplifters ? owners won't generate enough profit to pay employees.
• Teens who shoplift may also cause problems for their friends and classmates who want to shop or get jobs. Because some store owners see teens as people who are likely to steal, they may not want teens in their stores.
• Teen shoplifting puts a strain on relationships between all other teens and store owners. Some stores have policies that restrict the number of teenagers who can enter the store at one time.
• Some people in the community may hold a negative opinion about teens in general because incidents of teen shoplifting they hear about.

What Happens in Your Community

• A neighborhood store closes because the owner loses too much money to shoplifting. (Thirty percent of business failures in the United States are due to shoplifting and employee theft.)
• A store victimized by shoplifting has to lay off employees because revenue is very low.
• The neighborhood store's customers may have to travel farther to shop after the store closes.
• If the store stays in business, the owner may raise prices to pay for extra security equipment or guards.

Take Action

• If you see anybody in a store take something without paying, report it to a salesperson, security guards, or a cashier. The person is really stealing from you.
• For a class project, interview the security managers of department stores or malls to find out how much shoplifting costs them. Ask about what they do to prevent it.
• Copy and pass out this brochure to teens at your local mall or downtown shopping district.

The Scoop on Vandalism

Look around your community. Do you see

• Graffiti-covered walls?
• Spray-painted or destroyed mailboxes and garbage cans?
• Broken street lights?
• Spray-painted street signs?
• Busted public telephones?
• Missing street and traffic signs?
• Writing or torn pages in library books?
• Broken fixtures, doors, and stalls in public restrooms?
• Shoe-polished cars?
• Vandalism, the willful destruction or defacing of property, is a crime. It's expensive to repair. It makes our communities unattractive and unsafe. It isn't cool. Help send a clear message that teens don't tolerate vandalism!

Graffiti

From obscene and violent language scrawled on a public bathroom door to elaborate murals on a brick wall, graffiti appears in many forms. But it's all the same, if it's not on the artist's property, it's vandalism, and it's a crime.

Graffiti is often the first sign that gangs are taking over a neighborhood. Gangs' "taggers" act as messengers for the gang, use graffiti to mark their turf, advertise their exploits, and challenge or threaten rival gangs. Graffiti gives criminals the impression that residents don't care about their neighborhood, and a neighborhood that doesn't care is an easy target for crime.

Don't let this happen to your neighborhood, take a stand against graffiti and make sure graffiti is removed as soon as it appears. It takes persistence, but by working with law enforcement and other residents, you can keep your neighborhood clean and the effects of vandalism to a minimum.

The Price We Pay

• Schools pay millions of dollars each year to clean up graffiti, repair buildings, and replace vandalized equipment. That's money that could be used to buy better sports equipment or new computers.
• Local governments (and taxpayers; your parents, your neighbors, and even yourselves) pay the bills for broken street lights, stolen signs, and vandalized parks. We pay higher taxes and services are cut to pay for damage caused by vandalism.
• Businesses pass on the costs of vandalism to customers through higher prices. Some businesses are forced to move to different neighborhoods, taking good shopping out of your community.

More Than Money

• People feel angry, hurt, and sometimes frightened when something of theirs, a mailbox, a bike, a car door, is destroyed for no reason.
• Vandalism claims other victims as well; a car crash because stop signs were stolen; someone in need of help can't dial 911 because the pay phone is broken; people get lost because street signs are missing or covered with graffiti.

Who Vandalizes and Why?

Some vandals work in groups. You may even know some of the teens doing the damage, there's no one "type" of teen who vandalizes. He or she might be the smartest kid in school, or the kid who's always in trouble. Most vandals are young people, from grade-schoolers to teens to young adults, who vandalize out of:

• Boredom
• Anger
• Revenge
• Defiance
• Association with friends

Take Action

• Take pride in your surroundings. Vandalism cheapens your area and you.
• Learn about the costs and effects of vandalism by working with law enforcement, school officials, and community leaders. Teach what you learn to other teenagers and younger children.
• Start a clean-up crew at your school or in your neighborhood. Ask local businesses to donate supplies like paint and paintbrushes for covering graffiti, or tools and equipment for repairing vandalized property. Volunteer to help businesses and homeowners repair their property as soon as it is vandalized and paint over graffiti.
• Write articles for your school or community newspaper on the costs of vandalism and graffiti, their impact on school and other budgets for activities, and how the courts, juvenile and adult, treat vandals.
• Look for ways to use the talent and creativity of vandals in positive, nondestructive activities. Sponsor a mural contest at your school or a youth center. Encourage art supply stores and area businesses to provide large canvases and materials for kids to create murals inspired by themes like saying no to drugs, the importance of education, or celebrating diversity in your community. Ask local artists to attend and provide instruction and advice or judge a mural contest.
• Start a vandalism hotline in cooperation with law enforcement and school officials that lets callers anonymously report incidents of vandalism and gives tips about vandals.
• Work with your faith community to adopt a street or a park with your school, youth, or community group. Plant trees, bushes, and flowers. Repair equipment and install trash containers. Organize a monthly outing to clean up garbage and keep an eye on things.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

Women's Fall & Winter Volleyball League

When: Wednesdays
Time: 6:30, 7:25, 8:20
Place: 10th Street School
Cost: $60.00 entry fee per team
Activity: Team volleyball with both A & B division of play offered. Look for sign-ups in the Herald, the Park and Rec Facebook page or call the park office for details.

Cornhole League

When: Wednesdays for 6 weeks starting 1st week in September.
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Place: Jaycee Park
Cost: $20.00 per team
Activity: Teams play 12 games a night.

Youth Soccer League

The soccer league plays their games in September and October at Schroeder Complex. Registration is held in April (TBA) at the Arnold F. Habig Center. To be eligible to play in the Jasper Youth Soccer League your child must live or attend school in The Greater Jasper Consolidated School District. For further information call the office and we will direct you to the appropriate contact person.

Youth Football League

The youth football league plays their games in September and October at the Youth Football Fields. There are leagues for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Registration is held in July. (TBA)

Want more information? Contact Janessa Wagner at: 812-482-5959!

A Dozen Things Parents Can Do to Stop School Violence

• Recognize that keeping firearms in your home may put you at legal risk as well as expose you and your family to physical risk. In many states, parents can be held liable for their children's actions, including inappropriate use of firearms. If you do choose to keep firearms at home, ensure that they are securely locked, that ammunition is locked and stored separately, and that children know weapons are never to be touched without your express permission and supervision.
• Take an active role in your children's schools. Talk regularly with teachers and staff. Volunteer in the classroom or library, or in after-school activities. Work with parent teacher - student organizations.
• Act as role models. Settle your own conflicts peaceably and manage anger without violence.
• Listen to and talk with your children regularly. Find out what they're thinking on all kinds of topics. Create an opportunity for two-way conversation, which may mean forgoing judgments or pronouncements.This kind of communication should be a daily habit, not a reaction to crisis.
• Set clear limits on behaviors in advance. Discuss punishments and rewards in advance, too. Disciplining with framework and consistency helps teach self-discipline, a skill your children can use for the rest of their lives.
• Communicate clearly on the violence issue. Explain that you don't accept and won't tolerate violent behavior. Discuss what violence is and is not. Answer questions thoughtfully. Listen to children's ideas and concerns.They may bring up small problems that can easily be solved now, problems that could become worse if allowed to fester.
• Help your children learn how to examine and find solutions to problems. Kids who know how to approach a problem and resolve it effectively are less likely to be angry, frustrated, or violent.Take advantage of "teachable moments" to help your child understand and apply these and other skills.
• Discourage name-calling and teasing. These behaviors often escalate into fistfights (or worse).Whether the teaser is violent or not, the victim may see violence as the only way to stop it.
• Insist on knowing your children's friends, whereabouts, and activities. It's your right. Make your home an inviting and pleasant place for your children and their friends; it's easier to know what they're up to when they're around. Know how to spot signs of troubling behavior in kids ? yours and others.
• Work with other parents to develop standards for school related events, acceptable out-of-school activities and places, and required adult supervision. Support each other in enforcing these standards.
• Make it clear that you support school policies and rules that help create and sustain a safe place for all students to learn. If your child feels a rule is wrong, discuss his or her reasons and what rule might work better.
• Join up with other parents, through school and neighborhood associations, religious organizations, civic groups, and youth activity groups.Talk with each other about violence problems, concerns about youth in the community, sources of help to strengthen and sharpen parenting skills, and similar issues.

A Dozen Things Principals Can Do to Stop School Violence

• Reward good behavior. Acknowledging students who do the right thing, whether it's settling an argument without violence or helping another student or apologizing for bumping into someone helps set the tone for the whole school.
• Establish "zero tolerance" policies for weapons and violence. Spell out penalties in advance. Adopt the motto "If it's illegal outside school, it's illegal inside." Educate students, parents, and staff on policies and penalties. Include a way for students to report anonymously crime-related information that does not expose them to retaliation.
• Establish a faculty-student-staff committee to develop a Safe School Plan. Invite law enforcement officers to be part of your team. Policies and procedures for both day-to-day operations and crisis handling should cover such subjects as identifying who belongs in the building, avoiding accidents and incidents in corridors and on school grounds, reporting weapons or concerns about them, working in partnership with police, and following up to ensure that troubled students get help.
• Work with juvenile justice authorities and law enforcement officers on how violence, threats, potentially violent situations, and other crimes will be handled. Meet regularly to review problems and concerns. Develop a memorandum of understanding with law enforcement on access to the school building, reporting of crimes, arrests, and other key issues.
• Offer training in anger management, stress relief, mediation, and related violence prevention skills to staff and teachers. Help them identify ways to pass these skills along to students. Make sure students are getting training.
• Involve every group within the school community ? faculty, professional staff, custodial staff, students, and others ? in setting up solutions to violence. Keep lines of communication open to all kinds of student groups and cliques.
• Develop ways to make it easier for parents to be involved in the lives of their students. Provide lists of volunteer opportunities; ask parents to organize phone trees; hold events on weekends as well as week nights. Offer child care for younger children.
• Work with community groups and law enforcement to create safe corridors for travel to and from school; even older students will stay home rather than face a bully or some other threat of violence. Help with efforts to identify and eliminate neighborhood trouble spots.
• Insist that your faculty and staff treat each other and students the way they want to be treated ? with respect, courtesy, and thoughtfulness. Be the chief role model.
• Develop and sustain a network with health care, mental health, counseling, and social work resources in your community. Make sure that teachers, counselors, coaches, and other adults in the school know how to connect a needy student with available resources.
• Ensure that students learn violence prevention techniques throughout their school experience. Don't make it a one-time thing. Infuse the training into an array of subjects. Draw from established, tested curricula whenever possible.
• Consider establishing such policies as mandatory storage of outerwear in lockers (to reduce chances of weapons concealment), mesh or clear backpacks and duffel bags (to increase visibility of contraband); and limited entry access to the building (to reduce the number of inappropriate visitors).

