November 29, 2025 • 47 mins
Holiday cheer shouldn’t come with preventable risks. We’re sharing the field-tested tactics we use with clients and students to stay safe while shopping, traveling, hosting, and running businesses during the busiest—and most tempting—time of the year for thieves and scammers. From the moment you enter a crowded mall to the time you unload gifts at home, you’ll hear simple habits that cut risk without killing the vibe.
We start with personal safety in public: how to carry wallets and bags so pickpockets pass you by, why a decoy wallet can buy precious seconds, and why group shopping and quick vehicle entry matter. Then we tackle parking lot realities, using light and positioning to your advantage, and choosing credit over debit to limit fraud fallout. At home, we focus on what actually works: locks, alarms, visible signage, smart camera placement, delivery instructions that beat porch pirates, and the underrated power of a trusted neighbor. We also unpack seasonal scam spotting—fake charity asks, phishing delivery texts, and shady links that mimic your favorite retailer—and the best ways to verify before you click.
Travelers get a full checklist: airport bag control, ID security, rideshare verification, and lawful firearm transport with reciprocity rules top of mind. We talk itinerary sharing, sober ride planning, and the small prep steps that pay off when delays or emergencies hit. For business owners, we cover deposit runs with varied routines, police escorts, staff training for robberies, working cameras at critical points, solid internal comms, and hiring practices that reduce internal theft during seasonal spikes. It’s a practical, no-drama guide designed to keep you, your family, and your team safe while you enjoy the season.
If this helped, follow the show, share it with someone you care about, and leave a quick review so others can find these tips faster. What’s the one safety habit you swear by during the holidays?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:29):
Hi, welcome to the Armed Guardian Podcast.
I'm your host, Brian, here withour co-host Crystal.
Today we're going to talk aboutholiday safety, personal home,
travel, business, shopping,things that you can do to be
more secure, safe with yourholiday stuff, because this is
going into a time of the yearwhere a lot of people are out
(00:50):
shopping, a lot of money istrans transacted between people.
And no theft and burglary arehigher during the holidays.
So we wanted to kind of reachout to everybody and just kind
of give them some tips, someinformation.
And let's go from there to helpmake you, your home, your
(01:10):
travel, everything a lot moresafer and more comfortable.
Crystal, welcome.
How you doing today?
SPEAKER_02 (01:18):
Doing great, Brian.
I'm looking forward to theholiday season, as well as
spending this time to educateour listeners on some safety
tips that hopefully don't ruintheir holiday season.
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
Right.
Okay.
Well, I guess we'll uh we'll dothis like we did with Kess, uh,
the last recording, just kind ofhave an open discussion about
you know the four different uhtopics that we have here.
And we'll go, I'll give you theopportunity to talk about yours,
and then I'll I'll interject alittle bit.
And then if I've got anything toadd, then put mine on the tail
(01:52):
end and we'll just follow thatthrough the four four topics
that we have.
So our first is uh personaltactics.
What can we do to make ourselvesmore secure, more safe, either
at home personally, or whilewe're out in the public?
What's what are some things thatyou suggest or that you teach or
(02:13):
advise people on?
SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
Let's start from being out in public during the
holidays.
There's a lot of shopping goingon.
This is a time of year whereeverybody is out doing their
thing, and oftentimes we let ourguards down.
We need to remember that wealways need to be aware of our
environment at all times.
This is not the time to let itdown and get on our phone and
get distracted because that'sexactly what criminals are
(02:37):
looking for.
(03:44):
Okay where my screen just wentto because now it's not there.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
Oh, if you want to keep it uh this, I wasn't gonna
do the video, I was just gonnado the I lost you and I'll edit
the the silence out, but the seewhat was it?
SPEAKER_05 (04:04):
Uh pickpocketing.
SPEAKER_01 (04:05):
Okay, uh your safety being no not letting your guard
down with your phone and stuff,and that that's about the point
that I lost you and we'll pickup from this point continuing
on.
SPEAKER_02 (04:15):
Okay.
