Visitors to a session on safety at the Family Motor Coach Association's Southeast Area Rally learn how to protect themselves from criminals.
By BETH N. GRAY
Published February 6, 2004
BROOKSVILLE - "Be vigilant," the former law enforcement official urged an audience of some 200 who came Thursday to learn about crimes against travelers.
The need for vigilance has been declared before. But Bill Cain, an instructor for the National Crime Prevention Task Force in Atlanta, enumerated some surprising signs that should heighten travelers' alertness. And he followed up with methods to avoid becoming a victim.
Speaking at a seminar at the Family Motor Coach Association's Southeast Area Rally taking place this week at the Hernando County Airport, Cain said travelers along America's highways are as at much risk as people on the streets or those in their homes. His insights and advice are as pertinent to the casual day-tripper, restaurant patron or snowbird traveler as they are to the over-the-road caravaner.
More crimes are committed during daylight hours, when more people are out, he told the crowd.
"Most criminals stalk, in parking lots, stairwells, restrooms. Be very alert if anyone is watching you," Cain advised.
A potential victim who looks away reveals timidity while a stare invokes a challenge. "Just make eye contact," he recommended.
"Keep jewelry to an absolute minimum," Cain added. Attackers look for gold and diamonds. "Don't wear anything around your neck that is more valuable than your head," he advised.
Attackers also like pricey watches. Someone may innocuously ask you for the time, and if a retracted shirt cuff reveals a gold watch, the person's partner will sneak up to your back with a weapon.
Women's restrooms are a favorite hangout for female thieves because it is a place where there are no surveillance cameras, Cain said. When a potential victim hangs her purse inside a stall door, the thief will jump on the toilet seat in the next stall, reach over and hastily abscond with it.
Some purse snatchers, he said, have been known to telephone the victim later, saying they stole the handbag on a dare and want to return it. While the victim goes to a designated site to retrieve the purse, the thieves burglarize the victim's house.
A new wrinkle in women's restroom crime is a lipstick tube hiding a razor, which someone whips out when a victim is at the wash basin or a mirror, and then attacks.
Then there's the "restroom closed" ploy. A perpetrator follows a selected victim inside after tacking the sign on the door so no one else enters. He glues her mouth and bind her hands with duct tape. The products do not set off metal detectors. Then he assaults the woman, Cain said.
In all these instances, Cain was adamant: "Keep your mouth shut. Do not give these people any grief. Give them what they want and get out."
Only in one situation did he advise screaming and shouting: when someone is accosted in a parking lot. The victim should also fall to the ground and go limp, then kick from that position if need be.
"A kick is stronger than a punch," Cain said.
It is not a good idea to attempt to gouge the attacker's eyes or cut the person's face with car keys, he said. Rather, throw the keys as far as you can in one direction, then run in the other, he recommended.
Men are not exempt from attacks during travel, Cain noted. Pickpockets often target men. One scheme: "You dropped your money," a stranger will say. The victim automatically reaches for his wallet, and the pickpocket has pinpointed his target.
In a particularly creative bit of subterfuge, a pickpocket set up a sign on a walkway at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that stated: "Watch for pickpockets." Most men who noticed the sign immediately checked for their wallets, again tipping off the perpetrator to potential victims.
Motor coach and recreational vehicle travelers and those in self-move vans towing vehicles should remember to remove the keys from their towed vehicles when they go into a restaurant or rest stop, Cain advised. While the law requires that the keys be inserted on the road, their presence is an invitation to theft in a parking lot of a shopping center or restaurant.
Cain is perhaps wariest of roadside rest stops. "The most dangerous real estate in the country," he maintains.
"Don't pull in to sleep," he advised, saying thieves and worse wait in rest areas for the opportunity to strike.
Nearly as risky are cheap motels, Cain said. They do not have good security and are particularly bad when rooms have doors that open onto parking lots.
In the summer, 75 percent of the crimes committed are within 1 mile of an interstate highway, Cain noted.
And while travelers may be tempted to pull over when they see a vehicle that appears to need help, don't do it, he said; instead, call local law enforcement.
While Cain said he did not mean to frighten his audience, most appeared somber, thoughtful and a bit scared of the potential for roadway violence as they left.
Cain presented his seminar three times during the rally, which opened Wednesday and continues through Sunday morning, with some 7,000 visitors from throughout the country in attendance.
At a glance
WHAT: Southeast Area Rally of the Family Motor Coach Association
WHEN: Today through Sunday. Open to the public daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
WHERE: Hernando County Airport. Entrance off U.S. 41 south of Brooksville.
ADMISSION: Public admission is $4 per person
INFORMATION: Contact the association office at 796-0154.