A Dozen Things Students Can Do to Stop School Violence

• Refuse to bring a weapon to school, refuse to carry a weapon for someone else, and refuse to keep silent about those who carry weapons.
• Report any crime immediately to school authorities or police.
• Report suspicious behavior or talk by other students to a teacher or counselor at your school. You may save someone's life.
• Learn how to manage your own anger effectively. Find out ways to settle arguments by talking it out, working it out, or walking away rather than fighting.
• Help others settle disputes peaceably. Start or join a peer mediation program, in which trained students help classmates find ways to settle arguments without fists or weapons.
• Set up a teen court, in which youths serve as judge, prosecutor, jury, and defense counsel. Courts can hear cases, make findings, and impose sentences, or they may establish sentences in cases where teens plead guilty. Teens feel more involved in the process than in an adult-run juvenile justice system.
• Become a peer counselor, working with classmates who need support and help with problems.
• Mentor a younger student. As a role model and friend, you can make it easier for a younger person to adjust to school and ask for help.
• Start a school crime watch. Consider including a student patrol that helps keep an eye on corridors, parking lots, and groups, and a way for students to report concerns anonymously.
• Ask each student activity or club to adopt an anti-violence theme.The newspaper could run how-to stories on violence prevention; the art club could illustrate the costs of violence. Career clubs could investigate how violence affects their occupational goals. Sports teams could address ways to reduce violence that's not part of the game plan.
• Welcome new students and help them feel at home in your school. Introduce them to other students. Get to know at least one student unfamiliar to you each week.
• Start (or sign up for) a "peace pledge" campaign, in which students promise to settle disagreements without violence, to reject weapons, and to work toward a safe campus for all. Try for 100 percent participation.

A Dozen Things Teachers Can Do to Stop School Violence

• Report to the principal as quickly as possible any threats, signs of or discussions of weapons, signs of gang activity, or other conditions that might invite or encourage violence.
• Set norms for behavior in your classroom. Refuse to permit violence. Ask students to help set penalties and enforce the rules.
• Invite parents to talk with you about their children's progress and any concerns they have. Send home notes celebrating children's achievements.
• Learn how to recognize the warning signs that a child might be headed for violence and know how to tap school resources to get appropriate help.
• Encourage and sponsor student-led anti-violence activities and programs ranging from peer education, teen courts, and mediation to mentoring and training.
• Offer to serve on a team or committee to develop and implement a Safe School Plan, including how teachers and other school staff should respond in emergencies.
• Enforce school policies that seek to reduce the risk of violence. Take responsibility for areas outside as well as inside your classroom.
• Insist that students not resort to name-calling or teasing. Encourage them to demonstrate the respect they expect. Involve them in developing standards of acceptable behavior.
• Teach with enthusiasm. Students engaged in work that is challenging, informative, and rewarding are less likely to get into trouble.
• Learn and teach conflict resolution and anger management skills. Help your students practice applying them in everyday life. Discuss them in the context of what you teach.
• Incorporate discussions on violence and its prevention into the subject matter you teach whenever possible.
• Encourage students to report crimes or activities that make them suspicious.

A Drug-Free School Zone is More Than a Law and a Sign

Drug-free zones around schools offer communities one way to give students a place where they can play and talk without being threatened by drug dealers and drug users.

Federal law and many state and local laws increase penalties for drug-related activities in drug-free school zones.

It is a law and a community-wide commitment to reduce drug use among young people.

Federal law and many state and local laws increase penalties for drug-related activities in drug-free school zones.

Seven Steps To Take

• Build a drug-free school zone coalition that includes representatives from law enforcement, schools, parent groups, civic clubs, youth organizations, businesses, religious institutions, local government, drug treatment centers, other social service agencies, public housing authorities, and the courts.
• Mobilize the community ? talk to key people, build partnerships, assess the community's drug problems
• Create a shared vision of a safe and drug-free environment for children. Set goals and design strategies to meet them.
• Establish the drug-free school zone by researching laws and establishing formal partnership agreements with school administrators, city officials, and law enforcement. Name a coordinator, measure and map the zone, post signs (check with law enforcement and city officials regarding wording and placement), and publicize the project. Kick off with special school assemblies, a parents' organization meeting, a proclamation, and press conference.
• Mobilize the community ? talk to key people, build partnerships, assess the community's drug problems.
• Celebrate successes with award ceremonies, family events, posters, publicity, and T-shirts. Have young people plan and run a drug-free celebration.
• Don't stop at the school's boundaries. Expand your drug-free zone efforts to any area besieged by problems associated with drug and alcohol abuse.

Drug-free zones around schools offer communities one way to give students a place where they can play and talk without being threatened by drug dealers and drug users.

Bullies: A Serious Problem for Kids

Bullying behavior may seem rather insignificant compared to kids bringing guns to school and getting involved with drugs. Bullying is often dismissed as part of growing up. But it's actually an early form of aggressive, violent behavior. Statistics show that one in four children who bully will have a criminal record before the age of 30.

Bullies often cause serious problems that schools, families, and neighbors ignore. Teasing at bus stops, taking another child's lunch money insults and threats, kicking or shoving -- it's all fair game to a bully Fears and anxieties about bullies can cause some children to avoid school, carry a weapon for protection, or even commit more violent activity

A Word About the Victim

Although anyone can be the target of bullying behavior, the victim is often singled out because of his or her psychological traits more than his or her physical traits. A typical victim is likely to be shy, sensitive, and perhaps anxious or insecure. Some children are picked on for physical reasons such as being overweight or physically small, having a disability, or belonging to a different race or religious faith.

A Word About the Bully

Some bullies are outgoing, aggressive, active, and expressive. They get their way by brute force or openly harassing someone. This type of bully rejects rules and regulations and needs to rebel to achieve a feeling of superiority and security. Other bullies are more reserved and manipulative and may not want to be recognized as harassers or tormentors. They try to control by smooth-talking, saying the "right" thing at the "right" time, and lying. This type of bully gets his or her power discreetly through cunning, manipulation, and deception.

As different as these two types may seem, all bullies have some characteristics in common. They:

• are concerned with their own pleasure
• want power over others
• are willing to use and abuse other people to get what they want
• feel pain inside, perhaps because of their own shortcomings
• find it difficult to see things from someone else's perspective

What You Can Do

• Listen to children. Encourage children to talk about school, social events, other kids in class, the walk or ride to and from school so you can identify any problems they may be having.
• Take children's complaints of bullying seriously. Probing a seemingly minor complaint may uncover more severe grievances. Children are often afraid or ashamed to tell anyone that they have been bullied, so listen to their complaints.
• Watch for symptoms that children may be bullying victims, such as withdrawal, a drop in grades, torn clothes, or needing extra money or supplies.
• Tell the school or organization immediately if you think that your children are being bullied. Alerted caregivers can carefully monitor your children's actions and take steps to ensure your children's safety.
• Work with other parents to ensure that the children in your neighborhood are supervised closely on their way to and from school.
• Don't bully your children yourself, physically or verbally. Use nonphysical, consistently enforced discipline measures as opposed to ridiculing, yelling at, or ignoring your children when they misbehave.
• Help children learn the social skills they need to make friends. A confident, resourceful child who has friends is less likely to be bullied or to bully others.
• Praise children's kindness toward others. Let children know that kindness is valued.
• Teach children ways to resolve arguments without violent words or actions. Teach children self-protection skills -- how to walk confidently, stay alert to what's going on around them, and to stand up for themselves verbally.
• Provide opportunities for children to talk about bullying, perhaps when watching TV together, reading aloud, playing a game, or going to the park or a movie.
• Recognize that bullies may be acting out feelings of insecurity, anger, or loneliness. If your child is a bully, help get to the root of the problem. Seek out specific strategies you can use at home from a teacher, school counselor, or child psychologist.

Stand Up and Start a School Crime Watch Today

Are you tired of graffiti on your school's walls? Have some students started bringing weapons to school? Is fighting on school property giving you the blues? Are there days when you are afraid to go to school? Maybe your school is fine and you want to prevent crime before it becomes a problem? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions or your school is struggling with other crime problems, then a school crime watch might be an answer.

What Is a School Crime Watch?

Based on the Neighborhood Watch concept, a school crime watch encourages students to watch out and help out each other to make the entire school a safer and more enjoyable place. It's a student-led effort that helps youth take a share of responsibility for their school community. Students learn how to keep themselves from becoming victims of crime and how to report suspicious activities. In some cases there's an organized patrol that helps ensure the school's public areas are watched appropriately. The attractiveness of a school crime watch program is that a school of any size, in any type of community -- rural, suburban, inner-city -- can adopt its principles at minimum cost!

Starting a School Crime Watch

A group of dedicated teens willing to work together to bring the entire student body into a crime watch way of life can start a school crime watch program by:

• Researching what crime problems -- vandalism, assault, theft -- are most common at the school and what prevention strategies could prove effective;
• Working with the school authorities including the principal and the person in charge of security to get their support for the program;
• Establishing an advisory board made up of students and adults;
• Talking to your local crime prevention officer about starting the program, and
• Setting up a central group of individuals in charge of the crime watch -- sometimes called the core group (This group must be made up of students from all kinds of groups, so that no group will feel excluded.);
• Deciding how you will launch the program. An exciting way to kickoff the program is through an all-school assembly or rally. This will help build support and generate interest;
• Advertising your first school crime watch meeting through fliers, posters, morning public address announcements, even email;
• Holding your first meeting to discuss the make up of the crime watch, the issues that need to be addressed, and the need for a school patrol. If you choose to have a school patrol your committee will need to identify sites to monitor;
• Telling the adult community that your school is starting a school crime watch;
• Planning your calendar of crime watch events.

What is a Student Patrol?

One powerful component of a school crime watch can be a student patrol. This moves the program from an information and teaching mode into action. Patrol activities include monitoring the halls and parking lots between classes and during lunch. This action can reduce the number of crime-related incidents in the patrolled areas.

Communicating Is Key to Success

Communication is critical to a school crime watch program. Students report crime because it is a serious issue -- not to get someone they don't like into trouble. Not reporting can place a student in a threatening situation. It is a school crime watch's responsibility to keep all reports confidential. If students start finding out about who reported on whom, people won't continue to participate in the program. Students reporting must know that they will be anonymous.

Helping Out Builds Momentum for the Program

A school crime watch goes beyond just watching out for its fellow classmates. Activities such as drug- and alcohol-free parties, date rape/rape awareness days, newspaper columns in the school or local paper, and crime and drug abuse prevention tips announced on the P.A. system are ways to build interest in your program. Longer term projects that promote student well-being include conflict resolution projects, cross-age teaching and mentoring, vandalism prevention, even bus safety.

Examining the Results

Do school crime watch programs work? Yes! Crime dropped 45 percent at one high school in Florida within a year of initiating a school crime watch! Active school crime watch programs in schools across the country have been able to reduce violence, guns, drug use, and many of the other things that come with crime. The schools with active watches are happier, safer places.

Tips for Working Together to Create Safer Schools

When crime, drugs, and violence spill over from the streets into the schools, a safe learning environment becomes increasingly difficult. Students carry weapons for protection. Gunfights start replacing fist- fights. Many students must travel through gang turf or groups of drug dealers just to get to school. Violence seems to become an acceptable way to settle conflicts. And drugs make it hard for users ? and others ? to learn. Students cannot learn and teachers cannot teach.

Addressing the violence issue is difficult and complex; however, there are ways to create a safer environment in which to learn. Teens can't do it alone because there needs to be a community-wide effort addressing the issue. They need help from others. But teens can take the lead. Creating a safe place where you can learn and grow depends on a partnership among students, parents, teachers, and other community institutions to prevent school violence. Think about the issues that affect your school, and see how you or a team of people can make a difference in addressing the problem. Here are some suggestions on how you can involve other students, parents, school staff and others in the community to help create a safe school.