All right, so I was saying wasduring this time of year, we're
in crowds, such as the shoppingmalls, and pickpocketing can be
a big problem for us.
So if you're a gentleman, makesure you keep your wallet in
your front pockets, don't leavethem in your back pocket, which
makes it a lot easier forcriminals to come up and snatch
it without you knowing.
(04:36):
For the ladies, if you have acrossbag or a purse that goes
over or uh even a fanny pack,let's just say put those special
items or your valuables, yourwallets inside of that area.
Don't just fling it over yourshoulder where somebody can grab
your purse and run.
We don't want to look like aneasy target for them.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
Right.
Yeah, the the one thing with thefanny packs, if you carry one, I
know a lot of them have sotheir, well, not a lot of them,
I know some that have theirsecurement on the back side.
So if you're carrying the pouchin the front, the the latch or
joint connecting pieces in theback.
Some of them will have it upnext to the pouch itself, but
(05:18):
make sure that that connectionis somewhere where you've
visibility to watch it and notsomebody can come up, press the
butt, press, undo it, and thensnatch it from you.
SPEAKER_02 (05:30):
Yeah, that's how mine is too.
It's right on the side, itdoesn't latch in the back.
So you're absolutely right aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (05:36):
And then another thing, no, you talked about guys
with wallets.
One thing I used to teach in mysituational awareness classes
that for guys, carry two, carryall your important stuff in your
front pocket and carry a dummywallet with just maybe a couple
of dollars, a couple of olddebit cards that are no good
(05:57):
anymore, or even go get prepaidcards but just don't activate
them and put them in your walletbecause you giving them
criminals something, they'regonna think that they've got
something and more than likelyrun off after you give them what
what little bit they are askingfor, but you still got your
license, your good credit cardsor debit cards, and your money
(06:20):
and stuff still in you know youryour front pocket, or if no,
wherever you want to carry it,but no, have have a dummy wallet
and actually use that to youradvantage.
I tell them to carry it on theirnon-dominant side, and that way
when they're turning, they canturn and reach for the wallet.
(06:42):
The people will see that they'rereaching for the wallet, and if
you're carrying, it actuallywill give you a chance to move
your other hand to yourconcealed weapon if you need to
to draw it while distractingthem with giving them that
wallet.
So that's just some of thetactics that I used to teach uh
whenever I was teaching thatsituational awareness and carry
(07:04):
options.
SPEAKER_02 (07:06):
Yeah, I call it the decoy keys or decoy wallets.
So you're exactly right aboutthat.
I encourage them to do the samething, but just whatever we do,
we want to make sure it's a lotharder for the criminal to
target us.
And if you're if you just givethem something, they run off,
they're happy, you're safe.
That's you know exactly whatwe're trying to do.
SPEAKER_01 (07:23):
Yeah.
And during the holiday seasons,more of no, if you can shop,
shop in pairs or groups, andthen just have somebody
designated more so if you needto, to be an observer while
you're putting stuff in the car,getting out of the car, going in
and out of businesses, just uhno, do it in groups because, as
(07:45):
we know, criminals, especiallysolo criminals, they don't want
to engage a group of people thatthey think that they could be
overpowered or you know caughtinjured or something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:59):
And that goes into another point you're saying,
like when we're going out to ourvehicles, and if we have our
gifts that we've just purchasedand we put them in our vehicle,
we want to make sure thatthey're in the trunk.
Don't just sit them on yourfront seat or your back seat
where they're visible becausecriminals are opportunists.
And the minute that they walk byand they see your bags there,
your window's gonna be smashedand your bags are going to be
(08:19):
gone.
So make sure you put them inyour trunk.
It doesn't mean it can't happenin your trunk because there are
people who will watch you in theparking lot and then just pop
your trunk and go.
But um, it's it's a lot moresecure though, if they're not
just sitting in their frontseat.
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Yeah, or the back.
Go go ahead.
SPEAKER_02 (08:36):
No, that was it.
SPEAKER_01 (08:37):
Okay, I was gonna say also, you know, with some of
the SUVs that have that openback, make sure you have, if you
can, purchase or have includedthe cover that retractable cover
that you can pull over becauseout of sight, out of mind is a
big determent, but you justdon't want it to look like hey,
there's something in there.
