Downtown Brooklyn Area Easy Mark for Criminals

I have good and bad news for you, Downtown B., about this week's crime reported in The Brooklyn Paper's Police Blotter.

Good news - 13 crimes were reported. This may not seem like good news, at first, but the blotter covers eight days. That's less than two crimes per day.

More good news - There were NO violent crimes and NO injured victims.

Now, for the bad news - 11 of the 13 crimes were preventable. That's a whopping 85%. With more diligence, we could have cut this down to 2 crimes for the week.

Let's not be easy marks for criminals. Let's not help them to take advantage of us and make a free and easy living off of us.

Let's learn from last week. Here's a list of "Do's and Don'ts" to help the good folks of Brooklyn stay safer and to help make the bad guys' lives harder.

Don't:

-- fall asleep in Starbucks, or any other public place, with your belongings, or without them.

-- leave large amounts of cash in gym lockers (even locked), especially if the place has a history of locker lifts.

-- leave expensive jewelry in a bureau drawer. Get a safe, or better yet, a bank safety deposit box.

-- leave purses behind counters with large amounts of cash in them.

-- keep large amounts of cash in purses.

-- fall asleep on trains with your belongings, especially at 2:30 am.

Do:

-- use phone straps and cases.

-- lock your apartment doors, always.

-- bring expensive bicycles in the house. If you're short on room, put up a wall rack.

-- lock all but the front entrance of business near closing time, especially with a wad of cash in the register.

Stay safe, till next time, downtown B.

Source:

Stephen Brown, "Police Blotter," The Brooklyn Paper