Students

• Settle arguments with words, not fists or weapons. If your school doesn't have a conflict mediation program, help start one.
• Don't carry guns, knives, or other weapons to school. Tell a school official immediately if you see another student with a gun, knife, or other weapon.
• Report crimes or suspicious activities to the police, school authorities, or parents.
• Tell a teacher, parent, or trusted adult if you're worried about a bully or threats of violence by another student.
• Learn safe routes for traveling to and from school and stick to them. Know good places to seek help.
• Help start a mediation program in your school. Or help begin a student court that hears cases on violations on school policies ? fighting, stealing, or cheating.
• Get involved in your school's anti-violence activities ? have poster contests against violence, hold anti-drug rallies, volunteer to counsel peers. If there's no peer counseling program at your school, help start one.

Parents

If it's talking straight with your parents about school issues or working with the PTA on holding meetings to educate adults about drugs in your community, parents must be involved in creating a safer school.
Encourage parents to:

• spend time with you, attend the activities you're involved in, or just have dinner together.
• teach children how to reduce their risks of becoming crime victims.
• know where children are, what they are doing, and whom they are with at all times. Set clear rules in advance about acceptable activities.
• ask children about what goes on during the school day. Listen to what they say and take their concerns and worries seriously.
• help children learn nonviolent ways to handle frustration, anger, and conflict.
• refuse to allow children to carry guns, knives, or other weapons.
• become involved in school activities ? PTA, field trips, and helping in class or the lunch room.

School Staff

The school staff including the administration must be behind any effort to create a safer school. Here are a few ideas of how the school can be involved in this effort. School staff and administrators can:

• Evaluate school's safety objectively. Set targets for improvement. Be honest about crime problems and work toward bettering the situation.
• Develop consistent disciplinary policies, good security procedures, and response plans for emergencies.
• Train school personnel in conflict resolution, problem solving, drug prevention, crisis intervention, cultural sensitivity, classroom management, and counseling skills. Make sure they can recognize trouble signs and identify potentially violent students.
• Encourage students to talk about worries, questions, and fears about what's going on in their schools, homes, and neighborhoods. Listen carefully to what they say.
• Take seriously students who make threats ? even if it's in writing.
• Take time to talk about violence or frightening experiences that occur at school or in the neighborhood. Discuss the consequences and get students to think about what other choices besides violence might have been available. Get help from trained counselors, if necessary.
• Work with students, parents, law enforcement, local governments, and community based groups to develop wider-scope crime prevention efforts.
• Be open to student-led solutions.

Community Partners

Look to community partners to enrich and make your school safer.

• Law enforcement can report on the type of crimes in the surrounding community and suggest ways to make schools safer.
• Police or organized groups of adults can patrol routes students take to and from school.
• Community-based groups, church organizations, and other service groups can provide counseling, extended learning programs, before- and after-school activities, and other community crime prevention programs.
• State and local governments can develop model school safety plans and provide funding for schools to implement the programs.
• Local businesses can provide apprenticeship programs, participate in adopt-a-school programs, or serve as mentors to area students.
• Colleges and universities can offer conflict management courses to teachers or assist school officials in implementing violence prevention curricula.

Take Action

• Recruit other teens, parents, school staff, police to develop safe school task force.
• Start a conflict resolution program in your school.
• Set up a group for teens to share problems and solutions.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

Don't Go Up in Smoke

Smoking, cool? Definitely not. Every day, we see images (on the Internet, in tobacco company advertising, and in the movies) that depict smoking as cool, sexy, professional, and glamorous.

What we don't see is that every day 3,000 children become regular smokers. This youthful smoking can have severe lifelong consequences. In addition, teens who smoke are more likely to use illicit drugs and drink more heavily than their nonsmoking peers. Don't think that it's just cigarettes that can cause damage to your health, cigars and chewing tobacco also cause cancer.

Smoking can cause bad breath, permanently stained teeth, and early wrinkles ? not a big turn-on when you're dating. More importantly, it wrecks your lungs. You can't catch your breath, and when you try to do anything athletic, you feel like you're suffocating. Smoking also blocks oxygen from your bloodstream. Your heart works harder but accomplishes less. You can't move as fast and you're not as strong. Not only does smoking cause many major health risks, it is highly addictive as well.

A Quiz To Light You Up

You have probably heard of the dangers of smoking in health class or from concerned adults or friends. Let's see how much you really know.

True or False?

Overall, smoking among teenagers has decreased.
False, in recent years, the number of 12th graders who reported smoking daily has increased steadily.
Females smoke more than males.
False, there is little or no difference in the prevalence of smoking between males and females.
On the average, smokers do worse in school than non-smokers.
True, a national survey of high school students showed that non-smokers did better in school and went on to college at higher rates than did smokers.
Cigar and smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco, dip, spit, or chew) are non-addictive and don't cause cancer.
False, cigars and smokeless tobacco are highly addictive and just as likely to cause cancer as cigarettes.
As long as you don't smoke, cigarettes can't hurt you.
False, secondhand smoke can kill you. Many people die each year from lung cancer caused by the smoke of others.
Most adult smokers started smoking in their teens.
True,  few smokers start after age 21.
No one suffers from the side effects of smoking until middle age.
False, aside from bad breath and stained teeth, smoking can hurt your stamina when you are walking, running, or playing sports, and it adds more misery to colds and other respiratory conditions.
Smoking cigarettes is related to use of other drugs.
True, teenagers using tobacco are far more likely to use drugs like marijuana and cocaine.
Buying cigarettes is legal if you're 16.
False, selling tobacco to anyone under 18 is illegal.
Teens who start smoking won't get hooked.
False, nine years after being polled, 75 percent of those teens who said they smoked were still lighting up.
You don't need that much cash to be a smoker.
False, a person who smokes a pack a day will spend at least $1,000 over a one-year period to keep up the habit.

Take Action

• Don't start!
  
• Start a nutrition program in your school to help teens, especially girls, understand that smoking is not a good weight control remedy.
• Refuse to wear tobacco name brands on hats, T-shirts, jackets, and other articles of clothing.
• Start a "smoke-out" week at your school where everyone at school, including teachers and administrators go an entire week without smoking.

Don't Lose a Friend to Drugs

Has a friend become moody, short-tempered, and hostile? Does he or she seem out of it or spacey? Is she suddenly cutting classes and hanging out with the "wrong crowd?" Stop and think about it. Your friend may have an alcohol or other drug problem.

Additional Signs of Drug or Alcohol Abuse Include:

• Increased interest in alcohol or other drugs; talking about them, talking about buying them
• Owning drug paraphernalia such as pipes, hypodermic needles, or rolling papers
• Having large amounts of cash or always being low on cash
• Drastic increase or decrease in weight
• Sometimes slurred or incoherent speech
• Withdrawal from others, frequent lying, depression, paranoia
• Dropping out of school activities
• Increased sexual activity.
• If a friend acts this way, it is not a guarantee that he or she has an alcohol or other drug problem. You need to compare behavior now to behavior in the past. But it's better to say something and be wrong than to say nothing and find out later that you were right to be worried.

How To Talk to a Friend Who's in Trouble

It is not an easy thing to do. You may feel like your friend will think you are judging him or her. A friend in trouble may very well get mad at you for interfering in his or her business. Although it's not your job to get people to stop using drugs, you can and should express concern as a friend. Only the user can decide to stop.

Before you talk to a friend, it may be helpful to know some of facts about drug use:

• There are an estimated 1.5 million Americans, ages 12 and older who use cocaine.
• Drug-related deaths remain near historic highs.
• Current illicit drug use among 8th and 10th graders has more than doubled in the past five years.
• Teens who drink alcohol are 7.5 times more likely to use any illicit drug, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than young people who never drink alcohol.

Think ahead about what you want to say, these tips can help you through the process:

• Let the friend know that you care about them.
• Plan ahead what you want to say and how you want to say it.
• Pick a quiet and private time to talk.
• Don't try to talk about the problem when your friend is drunk or high.
• Use a calm voice and don't get into an argument.
• Ask if there is anything that you can do to help. Have information about local hotlines and drug abuse counseling and offer to go with him or her.
• Don't expect your friend to like what you're saying. But stick with it ? the more people who express concern, the better the chances of your friend getting help.
• Look for help for your friend. Talk about the situation with someone who knows about drug abuse and helping abusers.
• Seek advise from a trusted adult such as a guidance counselor, a teacher, a religious leader or a parent about how to talk to friends who may have a drug problem.
• Be prepared for denial by the friend when you talk to him or her about his or her problem. The user may automatically turn aggressive and defensive.

Keeping Yourself Drug Free Helps Friends Stay That Way

• Skip parties where you know there will be alcohol or other drugs.
• Hang out with friends who don't use alcohol or other drugs to have fun.
• Get involved in drug-free activities. Ask your friends to join.
• Learn how to talk to your peers and younger kids about the dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol. Many communities have programs that teach teens how to counsel their peers about problems that teenagers face, including substance abuse.
• Don't accept a ride from someone who has been drinking or doing drugs. Find someone else to give you a lift.
• Offer to drive for the person who is high or drunk or call your parents or a friend for a ride.
• Remind friends that buying or possessing illegal drugs is against the law. Being arrested and getting a police record may not seem like a big deal now, but could keep you from getting jobs, college loans, or licenses for many professions.
• Remind friends that using intravenous drugs places them at risk of getting AIDS and hepatitis.

Take Action

• Encourage your school to organize drug-free activities; dances, movies, community service projects, walk-athons, marathons, etc. to raise money for charities or local substance abuse programs.
• Use plays, songs, and raps to show younger children the consequences of drug abuse.
• Urge your school, faith community, or neighborhood to organize an anti-drug rally.
• Tell a teacher, your parents, or the police about drug dealers in your school and community. Many areas have phone numbers that let people report these crimes anonymously. Don't ignore the problem by thinking, "that kid will graduate next year" or "they only deal to a few kids." The problem will only get worse.
• Talk to school counselors about starting an alcohol or other drug abuse prevention program.
• Check with recreation centers, youth clubs, libraries, or schools to see if they offer after-school activities ? classes for you and your friends. Ask your school or neighborhood to publicize these activities.
• Encourage your school to start intramural sports for kids who may not be interested in competing on the junior varsity or varsity athletic teams but still want to play.

Dying to Drink? - The Hard Facts

Who Gets Hurt?

People like you . . .

• Three out of five Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related car crash.
• Someone is injured in an alcohol-related crash every 32 seconds.

Who Gets Killed?

People like you . . .

• In 1999 alone, 15,786 people were killed in alcohol-related car accidents. Of those, 2,238 were young people.That's about 42 young people killed in drunk driving accidents every week.
• Almost 40 percent of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.

Who Pays?

We all do . . .

• The estimated yearly economic cost of alcohol related car accidents is $45 billion.

Why Are Drinking and Driving a Lethal Combination?

• Judgment is the first capacity affected by alcohol. People who've been drinking frequently believe that they're less affected than they are.
• Coordination, vision, and motor skills are drastically impaired by alcohol consumption.
• Being fatigued, stressed, under the weather, or using any medicine can dramatically increase alcohol's effect, making "one harmless little drink" lethally intoxicating to someone behind the wheel.

How Much Is Too Much?

• The only completely safe alcohol consumption level before driving is ZERO.
• If you or anyone else is concerned about your sobriety, don't drive. Get a ride or stay where you are (spend the night if necessary) until you are sure you're able to drive safely.
• Plan ahead. Designate a driver who agrees to "down" only nonalcoholic drinks.
• Watch Out for the Other Guy!