If they can't see in there, theyit's less of a enticement for
(09:02):
them to break in and then nothave anything uh comprised to
looking in, seeing something,and okay, I break this window, I
can grab this and go, and andthings of that nature.
So uh just be aware of you know,if you've got an open area in
your SUV or van or somethingthat you know you have some way
(09:24):
of covering or making it looklike not much is maybe in there.
SPEAKER_02 (09:28):
So yeah.
And another thing too, whenwe're out shopping, if you can,
if you have credit cards, useyour credit cards.
I'm not telling you to go andget in debt, but use your credit
cards because if something wereto happen and there's fraud on
your credit card, it's a loteasier to get that taken care of
with credit than it is fordebit.
So if you can use credit, usecredit.
(09:49):
Just don't go crazy and getyourself in debt because that's
gonna be a whole nother problemfor you.
But yeah, use your credit cardsif possible and be very wary of
where you're shopping at.
You know, you got to make sureit's a legit business.
Um, if you're doing onlineshopping, that's another problem
in itself.
Yeah, but definitely use yourcredit card when possible.
SPEAKER_01 (10:09):
Yeah, and no, I have heard stories and have actually
seen it, but be aware, you know,popular like restaurants or
stores where you know you giveyour card to the waiter,
waitress, the cashier, and theyturn and and move away for or
book the card out of your site.
Be leery because they may berunning that card through a
(10:32):
skimmer before they run it intoyour the register and stuff
where they got your information.
So just be aware of that.
Try not to let your card out ofyour site uh while you're giving
it to somebody for a purchase orsomething.
SPEAKER_02 (10:47):
Yeah, and don't carry large amounts of cash.
There's people that run to thebank and they don't want to use
credit or debit, and forwhatever reason they go take out
a lump sum of money and they'rewalking around with it.
Now you get robbed, and youcan't get that cash back.
SPEAKER_05 (11:01):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (11:02):
So it's not a good idea, and don't go out wearing
fancy jewelry and you know,expensive purses, anything that
makes you look like an easytarget or look like you have
something of value.
So, you know, leave your yourbeautiful diamond earrings at
home, diamond rings, nicenecklaces.
This is not the time to be outthere flaunting it, right?
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Okay.
Let's see.
I can't really think of anythingelse that we really haven't
covered.
Just remember, you know, your ifyou've taken a class for
situational awareness, rememberthe color codes, you know, and
(11:44):
remember the path of that youreally need to watch or go
through.
Don't cut through the alleys,don't go in through the parking
garages, you know, try tominimize that if you do that.
Because that's where you're moreso out of the sight of others,
and that's the prime breedingground for robbery or assault or
(12:06):
something to happen.
And uh, we want to try tominimize that.
Stay on the sidewalks, take thelong way around if you have to,
and then no, always if you cango in groups.
So that's pretty much ahead.
SPEAKER_02 (12:18):
Yeah, and well-lit areas, be mindful of where
you're parking.
I know it's gonna be busy, theparking lots are full, but if
you can park near a if you'reout shopping at night, and even
now, so with the time changesgetting darker a lot earlier.
So if you know, six, seveno'clock at night, it's dark out.
You need to make sure you'reparked where there's bright
lighting so somebody just can'tambush you in the dark.
(12:39):
And it's also a good idea tohave a tactical flashlight if
you are gonna be shopping outnight, even if you're parked
under bright light.
I do like tactical flashlightsto give you more of an advantage
so I can see what's going onaround me.
And if I have to use it as adefensive weapon, I can do that
as well.
SPEAKER_01 (12:53):
Right.
And there's one other thing thatjust popped in my mind that when
you're pulling into a parkinglot at a restaurant, mall, a
store, or something, wheneveryou park, keep your doors locked
and wait just a few minutes.
Uh, observe around you beforeyou get out.
And then whenever you return tothe vehicle, once you get in the
vehicle, get in as quickly asyou can to put your stuff up and
(13:17):
then jump in the vehicle.