On an average weekend evening, approximately one out of every ten drivers is legally impaired or drunk. Any time of day or night, use seat belts, and be alert to signs of a drunk driver, such as:

• Unusually wide turns
• Weaving, swerving
• Hugging the center line, or driving left of center
• Excessively fast or slow speeds
• Stopping suddenly without apparent cause
• Inconsistent turn signals
• Driving with headlights off in the dark
• Driving with windows rolled down in cold weather.
• If a driver ahead of you seems impaired, don't try to pass. Maintain extra distance, and be prepared to stop suddenly. If the driver is behind you, turn right at the next intersection to let him get ahead of you. If the driver is coming toward you, slow down, move to the right, and stop.

Beyond the Highway

Alcohol can be deadly anytime, any place. The dangers of drinking and driving are clear, but some other facts and situations to keep in mind:

• As many as 40 percent of fatal accidents (falls, drownings, etc.) involve alcohol. Alcohol use on or near the eater is especially hazardous.
• Alcohol and depression are a deadly duo. One third of all suicides occur while the person is under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
• About 10,000 people die each year from alcohol related overdoses. Large amounts of alcohol are toxic ? as lethal as any other poisonous substance.
• Drinking before or after heavy exercise (a tennis or softball game, volleyball or football scrimmages) can be particularly dangerous. Exertion coupled with alcohol can put a nasty strain on even the best-trained athlete.
• Alcohol consumption plays a role in violence. About 10,000 murders occur each year in situations involving alcohol.
• Anyone who is intoxicated is more vulnerable to crime, from muggings to rape.

Don't Get Bombed, Get Involved!

• Start a campus group to raise awareness about alcohol issues. For example, many colleges have chapters of BACCHUS (Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students). For more information contact BACCHUS of the U.S., Inc., PO Box 10430, Denver, CO 80210, or call 303-871-3068.
• Team up with your highway patrol or AAA to present Safe Driving Seminars.
• Volunteer to assist high school Drivers' Ed. classes to heighten the awareness of teens to the dangers of drinking and driving.
• Kick off a special event, such as homecoming or graduations, with a mammoth line-up of smashed cars from alcohol-related crashes. The cops and the junkyard will be happy to help.
• Start a "Tipsy Taxi" program to provide free rides to anyone who needs a safe ride home. Contact campus shuttle service or a local cab company.

Methamphetamines: Nothing to Rave About

"Meth," "speed," "chalk," "ice," "crystal," "crank," "fire," and "glass" are street terms for a man-made drug called methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is among the most addictive substances around. The drug can easily be made in secret laboratories from relatively inexpensive over-the-counter ingredients. This white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder can be smoked, snorted, injected, or swallowed. Teens may think that the bizarre way the drug makes them feel is cool; however, the drug is altering their brains, maybe permanently.

Methamphetamine is not usually sold and bought on the streets like many other illicit drugs. Instead, people obtain supplies through friends or acquaintances. It is typically a closed or hidden sale. Most teens who come in contact with methamphetamines will do so attending a "rave" or private club. It is at these clubs where the drug is often sold.

Because methamphetamines can be made with readily available, inexpensive materials, there is great variation in the processes and chemicals used. This means that the final product that is sold as "methamphetamine" may not be that drug at all. Uncertainties about the drug's sources and its content make it difficult to know how powerful this substance may be and what the consequences are of this potent mixture.

Signs of a Methamphetamine User

Users may experience:

• Signs of agitation, excited speech, decreased appetites, and increased physical activity levels (other common symptoms include dilated pupils, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and elevated body temperature)
• Occasional episodes of sudden and violent behavior, intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and bouts of insomnia
• A tendency to compulsively clean and groom and repetitively sort and disassemble objects such as cars and other mechanical devices.

Long-Term Effects of the Drug

Methamphetamines can:

• Change the brain's ability to manufacture a chemical substance essential for the normal experience of pleasure and for normal psychological functioning (these changes in the brain can persist long after the user stops taking the drugs)
• Cause a stroke
• Create a mental disorder that mimics schizophrenia
• Be extremely addictive.

Kicking the Habit

There are currently no medications available to treat addiction or overdose to methamphetamines. Withdrawal from this drug is typically characterized by drug craving, depression, disturbed sleep patterns, and increased appetite.

Take Action

• Skip parties where you know there will be alcohol and drugs.
• Get involved in drug-free activities.
• Urge your school, faith community, or neighborhood to organize an anti-drug rally.
• Talk to school counselors about starting an alcohol or drug abuse prevention program.

Sniffing Your Life Away

Inhalant abuse can kill. And if it doesn't kill you, it can leave you with severe brain damage or severe respiratory problems. There's no fooling around, even a first-time user can end up dead after "sniffing" or "huffing" inhalants.

Everyday products like glue, paint, lighter fluid, fingernail polish, permanent markers, Whiteout®, deodorants, and anything in an aerosol can are sniffed to get a rapid and dangerous high. While this type of substance abuse may seem harmless because the products are not legally classified as drugs, they are deadly chemicals and poisons. An inhalant "high" may give the feeling of well-being and reduce inhibitions, much like the effects of alcohol and other sedatives. Higher doses produce laughter and giddiness, feelings of floating, time and space distortions, and hallucinations. But the reality is inhalant abuse has serious short- and long-term side effects.

The Short Term

Sniffing can make you sick. For example, victims may become nauseated, forgetful, and unable to see things clearly. Some victims lose control of their body, including the use of arms and legs. You don't look real cool stumbling around high from inhalants. Side effects can last 15 to 45 minutes after sniffing. People who sniff often act intoxicated and experience short-term memory loss as well.

The Long Term

• Potential "Sudden Sniffing Death" even for first-time users
• Permanent brain damage
• Hearing loss
• Increased heart rate
• Arm or leg spasms
• Bone marrow damage
• Liver and kidney damage
• Damage to an unborn baby, if pregnant.
• Chronic inhalant abusers may exhibit such symptoms as anxiety, excitability, irritability, or restlessness that can lead to violent behavior.

What Are Some Signs of Inhalant Abuse?

Inhalant abusers may show all or some of these symptoms:

• Unusual breath odor or chemical odor on clothing
• Slurred or slowed speech
• A general drunken appearance
• Paint or other products on the face or fingers
• Red or runny eyes or nose
• Spots or sores around the mouth
• Nausea and/or loss of appetite.

What Should You Do if Someone You Know Is Sniffing and Seems To Be in Trouble?

• Stay calm.
• Call 911 or your local medical emergency number.
• Open the windows and doors to let in fresh air.
• Do not excite or argue with an abuser under the influence, as he or she can become aggressive or violent.
• Administer CPR until help arrives if the abuser is not breathing.
• Ask the abuser to sit down and stay calm, activity or stress may cause heart problems, which could lead to "Sudden Sniffing Death."
• Talk with other persons present or check the area for clues to what was used.
• Help the abuser get professional help from a school nurse, counselor, physician, or health care worker. Once he or she is recovered, offer to go with the abuser to his or her appointment.

What Can You Do To Prevent Inhalant Abuse?

Know the facts. Remember that inhalants are not made for the body. They are deadly chemicals and poisons. Know the many ways inhalants can damage your mind and body. Tell your friends about the dangers of inhalant abuse. And refuse to hang out with friends who sniff.

As with many prevention efforts, preventing inhalant abuse takes a community effort. Organize with other teens to take the lead in involving the media, retailers, schools, churches, health care providers, civic and volunteer organizations, elected officials, and the law enforcement community to work together to stop kids from sniffing. Churches could educate their youth groups. Retailers could monitor their sales of certain products. Health care providers could pass out literature to patients.

Take Action

• Work with local middle and elementary schools to start an inhalant abuse prevention project. It is not unusual for this kind of abuse to start as early as 10 or even 7 years of age.
• Educate your school about the dangers of inhalants through posters, newspaper articles, and announcements over the P.A. system at your school.
• Participate in National Inhalants and Poisons Week. Contact the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition at 800-269-4237 for more information.
• Educate adults about inhalant abuse. Many parents, coaches, and teachers may not know how widespread the problem, the extent of the danger, or how to recognize abuse.
• If you're tempted to use, get help from a counselor, fast.

The Dangers of Drinking

• Alcohol is the number one drug of choice for teenagers.
• Alcohol-related car crashes are the number one killer of teenagers in the United States.
• Alcohol is the number one drug problem in America.
• If you think it can't happen to you, look around. Check your school's yearbooks for the last ten years. How many were dedicated to a student who was killed in a drunk driving crash?

Ask your friends how many people they know who have had bad things happen to them when they or someone else was drinking.

You don't even have to be the one doing the drinking. Most teenage passenger deaths are the result of crashes caused by alcohol-impaired teenage drivers. No matter what the situation, drinking alcohol under the age of 21 is illegal.

How Does Alcohol Affect You?

• You see double, slur your speech, you lose your sense of distance.
• Alcohol loosens your inhibitions; you make bad judgments that can result in car crashes, violence, unwanted pregnancy, sexual transmission of diseases, or rape.
• A significant portion of violent crimes and vandalism among and by youth involve use of alcohol.
• Using alcohol can cost you your freedom. You can be grounded by parents, lose your driver's license, or end up in jail.
• You can get sick or die from alcohol poisoning.
• Poor grades may be a result of increased use of alcohol.

Be Smart About Advertising

Take a good look at how the alcohol industry tries to convince people to use its products.

• Wine coolers are displayed in stores next to fruit drinks. Maybe they don't think you'll notice the difference between a regular fruit drink and one with alcohol.
• Different brands of beer and other alcoholic beverages are slipped into the movies you watch. They think if you see your favorite actor drinking it, you will too.
• The models on the beer commercials are always young, fit, and beautiful. But alcohol has plenty of calories and little nutritional value. Drinking it will not make you fitter or more attractive.
• Advertisements feature celebrities and sports figures, but drinking will not make you famous or athletic.
• Alcohol advertisers are now reminding people not to drink and drive. But drunk driving is not the only way alcohol can mess up your life.
• Advertisers hope you won't stop and think when you see their ads. Don't be conned. Use your own judgment, not theirs, and learn the facts.

More Facts About Alcohol:

• The earlier young people start drinking and using drugs, the more likely they are to become addicted.
• Drinking coffee, taking a cold shower, exercising, or breathing fresh air will not sober you up. The only thing that sobers you up is time ? at least several hours.
• One beer, one shot of whiskey, and one glass of wine all have the same amount of alcohol. Don't fall for the myth that beer and wine are less intoxicating than hard liquor.
• Only 3 to 5 percent of alcoholics are what we think of as bums. Most alcoholics are just like people you know. Anyone can become an alcoholic ? young, old, rich, poor, single, married, employed, or out-of-work.
• Drinking alcohol does not quench your thirst; it causes dehydration.
• Alcohol interferes with your central nervous system. You lose balance, coordination, and judgment.
• Alcohol ages and damages the brain.
• Alcoholism is hereditary.
• Eight young people a day die in alcohol related crashes.
• Teens who drink alcohol are 7.5 times more likely to use any illicit drug, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than young people who never drink alcohol.
• You are breaking the law by buying or using alcohol before you are 21 years old.

Take Action

• Make a pledge with your friends that you will help each other avoid alcohol and other drugs. Leave parties where kids are drinking.
• If a friend, or someone you know, has passed out from drinking too much alcohol, turn the person on his or her side and call 911 or your local emergency number for help. Too much alcohol can cause the central nervous system, which controls breathing, to shut down. Death can result.
• Don't ride with someone who has been drinking. Call a taxi, your parents, or another relative or friend for a ride.
• Encourage someone you think has a drinking problem to get help. Go with them to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or to meet with a counselor.
• Suggest that members of any club or youth group you belong to organize an anti-drinking project ? an alcohol-free post-prom, graduation, or New Year's Eve party.
• Make a presentation to your school's PTA meeting about how teachers and parents can realistically help kids avoid drugs and alcohol.
• Ask for help if someone is pressuring you to try alcohol or other drugs. Talk to someone you trust.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

Road Rules

Getting a driver's license is a big deal for every teenager. It represents freedom, the chance to go new places, and a great deal of responsibility. The vehicle you drive ? the family car, a motorcycle, even your own car ? may seem like an oasis, safe from the hassles of everyday life. But you are still vulnerable to crime.

Here are a few things to keep in mind to help keep you crime free on the road:

• Don't drink or do other drugs and drive. And don't ride with drivers who are under the influence.
• Keep your car in good working condition and the gas tank full. If your car does break down, pull over and stay inside it with the doors locked and the windows rolled up. Wait for the police to arrive or ask a passing motorist to call the police for you.
• Always lock a parked car, and look under and inside the entire car to see if someone has gotten into your car before you get back in.
• Avoid parking in isolated areas. If you're uncomfortable about where your car is parked, ask a security guard or store staff to watch you or escort you to your car.
• Drive to the nearest gas station, open business, or busy, well-lighted area to get help if you think you are being followed. Don't head home.
• Use your cellular phone, if you have one, to call the police if you are being followed. Otherwise, stay off cellular phones while you are driving.
• Don't pick up hitchhikers. Don't hitchhike.

Taking Your Anger on the Road

Road rage; uncontrolled anger or frustration because of traffic conditions or other drivers ? is becoming a serious problem throughout the country. A majority of drivers get angry when someone cuts them off or tailgates them. Here are some tips on avoiding road rage:

• Keep calm when you're driving. Instead of retaliating, count to 10 and take a few deep breaths.
• Back off when someone cuts you off. If someone tailgates you, change lanes. Don't get pulled into a game of chicken on the road. Your life and the lives of others are at stake.
• Keep a reasonable distance between you and the car in front of you, and make sure that you aren't cutting someone off when you change lanes. Drive in the passing lane only when you are passing another car, and be sure to use your signals.
• Use your horn sparingly ? as a warning, not an outburst.
• Don't make obscene gestures to other drivers, no matter how mad they make you ? even if they make obscene gestures at you.
• Don't fight over parking spots.
• Stay out or move out of the way of other angry drivers.
• Don't Make it Easy for a Thief To Steal Your Wheels, you don't want to lose your newfound freedom by losing your car.
  

The Basic Prevention Policy:

• Never leave your car running or the keys in the ignition when you're away from it, even for "just a minute."
• Always roll up the windows and lock the car, even when it is front of your home.
• Never leave valuables in plain view, even if your car is locked. Put them in the trunk or at least out of sight. Buy auto stereo equipment that can be removed and locked in the trunk.
• Park in busy, well-lighted areas.
• Carry the registration and insurance card with you. Don't leave personal IDs or credit cards in your vehicle.
• Leave only the ignition key with the attendant when you pay to park in a lot or garage. Do the same when you take the car for repairs.
• Report your stolen car to the police immediately.

A Little Extra Protection

• Etch the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) ? found on a metal plate behind the front windshield ? on the windows, doors, fenders, and trunk lid. This helps discourage professional thieves who have to either remove or replace etched parts before selling the car. Copy the VIN and your license plate tag number on a card and keep it in a safe place ? the police will need this information if your car is stolen.
• Investigate security systems if you live in a high-theft area or drive an automobile that's attractive to thieves. You may get a discount on your auto insurance.

What About Carjacking?

Carjacking (stealing a car by force) has captured headlines in the last few years. Statistically, your chances of being a carjacking victim are very slim. There are preventative actions that can reduce the risk even more:

• Approach your car with the key in hand. Look around, inside, and underneath the car before getting in.
• Keep your car doors locked and windows rolled up at all times while you are driving.
• Be especially alert at intersections, gas stations, ATMs, shopping malls, and convenience and grocery stores ? all are windows of opportunity for carjackers.
• Park in well-lighted areas with good visibility, close to walkways, stores, and people.
• Beware of the "bump and rob" where someone lightly hits your car from behind. When you get out to assess the damages, the carjacker's accomplice gets in your car and drives away.
• Give up your car with no questions asked. Your life is worth more than a car.

Streetwise: The Way to Be

Teens are the age group most vulnerable to crime. But putting into practice some basic crime prevention tips can help you and your friends avoid becoming the victims of crime.

How Streetwise Are You?

Do you...

• Stuff your backpack or purse with cash, keys, pager, cell phones, credit cards, checkbooks ? and then leave it wide open at school or work, near your desk, or on the floor?
• Pay attention to your surroundings or do you think about school or your friends when walking, driving, or riding the subway or bus?
• Think it's a waste of time to use your locker for valuables or to lock your car when you'll be back in a few minutes?
• Walk or jog by yourself early in the morning or late at night when the streets are quiet and deserted?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you need to change a few habits. Even if you answered "no" and made a perfect score, read on. Spend a few minutes now to prevent trouble later.

Keeping Street Sense in Mind:

• Stay alert and tuned into your surroundings wherever you are ? at school or the mall, on the street, waiting for a bus or subway, or driving.
• Send the message that you're calm, confident, and know where you're going.
• Don't accept rides or gifts from someone you don't know well and trust ? that includes people you've met on the Internet.
• Trust your instincts. If something or someone makes you uneasy, avoid the person or situation and leave as soon as possible.
• Know the neighborhoods where you live, go to school, and work. Keep in mind locations of fire and police stations and public telephones. Remember which stores and restaurants stay open late.

Strolling; Day and Night:

• Try to walk places with your friends rather than alone.
• Stick to well-lighted, well-traveled streets. Avoid shortcuts through wooded areas, parking lots, or alleys.
• Take the safest route to and from schools, stores, or your friends' houses. Know where to go for help if you need it.
• Don't display your cash or any other inviting targets like pagers, cell phones, hand-held electronic games, or expensive jewelry and clothing.
• Carry your backpack or purse close to your body and keep it closed. Just carrying a wallet? Put it inside your coat or front pants pocket, not in your back pocket or in your backpack.
• Have your car or house key in your hand before you reach the door.
• If you think someone is following you, switch directions or cross the street. If they're still there, move quickly toward an open store or restaurant or a lighted house. Don't be afraid to yell for help.
• Have to work late? Make sure there are others in the building and that someone ? a supervisor or security guard ? will wait with you for your ride or walk you to your car or bus or train stop.
• Be alert in the neighborhood. Call police or tell an adult about anything you see that seems suspicious.

Cruising

• Keep your car in good running condition. Make sure there's enough gas to get where you're going and back.
• Turn the ignition off and take your car keys with you, even if you just have to run inside for one minute.
• Roll up the windows and lock car doors, even if you're coming right back. Check inside and out before getting in.
• Avoid parking in isolated areas. If you are uncomfortable, ask a security guard or store staff to watch you or escort you to your car.
• Drive to the nearest gas station, open business, or other well-lighted, crowded area to get help if you think you are being followed. Don't head home.
• Use your cellular phone, if you have one, to call the police if you are being followed or you've seen an accident. Otherwise, stay off your cellular phone while you are driving.
• Don't pick up hitchhikers. Don't hitchhike.

Taking Buses and Subways

• Use well-lighted, busy stops. If you must get off at a little-used stop, try to arrange for a friend or an adult to meet you.
• Stay alert! Don't doze or daydream.
• Say, "leave me alone" loudly if someone hassles you. Don't be embarrassed.
• Watch who gets off your stop with you. If you feel uneasy, walk directly to a place where there are other people.

If Someone Tries To Rob You

Give up your property, don't give up your life.
Report the crime to the police. Try to describe the attacker accurately. Your actions can help prevent others from becoming victims.

Take Crime Prevention To Work

Going to work? You need to take your street smarts along. Almost any crime that can happen at home or school can happen at work. But common-sense prevention skills can help make your workplace safer.

It's smart, responsible and mature to avoid becoming a victim. It doesn't matter whether you're working part-time after school, on the weekends, have a summer job, or starting your first full-time job.

Work Sense is Common Sense

• Keep your purse, wallet, keys, or other valuable items with you at all times or locked in a drawer or closet.
• Let your parents know your work schedule, especially if you're going to be leaving work early or staying late.
• Be sure to let your supervisor know when you are going on a break or leaving the premises, even for a few minutes.
• Mark your personal items, such as a radio, CDs, or cellular phone, with your name or initials and an identification number like your driver's license number, if you choose to bring them to work.
• Report to maintenance any broken or flickering lights, dim corridors, doors that don't lock properly, and broken windows. Don't wait for someone else to do it.
• Don't advertise your social life or your family's vacation plans to people at work.
• Be clear about and always follow official procedures for handling cash.
• Check with your parents if your supervisor asks that you close up in the evening. If you feel uncomfortable, ask that someone else stay with you.
• Do not use drugs or alcohol at work or while working.
• Do not take anything from work. It's theft. You can be fired or arrested.
• Report any suspicious activity or person immediately.
• Cooperate if you are confronted by a robber. Merchandise and cash can always be replaced ? people can't.

Trouble Spots:

• Stairwells and out-of-the-way corridors - don't take the stairs alone. Talk to your supervisor or building manager about improving poorly lighted corridors and stairways.
• Elevators - don't get into elevators with people who look out of place or behave in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable. If you find yourself in an elevator with someone who makes you nervous, press the next floor button and get off as soon as possible. Also, stand near the emergency phone or button in the elevator.
• Restrooms - attackers can hide in stalls and corners. Make sure restrooms are locked and only employees have keys. Be extra cautious when using restrooms that are isolated or poorly lighted.
• After hours - don't work late alone. Create a buddy system for walking to parking lots or public transportation or ask security to escort you.
• Parking lots or garages - choose a well lighted, well-guarded parking garage. Always lock your car and roll windows up all the way. If you notice strangers hanging around the parking lot, notify security or the police. When you approach your car, have the key ready. Check the floor and front and back seats before getting in. Lock your car as soon as you get in ? before you buckle your seat belt.
• Public transportation - exercise caution when using subways and buses. Wait at well-lighted, busy stops. Sit close to the driver or exit doors. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, tell the driver or subway personnel.

What About Violence in the Workplace?

There are many forms of violence in the workplace, from raised voices, profanity, or sexual harassment to robbery or homicide. Although you hear about homicide most often, that kind of violence is the most extreme and not very common. To assess your workplace's vulnerability to violence ask yourself these questions:

• If you work in an office, is it secure? Do you have easy-to-use phone systems with emergency buttons, sign-in policies for visitors, panic buttons, safe rooms, security guards, good lighting, and safety training?
• Are all employees trained on security procedures?
• Are you encouraged to report unusual or worrisome behavior? Is there a clear written policy that spells out procedures in cases of violence and sanctions for violators? Make sure you know whom to report unusual behaviors.
• Are there procedures in place to report sexual harassment? Is it clear that violators will be punished and victims will not?

If the answers to these questions are "no," you can approach someone in the personnel department with your concerns. Employers are liable for any harm that may come to you while you're at work and most of them want to lower the risks. If your employer doesn't take action, look for another job.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the Workplace

Drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace are problems that affect everyone, not just the abuser. Approximately 68 percent of illegal drug users are employed full- or part-time. There's a good chance that someone where you work abuses alcohol or drugs.

• Workers who abuse alcohol and drugs are far less productive, miss more work days, and are more likely to injure themselves or someone else.
• Employers pass on the costs of drug and alcohol abuse on to other employees through reduced salaries, benefits packages, and privileges. Co-workers often shoulder the burden of filling in for absent or tardy users.
• Don't enable a troubled co-worker to continue abusing alcohol or other drugs on the job by ignoring the problem, lying or covering up for him or her, doing his or her job, or lending money. Talk to your supervisor.