But as soon as you get in, lockthe doors.
That way you prevent anybodyfrom just snatching open the
doors.
They'd have to break the windowto get in or get access to you.
SPEAKER_02 (13:58):
Yeah, and don't sit there and check your text
messages and emails at thatpoint.
Just go ahead and get out ofthat spot.
And if you have to go someplaceelse to do that, that's fine.
But just don't do it in theparking lot in case somebody's
actually watching you.
SPEAKER_05 (14:10):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (14:10):
You don't want to make yourself an easy target by
just sitting in your car anylonger than you need to be.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Right.
Okay.
Uh, anything else on under thepersonal that you want to
address or touch on?
SPEAKER_02 (14:23):
Just like we were saying, we want to make sure
we're aware of our environment.
If you feel like something isoff, trust your gut.
There's a lot of sketchy peopleout out, a lot of sketchy people
out this time of year.
So just be mindful of that.
SPEAKER_01 (14:34):
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, let's talk about hometactics that we can use for you
know fortifying or you know,being safe at home.
What are some of yourrecommendations or your your
teachings that you do?
SPEAKER_02 (14:49):
So, first of all, we need to start by locking our
doors.
It's amazing how many peopledon't even lock their doors.
SPEAKER_05 (14:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
And that's a big problem.
So make sure you have your homesafely secured.
If you're gonna go on vacation,don't announce it, don't put it
all over social media.
The countdown has begun, youknow, four more days till our
trip.
And, you know, anybody,especially if you have a public
profile, if they know you're outof town, you're gonna be an easy
target for somebody to come inand break into your home.
(15:16):
So just be very careful of whatyou're sharing on social media.
And maybe you're out of town andyou're sharing pictures of where
you're at at that current time.
It's not a good thing for acriminal.
I mean, it's not a good thingfor you because criminals will
also know that you're away.
If you have a neighbor orsomebody that can come and check
your product uh property, makesure you set that up beforehand.
(15:36):
Back in the day when we used toget newspaper deliveries, that
used to be a big thing, like yougot to have somebody pick up
your newspapers.
Not too many people have thatanymore.
But if you're gonna be away foran extended period of time and
you do have mail, the mail willhold that for you.
So you don't have to worry aboutyou have, you know, a mailbox
that's getting full, and peoplesee that and they say, wait a
minute, you know, there's a lotof mail in that box, somebody's
(15:57):
not around.
But contact your mail, your postoffice, and have them hold your
mail for you.
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
And even some of your carriers like FedEx, UPS,
uh, some of those you can haveactual delivery instructions uh
for packages after they ship.
So if you know you're not goingto be there, you can actually
say, leave it, leave this withmy neighbor at such and such.
And most of them that I haveencountered will do that, or
either you can just have themhold it.
(16:23):
They don't like to hold it, butsome of them understand and will
do that.
But if you can't do any of that,you know, again, your neighbor
that you have that you trust,hey, I'm having a package come
on Wednesday.
You know, I'll be out of town.
Would you pick that up and takeit in and I'll get it when we
get back and stuff?
And then you were also sayingabout the photos, social media,
(16:45):
wait until you get back homefrom your vacation or your trip
to photo dump and everything.
SPEAKER_02 (16:50):
Right.
Yeah.
Uh back to the home delivery,too.
During the holidays, porchpirates they go crazy.
This is the time of year I Imean, it's a good percentage of
the holiday crimes that do occurare porch pirates.
So if you have Amazon Prime andyou have those smart garage door
(17:11):
openers, you can set it up wherethey can deliver those packages
into your garage.
They get like a one-time codeand they put it in, whether or
not you feel comfortable withthat.
But if you do and you have thattechnology, they will more than
happily, they're more than happyto deliver those packages into
your garage.
You can also request that theyleave them behind your house.
(17:32):
Like if you tell them, hey,deliver, you know, in my
backyard or behind my fence,they're willing to do that
behind some kind of a plant.
You know, people have like thesebig pots and stuff, put it
there.