The Reality of Gangs

What's the Deal With Gangs?

Gangs are neither just a big city or inner city problem, nor are they a problem of a particular race or culture. Gangs cross all ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, gender, and geographic boundaries. They bring fear and violence to neighborhoods, traffic in drugs, destroy property, involve youth in crime, and drive out businesses. Gangs pull teens away from school and home into a life of violence.

One of the scariest aspects of gang violence is it's often indiscriminate and unpredictable. Gang members have been known to kick, punch, hit, or even kill their victims. People get hurt if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. If gangs or gang members are in your school or neighborhood, you know it.

Learn About Gangs:

• Gangs can be organized around race or ethnic group, money making activities, or territory.
• Gangs usually claim a particular area of town which they call their "turf." They spend much of their time fighting rival gangs to keep them out of this territory.
• Most gang members are males ranging in age from 8 to 22 years old.
• Females, especially Asian and Hispanic, are moving away from the traditional role of being merely girlfriends of gang members and are forming their own gangs.
• Gangs wear particular items, styles, brands, or colors of clothing. Some gangs wear bandannas of a certain color or baseball caps of a specific team. Some gangs mark their bodies with tattoos with their gang symbol or name.
• Gangs often use special hands signs or handshakes to tell others the gang to which they belong.
• "Gangsta" rap paints a realistic picture of daily gang activity. The lyrics glorify violence, abuse of women, and disrespect for authority, especially the police.
• Contrary to what you may think, gangs are not around to help you. These groups of young people break the law, beat up people, and murder.

Why Do Young People Join Gangs?

Among the most common reasons are to:

• Belong to a group
• Receive protection
• Earn money
• End boredom and seek more excitement
• Be with friends and be more popular.
• For some it is even a family tradition.

None of these reasons are good reasons to belong to a gang. Most of the other kids who don't belong to a gang will be afraid of you and won't hang out with you. If you think you will be safer joining a gang, you're wrong. Most likely, you will increase your chances of being injured or killed.

Think you'll be rich? Not likely. Over a lifetime, gang members make far less money than those who are not in gangs. And by joining you usually don't end up with a good education, making it hard to find a good job.

Join a Gang?

Joining a gang is like entering enemy territory. Belonging to a gang has a warlike existence where beatings and shootings happen all the time. Typical scenarios of joining a gang involve violence and rape.

• Boys usually have to fight several other gang members at the same time. This is called being "rolled-in" or "walking the line."
• Girls may be forced to have sex with several gang members or fight other female gang members.
• New members may be required to prove themselves by beating up an innocent person, robbing a store, or shooting someone ? including drive-by shootings. If you break the rules after joining a gang, your punishment may be death.

What Does the Future Hold for a Gang Member?

Gang membership can severely hurt one's health and future.

• Gang members may be killed or injured.
• Many put themselves in danger of disease, prison, and death.
• Many become dependent on alcohol and drugs.
• Gang members usually drop out of school, limiting their chances for higher education or good employment.
• They are likely to be involved in crime throughout the rest of their lives.
• They may commit serious and violent crimes that lead to lengthy jail time.
• Once you are in a gang, it's not easy getting out. You may risk your life if you leave a gang.

Take Action

• If you are threatened by gang members, don't overreact. Stay cool and try not to act scared.
• Ignore their threats and tell them you have no argument with them.
• If threats from gangs continue, tell your parents, the police, or school officials.
• Don't be a "wannabe" by dressing or acting like you want to be in a gang.
• Hang out with kids who are not involved and don't want to be in a gang.
• Get involved in activities that are not gang-related, such as organized sports, summer jobs, community organizations, volunteer groups, faith groups, or arts and drama groups.
• Start showing gangs you have zero tolerance for their activities. You can start a graffiti clean-up program in your community
• Start a youth group or club whose purpose is to improve the neighborhood or school.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

At Home Alone: A Parent's Guide

Your ten-year-old comes home from school at 3:00, but you don't get home from work until 5:00. He's at home alone for those two hours every weekday. What does he do until you arrive? Most likely, he gets a snack or talks on the phone. Maybe he watched TV. But since you're not there, you worry.

Just like the majority of American parents who work and have to leave their children on their own after school every day, you are anxious about your child's safety.

But by following the safeguards listed below, you can help ease some of this worry and take measures that will protect your kids even when you're not around.

What You Can Do:

• Make sure your children are old enough and mature enough to care for themselves.
• Teach them the basic safety rules.
• Know the three "W's": Where your kids are, What they're doing, and Who they're with.

Are They Ready? Can your children...

• Be trusted to go straight home after school?
• Easily use the telephone, locks, and kitchen appliances?
• Following rules and instructions well?
• Handle unexpected situations without panicking?
• Stay alone without being afraid?

A Word About Curiosity:

Are there things you don't want your children to get into? Take the time to talk to them about the deadly consequences of guns, medicines, power tools, drugs, alcohol, cleaning products, and inhalants. Make sure you keep these items in a secure place out of sight and locked up, if possible.

Teach Your "Home Alone" Children...

• To check in with you or a neighbor immediately after arriving home.
• How to call 9-1-1, or your area's emergency number, or call the operator.
• How to give directions to your home, in case of emergency.
• To never accept gifts or rides from people they don't know well.
• How to use the door and window locks, and the alarm system if you have one.
• To never let anyone into your home without asking your permission.
• To never let a called at the door or on the phone know that they're alone. Teach them to say "Mom can't come to the phone (or door) right now."
• To carry a house key with them in a safe place (inside a shirt pocket or sock). Don't leave it under the mat or on a ledge outside the house.
• How to escape in case of fire.
• To not go into an empty house or apartment if things don't look right - a broken window, ripped screen, or opened door.
• To let you know about anything that frightens them or makes them feel uncomfortable.

Take a Stand!

• Work with schools, religious institutions, libraries, recreational and community center, and local youth organizations to create program that give children ages 10 and older a place to go and something to do after school - a "homework haven,"; with sports, crafts, classes and tutoring. Don't forget that kids of this age can also get involved in their communities. Help them design and carry out an improvement project!
• Ask your workplace to sponsor a Survival Skills class for employees' children. You can kick it off with a parent breakfast or lunch.
• Ask your community to develop a homework hotline latchkey kids can call for help or just to talk.
• Join or start a McGruff House or other black parent program in your community to offer children help in emergencies or frightening situations.

Cyber-safety for Kids Online: A Parents' Guide

The Internet has opened up a world of information for anyone with a computer and a connection! Your children will learn about computers. But just as you wouldn't send children near a busy road without some safety rules, you shouldn't send them on to the information superhighway without rules of the road. Too many dangers from pedophiles to con artists and reach children (and adults) through the Internet.

Getting Started:

• Explain that although a person may be alone in a room using the computer, once logged on to the Internet, he or she is no longer alone. People skilled in using the Internet can find out who you are and where you are. They can even tap into information on your computer.
• Set aside time to explore the Internet together. If your child has some computer experience, let him or her take the lead. Visit areas of the World Wide Web that have special site for children.

Controlling Access

• The best tool a child has for screening material found on the Internet is his or her brain. Teach child about exploitation, pornography, hate literature, excessive violence and other issues that concern you, so they know how to respond when they see this material.
• Choose a commercial online service that offers parental control features. These features can block content that is not clearly marked as appropriate for children; chat rooms, bulletin boards, newsgroups, and discussion groups; or access to the Internet entirely.
• Purchase blocking software and design your own safety system. Different packages can black sites by name, search for unacceptable words and black access to sites containing those words, block entire categories of material, and prevent children from giving out personal information.
• Monitor your children when they're online and monitor the time they spend online. If a child becomes uneasy or defensive when you walk into the room or when you linger, this could be a sign that he or she is up to something unusual or even forbidden.

Tell Your Children...

• To always let you know immediately if they find something scary or threatening on the Internet.
• Never to give out their name, address, telephone number, password, school name, parent's name or any other personal information.
• Never to agree to meet face to face with someone they've met online.
• Never to respond to messages that have bad words or seem scary or just weird.
• Never to enter an area that charges for services without asking you first.
• Never send a picture of themselves to anyone without your permission.

What You Can Do In The Community:

• Make sure that access to the Internet at your children's school is monitored by adults.
• Know your children's friends and their parents. If your child's friend has Internet access at home, talk to the parent about the rules they have established. Find out if the children are monitored while they are online.
• Make sure that your child's school has an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). This policy should include a list of acceptable and unacceptable activities or resources, information on "netiquette" (etiquette on the Internet), consequences for violations and a place for you and your child to sign. Your family can design its own AUP for the home computer.
• If your child receives threatening e-mails or pornographic material, save the offensive material and contact that user's Internet Service Provider and your local law enforcement agency.
• If you come across sites that are inappropriate for children when you are surfing the Net, send the addresses to online services that offer parental control features or to sites advertising protection software to add to their list to be reviewed for inclusion or exclusion. Even if you don't subscribe to the service or own the protection software, you can help protect other children.

Don't Let Your Family Go Down the Tube - Use Television Wisely

• Set limits on what children can watch. Homework and meals with the family take priority.
• Watch TV with your children and talk about what each of you liked an didn't like.
• Set an example. Carefully choose your own programs and the amount of time you watch television.
• Make one room a TV-Free Zone - a comfortable place to read, talk, and listen, with no television set.
• Don't use TV as a babysitter.
• Encourage your children to spend their free time in activities such as sports, hobbies, playing with friends, or reading rather than sitting in front of the tube.
• Limit video games to a half-hour a day. Use a kitchen timer.
• Look for TV Programs that encourage kids to do something positive - build a playhouse, start a hobby, help out at home, volunteer to help someone. Look for TV programs that relate to a book, something your child is studying, or an experience from your own childhood or that of a relative.
• Don't use TV as a reward or punishment.
• If you find a TV ad or program offensive, write or call the sponsor and the station.

Raising Streetwise Kids: A Parent's Guide

Would your child know what to do if...

• He got lost at a shopping mall?
• A nice-looking, friendly stranger offered her a ride home after school?
• A friend dared him to drink some beer or smoke a joint?
• A babysitter or a neighbor wanted to play a "secret game?"
• A great thing about kids is their natural trust in people, especially in adults. It's sometimes hard for parents to teach children to balance this trust with caution. But kids today need to know common-sense rules that can help keep them safe -- and build the self-confidence they need to handle emergencies.

Start with The Basics...

• Make sure your children know their full name, address (city and state), and phone number with area code.
• Be sure kids know to call 9-1-1 or "0" in emergencies and how to use a public phone. Practice making emergency calls with a make-believe phone.
• Tell them never to accept rides or gifts from someone they and you don't know well.
• Teach children to go to a store clerk, security guard, or police officer for help in lost in a mall or on the street.
• Set a good example with your own actions -- lock doors and windows and see who's there before opening the door.
• Take time to listen carefully to your children's fears and feelings about people or places that scare them or make them fee uneasy. Tell them to trust their instincts.

At School and Play...

• Encourage your children to walk and play with friends, not alone. Tell them to avoid places that could be dangerous -- vacant buildings, alleys, playgrounds or parks with broken equipment and litter.
• Teach children to settle arguments with words, not fists, and to walk away when others are arguing. Remind them that taunting and teasing can hurt friends and make enemies.
• Make sure your children are taking the safest routes to and from school, stores, and friends' houses. Walk the routes together and point out places they could go for help.
• Encourage kids to be alert in the neighborhood, and tell an adult -- you, a teacher, a neighbor, a police officer -- about anything they see that doesn't seem quite right.
• Check out the school's policies on absent children -- are parents called when a child is absent?
• Check out daycare and after-school programs -- look at certifications, staff qualifications, rules on parent permission for field trips, reputation in the community, parent participation, and policies on parent visits.
• Check babysitter references.

At Home Alone...

• Leave a phone number where you can be reached. Post it by the phone, along with numbers for a neighbor and emergencies -- police and fire departments, paramedics, and the poison control center.
• Have your child check in with you or a neighbor when he or she gets home. Agree on rules for having friends over and going to a friend's house when no adult is home.
• Make sure your child knows how to use the window and door locks.
• Tell your child not to let anyone into the home without your permission, and never to let a caller at the door or on the phone know there's no adult home. Kids can always say their parents are busy and take a message.
• Work out an escape plan in case of fire or other emergencies. Rehearse with your children.

Protecting Your Child Against Sexual Abuse...

• Let your child know that he or she can tell you anything, and that you'll be supportive.
• Teach your child that no one -- not even a teacher of a close relative -- has the right to touch him or her in away that feels uncomfortable, and that it's okay to say no, get away, and tell a trusted adult.
• Don't force kids to kiss or hug or sit on a grownup's lap if they don't want to. This gives them control and teaches them that they have the right to refuse.
• Always know where your child is and who he or she is with.
• Tell your child to stay away from strangers who hang around playgrounds, public restrooms, and schools.
• Be alert for changes in your child's behavior that could signal sexual abuse such as sudden secretiveness, withdrawal from activities, refusal to go to school, unexplained hostility toward a favorite babysitter or relative, or increased anxiety. Some physical signs of abuse include bed-wetting, loss of appetite, venereal disease, nightmares, and complaints of pain or irritation around the genitals.
• If your child has been sexually abused, report it to the police or a child protection agency immediately.
• If your child is a victim of any crime, from stolen lunch money to sexual abuse, don't blame him or her. Listen and offer sympathy.

Take a Stand!

• Work with schools and recreation centers to offer study time, activities, tutoring, and recreation before and after school.
• Start a school callback program. When a student -- elementary, middle or high school age -- doesn't arrive as scheduled, volunteers at the school call the parents to make sure the absence is excused.
• Volunteer to help with a McGruff House or other block parent program. If you can't offer your home as a haven for children in emergencies, you can help in other ways -- telephoning, fundraising or public relations.

Talking with Children About Violence

Violence-no one wants to see children victimized by it. No one wants to see kids hurt others.

Many things today-TV and movies, words and actions that adults learned when they were children, and the daily news-send the message that violent behavior or being a victim of violence is okay, even commonplace.

What Can Parents and Other Concerned Adult Do?

Start early. Talk about effective ways to handle frustration, anger, and arguments during a child's youngest years and continue through the teen years. Stress respect for self and others, describe how you have settled arguments and other conflicts without violence, and teach children not to use words that hurt. These valuable skills can last a lifetime.

For very young children, some physical acts such as hitting, kicking and biting may be a part of their development. But by age three, most can understand non-violent ways to deal with anger and frustration, even if they are not perfect at using these skills.

When You Talk with Children and Teens About Violence:

• Make clear that you do not approve of violence as a way to solve problems. Explain the difference between feeling angry and frustrated and acting out these feelings violently.
• Ask about the child's ideas on violence. Listen carefully and encourage him or her to talk about worries, questions and fears.
• Try not to lecture. Instead, take advantage of "teachable moments." For example, when there's a violent scene on television, talk about what happened and how people could have prevented it. When something violent and freighting happens at school or in the neighborhood, talk about what other choices besides violence might have been available.
• Make sure other adults in the child's life- a grandparent, a cousin, a neighbor-know and respect your teachings about violence, It confuses children when adults they trust send contradictory messages about the ways people should act.
• Know who the child's friends are and know how they feel about violence. Always know where your children and their friends are.
• Set a good example. Don't let yourself resort to violence to settle conflicts or let off steam. Even in tense or very annoying situations, calm down, walk away and talk it out.

Some Basic Tips to Teach Children

Children need to learn to take care of themselves when they are school, with friends, or just out and about. There are many ways young people can reduce their risk of being involved in violence.

Teach them to:

• Play, walk, bike, or skate with a friends rather than alone, and always let a responsible adult know where they are.
• Never go anywhere with someone they and you do not know and trust.
• Not let an argument grow into a fight-cool off, talk it out, even walk away if they have to. Settle the problem with words, not weapons or fists.
• Never carry a knife, gun or other weapon. It is against the law and a sure way to turn a simple argument into a fight where someone gets badly hurt or killed.
• Not use alcohol or other drugs. the effects they have on people's minds often encourage violence.
• Stay away from kids who think fighting and other forms of violence are "cool" and from places where fights often break out.
• Become a conflict solver for brothers and sisters, friends, and classmates by getting training in mediation skills to help others work out problems without violence.
• Tell a police officer or other trusted adult if they see a violent crime, and talk about it to you or another caring adult.

Take a Stand

• Find out about conflict management and mediation training for adults and children. Work with schools and parent organizations to teach these skills in all grades.
• Help develop recreational and educational programs for all young people in the community, so they will have better things to do than fight and can benefit from adult supervision and mentoring.
• Make sure your schools are safe places to learn. Many Children feel safer after school than when they are on school property or traveling back and forth to school. Work with educators, local government, law enforcement and others in the community to solve problems involving crime, drugs, harassment, and bullying.
• Get youth, from grade-schoolers to teens, involved in helping the community. Some ideas include cleaning up a playground, starting a garden, tutoring younger children, escorting elderly residents to stores, producing a newsletter. When young people have an important role in building up the community, they are far less likely to turn to violent actions that tear it down.

Talking With Your Kids About Drugs

Don't put off talking to your children about alcohol and other drugs. As early as fourth grade, kids worry about pressures to try drugs. School programs alone aren't enough. Parents must become involved, but most parents aren't sure how to tell their children about drugs.

Open communication is one of the most effective tools you can use in helping your child avoid drug use. Talking freely and really listening shows children that they mean a great deal to you.

What do you say?

• Tell them that you love them and you want them to be healthy and happy.
• Say you do not find alcohol and other illegal drugs acceptable. Many parents never state this simple principle.
• Explain how this use hurts people. Physical harm - for example, AIDS, slowed growth, impaired coordination, accidents. Emotional harm - sense of not belonging, isolation, paranoia. Educational harm - difficulties remembering and paying attention.
• Discuss the legal issues. A conviction for a drug offense can lead to time in prison or cost someone a job, driver's license, or college loan.
• Talk about positive, drug-free alternatives, and how you can explore them together. Some ideas include sports, reading, movies, bike rides, hikes, camping, cooking, games, and concerts. Involve your kids' friends.

How Do You Say It?

• Calmly and openly - don't exaggerate. The facts speak for themselves.
• Face to face - exchange information and try to understand each others point of view. Be an active listener and let your child talk about fears and concerns. Don't interrupt and don't preach.
• Through "teachable moments" - in contrast to a formal lecture, use a variety of situations - television news, TV dramas, books, newspaper.
• Establish an ongoing conversation rather than giving a one-time speech.
• Remember that you set the example. Avoid contradictions between your words and your actions. And don't use illegal drugs, period!
• Be creative! You and your child might act out various situation in which one person tries to pressure another to take a drug. Figure out two or three ways to handle each situation and talk about which works best.
• Exchange ideas with other parents.

How Can I Tell if a Child Is Using Drugs?

Identifying illegal drug use may help prevent further abuse. Possible signs include:

• Change in moods - more irritable, secretive, withdrawn, overly sensitive, inappropriately angry, euphoric.
• Less responsible - late coming home, late for school or class, dishonest.
• Changing friends or changing lifestyles - new interests, unexplained cash.
• Physical deterioration - difficulty in concentration, loss of coordination, loss of weight, unhealthy appearance.
• Why do kids use drugs?

Young people say they turn to alcohol and other drugs for one or more of the following reasons:

• To do what their friends are doing.
• To escape pain in their lives.
• To fit in.
• Boredom.
• For fun.
• Curiosity.
• To take risks.

Take A Stand!

• Educate yourself about the facts surrounding alcohol and other drug use. You will lose credibility with your child if your information is not correct.
• Establish clear family rules against drug use and enforce them consistently.
• Develop your parenting skills through seminars, networking with other parents, reading, counseling, and support groups.
• Work with other parents to set community standards - you don't raise a child alone. Volunteer at schools, youth centers, Boys & Girls Clubs, or other activities in your community.

For More Information:

• State and local government drug use prevention, intervention, and treatment agencies.
• State and local law enforcement agencies.
• Private drug use treatment service listed in the telephone book Yellow Pages.

The Smart Route to Bicycle Safety

Riding a bicycle is more than just basic transportation ? it can be a fun and exciting hobby. When your children ride, remember that they're not alone. They share the road with cars, trucks, pedestrians, and other cyclists. Since accidents can turn a bicycle adventure into a bicycling tragedy, here are some tips to help make your children's ride a safe one.

What You Can Do:

• Tell children to wear helmets. Studies have shown that using a bicycle helmet can reduce head injuries by up to 85 percent. Select a helmet that has a snug, but comfortable fit. Look for the helmet labels that show they are recommended by either the American National Standards Institute, www.ansi.org, or the Snell Memorial Foundation, www.smf.org.
• Make sure children wear proper clothing. Clothing should be light in color and close fitting to avoid being caught in the bicycle's moving parts. Also, be sure books and other loose items are carried in a backpack.
• Teach children to obey the rules of the road. These include all traffic signs, signals, and road markings. Teach children to ride on the right side of the street in single file and to use proper hand signals. Tell children never to hitch rides by grabbing onto moving cars or trucks.
• Teach children that before entering a street or intersection to check for traffic and always look left-right-left. Walk the bike across busy streets at corners or crosswalks.
• Children's bikes should display both front and rear reflectors. They should ride only in familiar areas and only during the daylight hours.
• Make sure children's bikes are adjusted properly. Check to make sure that all parts are secure and working. The handlebars should be firmly in place and turn easily. The wheels should be straight and secure. Check tires for pressure, bulges, and cracks.
• Teach children to always lock up their bike. A U-lock should be used, securing both the front wheel and the frame to a stationary object such as bike rack. Help children practice locking up their bike.
• Be sure children do not show off on their bikes. Hands should be kept on the handlebars, only one person should be on the bike at a time, and jumping curbs should not be allowed.
• Record the serial numbers of your children's bikes and keep them with the sales receipt and a photograph of the bike. Check with local police or the National Bike Registry (NBR) at 800-848-BIKE about bike registration programs. NBR recently partnered with NCPC to help return stolen bikes to their rightful owners.
• Mark children's bikes with an engraver to deter thieves and to help in identifying and returning a stolen bike. Use a unique number, such as your driver's license number.

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council

Everyone's Doing It: Planning a Successful Community Crime Prevention Project

Are you tired of walking by playgrounds that are filled with trash and broken equipment? You know kids won't play there because it's such a mess. There is something you can do. You can make a difference by cleaning up that playground as a community crime prevention project.

There are hundreds of problems teens can solve to make their school, neighborhood, and community safer. Teens have talents and skills that can be put to use -- if you're an artist you can paint a mural to replace graffiti; if you like sports you can coach a team in your neighborhood; if you are a listener or a problem solver you can help settle arguments. You just need to fit your skill to a problem you want to solve.

Either find a group or get one together. Join an existing group like an after-school program at your school, Boys & girls clubs, 4-H, Scouts, YMCA or YWCA, or Camp Fire. If you need help finding what's around, talk to someone in your school, place of worship, police station, or recreation center. Whoever you work with, your project will need a plan if it's to be a success. This brochure will give you some ideas about setting up a helpful plan.

Steps for Success

• Decide what your project is going to be.
• List the problems that you and your group believe you can change in your neighborhood or school. For example, are there too many fights in your school? Are kids doing drugs? Has there been an increase in drunk driving incidents? Choose one problem. (At this point you may want to look around your community and see what people are already doing. Maybe you can work with another group.)
• Plan what you're going to do and each step you're going to take to get there.
• Decide who's going to do what, and set deadlines for completing each step. Split up the work evenly. This way no one will get burned out. Remember to plan for how you're going to be able to tell if your project was successful. Are there fewer fights at school? Has the school remained free of graffiti?

Get What You Need

Basically, you need people to do the work, materials (remember to include things like transportation, meeting space, food, photocopies), money, publicity, and the support of adults. Look to local businesses, foundations, parents, the school, community organizations, or places of worship to provide help.

Get moving on your project.

Check your progress once your project is underway.

You want to be able to see if what you are doing is working. Ask people what they think -- do they feel safer with less arguing in school? Ask your friends how they think it's going. Or count things. If your project is supposed to reduce fights in your school, you can count how many fights there were in a typical week before your project began and how may there are now.

Get the message out.

And when you've got things moving -- share your success in your school or local newspaper. Then celebrate and thank everyone involved.
In Jefferson City, Missouri, teenagers audition to be in the cast of the Safety Kids program. They get to travel around to schools making presentations about drugs to other young people.

Take Action

Here are a few ideas of things you can do to improve your school and neighborhood:

• Set up a group for teens to share problems and solutions.
• Join a group that builds and renovates houses for low-income or homeless families.
• Do peer counseling.
• Start a teen court program in your school.
• Film anti-crime commercials and deliver them to your local television station.
• Clean-up and repair a playground or build a new one in an area that lacks one.
• Be a tutor or mentor to a younger person.
• Develop a "street smarts" section for your school's Web site.
• Volunteer at a homeless shelter, preschool, or senior center.
• Put on drug- and alcohol-free events to celebrate holidays or other special events.
• Teach younger kids anti-violence or anti-drug strategies.
• Put on art shows or performances with prevention themes.

Keeping Insider Information Inside

What is a company's most valuable property? It isn't buildings or equipment, but information - from computer files and training materials to budgets and product research.

When vital "insider" information leaves the organization improperly, everyone loses. Profits can drop, reputations can be damaged, employees can lose jobs, and morale can plummet.

"Inside" or Confidential Information Includes:

• Organizational information - telephone directories, organizational charts, training materials, personnel files and policies, salary scales, performance evaluations, telephone and computer codes.
• Financial - budget reports, sales and order volumes prior to public release, production and overhead costs, profit margins, payroll procedures.
• Marketing - short and long-term strategies, customer lists, market research results.
• Research and Development - technical and performance specifications, reports on research in progress, project code names, blueprints, test and system software.
• Manufacturing and Production - vendor names, production levels, inventories, future plans and sites, product failure reports.
• Put a lock on your company's information!

Steps You Can Take:

• Think before talking about the details of your job in public places such as restaurants, airplanes, classrooms, gyms, and parties.
• Know who's on the other end of the line -telephone, modem, or fax- before giving out any sensitive information. It could be a competitor or trade journalist looking for helpful employees who are too eager to give out information about their employer.
• Keep your work area clear. When you will be gone for a few hours, or at the end of the day, put sensitive papers in a drawer or file cabinet.
• Think about what's on a piece of paper before you toss it into the trash. If it's sensitive information, tear it up or use a shredder.
• Challenge strangers who enter your work area unescorted. Call a supervisor or security for help.
• Protect identification badges, office keys, and codes as you would your own cards and keys.

What's in a password?

Most computer systems have complex built-in security devices, but the right password can still unlock the system! Make it hard for "information thieves" to figure out your password.

• Use at least eight characters. Avoid personal information like date of birth, address, or social security number.
• Add a punctuation mark or number if your system permits.
• Use a phrase instead of a one-word password if possible.
• You might choose a word in English, then use a dictionary to translate it into a foreign language.
• Change your password monthly.
• Memorize your password. Don't write it on a piece of paper inside your desk drawer, appointment book or on a rolodex.
• Cracking the voice mail or PBX system.

Remote access and voice mail features of PBX (private branch exchange) systems make them vulnerable to con artists who specialize in toll card fraud. To stop these thieves from running up phone bills on your company's account:

• Change your access code frequently, and use longer codes.
• Treat you phone password like your computer password - with extreme care!
• When you're away from the office, don't let anyone see or overhear your phone card codes.

When You Travel on Business...

• Resist discussing your job with the friendly person next to you.
• Avoid the temptation to work on sensitive projects in public places like restaurants and planes.
• When you leave your car or hotel room, put company information in a secure place or take it with you.
• Be sensitive to conducting confidential business on the phone, including cellular phones.

A Final Note

When you were hired, you may have signed an agreement regarding the protection of proprietary information. This is a legally and ethically binding contract between you and the company. Take it seriously!

Safer Seniors

As people grow older, their chances of being victims of crime decrease dramatically. But a lifetime of experience coupled with the physical problems associated with aging often make older Americans fearful and trapped in their own homes. Though, they're on the lookout constantly for physical attack and burglary, they're not as alert to frauds and con games ? in reality, the greatest crime threat to seniors' well being and trust.

Want to conquer fear and prevent crime? Take these common-sense precautions:

• Be alert when out and about
• Go with friends or family, not alone.
• Carry your purse close to your body, not dangling by the straps. Put a wallet in an inside coat or front pants pocket.
• Don't carry credit cards you don't need or large amounts of cash.
• Use direct deposit for Social Security and other regular checks.
• Keep car doors locked, whether you're a passenger or driver. Be particularly alert in parking lots and garages. Park near an entrance.
• Sit close to the driver or near the exit while riding the bus, train, or subway.
• If someone or something makes you uneasy, trust your instincts and leave.
• Make Your Home Safe and Secure
• Install good locks on doors and windows and use them. Don't hide keys in mailboxes and planters or under doormats. Instead, leave an extra set of keys with a neighbor or friend.
  
• Ask for photo identification from service or delivery people before letting them in the door. If you are the least bit worried, call the company to verify.
• Be sure your street address number is large, clear of obstruction, and well-lighted so police and other emergency personnel can find your home quickly.
• Consider a home alarm system that provides emergency monitoring for burglary, fire, and medical emergencies.

Watch Out for Con Artists

• Don't fall for anything that sounds too good to be true: a free vacation; sweepstakes prizes; cures for cancer and arthritis; a low-risk, high yield investment scheme.
• Never give your credit card, phone card, Social Security, or bank account number to anyone over the phone. It's illegal for telemarketers to ask for these numbers to verify a prize or gift.
• Don't let anyone rush you into signing anything ? an insurance policy, a sales agreement, a contract. Read it carefully and have someone you trust check it over.
• Beware of individuals claiming to represent companies, consumer organizations, or government agencies that offer to recover lost money from fraudulent telemarketers for a fee.
• If you're suspicious, check it out with the police, the Better Business Bureau, or your local consumer protection office.You can also call the National Consumers League Fraud Information Center at 800-876-7060.

Get Involved in the Community

• Report any crime or suspicious activities to law enforcement.
• Join a Neighborhood Watch to look out for each other and help the police.
• Work to help improve your neighborhood. Volunteer as a citizen patroller, tutor for children, office aide in the police or fire department, mentor for teens, or escort for individuals with disabilities.
• Does your community have a Triad program? It's sponsored on a national level by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and the National Sheriffs' Association. Triad promotes partnerships between senior citizens and the law enforcement community, both to prevent crime against the elderly and to help law enforcement benefit from the talents of older people. If you're interested, contact your chief of police, sheriff, or AARP chapter, or call Triad at NSA at 800-424-7827.

Take Crime Prevention To Work

When you go to work, don't leave your crime prevention sense at home. Almost any crime that can happen at home or in your neighborhood, can happen in the workplace. But common-sense prevention skills can help make life at work safer for all.

Help Prevent Office Theft and Other Crimes

• Keep your purse, wallet, keys, or other valuable items with you at all times or locked in a drawer or closet.
• Check the identity of any strangers who are in your office -- ask whom they are visiting and if you can help them find that person. If this makes you uncomfortable, inform security or management about your suspicions.
• Always let someone know where you'll be -- whether it's coming in late, working late, going to the photocopier or mail room, going out to lunch or a meeting.
• If you bring personal items to work such as a coffee pot, a radio, or a calculator, mark them with your name or initials and an identification number.
• Report any broken or flickering lights, dimly lit corridors, doors that don't lock properly, or broken windows. Don't wait for someone else to do it.
• Be discreet. Don't advertise your social life or vacation plans and those of your coworkers to people visiting or calling your place of work.

Take a Look at Common Trouble Spots

• Reception area -- Is the receptionist equipped with a panic button for emergencies, a camera with a monitor at another employee's desk, and a lock on the front door that can be controlled?
• Stairwells and out-of-the-way corridors -- Don't use the stairs alone. Talk to the building manager about improving poorly lighted corridors and stairways.
• Elevators -- Don't get into elevators with people who look out of place or behave in a strange or threatening manner. If you find yourself in an elevator with someone who makes you nervous, get off as soon as possible.
• Restrooms -- Attackers can hide in stalls and corners. Make sure restrooms are locked and only employees have keys. Be extra cautious when using restrooms that are isolated or poorly lighted.
• After hours -- Don't work late alone. Create a buddy system for walking to parking lots or public transportation or ask security to escort you.
• Parking lots or garages -- Choose a well-lighted, well-guarded parking garage. Always lock your car and roll the windows up all the way. If you notice any strangers hanging around the parking lot, notify security or the police. When you approach your car, have the key ready. Check the floor and front and back seats before getting in. Lock your car as soon as you get in -- before you buckle your seat belt.

What about violence in the workplace?

Violence in the workplace takes many forms, from raised voices and profanity or sexual harassment to robbery or homicide. While homicide in the workplace is rising, 75 percent of work-related homicides are committed by unknown assailants while committing a robbery or other crimes. Despite media hype, the attacker usually isn't a disgruntled coworker. To assess a workplace's vulnerability to violence, ask yourself these questions.

• Is your office secure? Do you have easy-to-use phone systems with emergency buttons, sign-in policies for visitors, panic buttons, safe rooms, security guards, office access controls, good lighting, and safety training?
• Does your employer take care in hiring and firing? Before hiring, are employment gaps, history, references, and criminal and educational records thoroughly examined? Are termination procedures defined clearly with attention to advance notice, severance pay, and placement services?
• Could you recognize potentially violent employees? Signs of stress that could erupt into violence include: depression, frequent absences, talking in a louder-than-normal voice, being startled easily, increased irritability and impatience, and concentration and memory problems.
• Are you encouraged to report unusual or worrisome behavior? Is there a clear, written policy that spells out procedures in cases of violence and sanctions for violators? Make sure you know to whom you should report unusual behaviors.
• Do you work in a supportive, harmonious environment? Is there a culture of mutual respect? Does your employer provide an employee assistance program (EAP)?

Crime Prevention Tips Provided by: National Crime Prevention Council