But you can request that.
Also, if there's a way torequest a signature so that you
know there's not just going tobe left behind if you have no
other options.
(17:53):
So these are some things that wecan do to kind of counter these
porch pirates.
I've been a victim of it myself,and it's it's so annoying.
And then you have to contact theAmazon or whoever and see if
they can re-deliver it.
And if it's the holidays, theymay not get it in time.
So another thing too is makesure you report it.
I believe it's only about 10% ofthese types of crimes are ever
(18:14):
reported.
So when we're talking aboutcrime statistics in our area, we
can't get a really accurateindicator when people are not
reporting these types of crimes.
So definitely report it.
Doesn't matter if it's thesmallest item, please report it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:29):
And and talking about the porch pirates and you
know, leaving your packages,alternative spots on your
property, security cameras, uh,ring cameras, they actually
would be a wise thing.
I've you know people have themset up uh you know as their
doorbell or they have a camerain a window or on the eve of
(18:51):
their home where they recordpeople coming up to their door
around their property and stuff.
Now, if you've got that, and andyou don't have to have that
through a security system, youcan do that you know
individually, like with uh Iknow Roku security has cameras,
uh Ring has cameras.
There's several people that youknow you can do the
(19:12):
wireless-based and it willrecord it to either a cloud if
you pay for it or to the memorycard, or you you know, you get
notification on your phone thatthere's movement or something,
you can look at it while you'reaway.
So do that if you have an alarmsystem, make sure that that's
armed during the vacation whileyou're gone or even while you're
(19:33):
at home, because they are bigdeterrents a lot of time,
especially if people know thatyou have an alarm system or you
have the the signage out front.
And I've I've known people thathave gotten signs and put them
out front, even though theydon't have an alarm system, but
it's a good deterrent.
SPEAKER_02 (19:51):
Right, I've seen that too, or fake cameras, even.
SPEAKER_01 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (19:55):
Anything you can do to try and trick the bad guys,
right?
SPEAKER_01 (19:58):
Yeah, and then no, like like we were saying, uh no,
some of the other things thatyou can do for your home while
you're away is you know, have aneighbor come over, turn on,
turn off and on lights in thehome to make it look like
there's somebody in and out.
If you have a relative or aneighbor that has a spare car,
you know, have them move a cararound in your driveway or on
(20:21):
your property so it makes itlook like somebody's there and
it's less more of a deterrentfor somebody not knowing if
you're home or not, actually, toyou know do something.
SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
So yep, that that works.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
Let's see.
We talked about alarms, wetalked about porch pirates,
cameras, neighbors, mail holds.
Uh anything else you can thinkof?
SPEAKER_02 (20:52):
Yeah, we gotta be careful of the holiday scammers
out there.
SPEAKER_01 (20:56):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (20:56):
Well, these offers that are too good to be true, be
very careful of those.
They're everywhere during theholidays.
They're going around asking fordonations.
You need to do your research andmake sure that they are they are
in a legit organization.
Because anybody, well, nowadayseverybody has Zell or Cash App
or Venmo to have some way ofgetting your money.
SPEAKER_05 (21:16):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
And if you didn't do any research, God knows where
that money's going to.
Right.
So be very careful of thosescams.
Another thing they do online isyou'll get, being that we're
always doing a lot of onlineshopping, you'll get these
notifications about yourtracking and information of
that, or click on this.
Be very careful becauseoftentimes those are scams.
SPEAKER_01 (21:36):
Yeah, or they look real.
And the ones that say, uh,there's a problem with your
package or your delivery, clickthis link.
So I we do a lot of onlineshopping, so it's hard during
the holiday season, so it's hardto know if that's true or not.
The best thing is I know, likewith Amazon, you can go to
(21:58):
Amazon and click on your orderand see exactly what's going on
with it.
If there's a problem, they'llhave it in the in the app for
you to contact somebody.
So don't just laxly click on thethe links or anything.
Do some investigation on itbecause that, like you said,
they make it look realprofessional, real true, and all
(22:18):
all it is is a fishing or tryingto get your information for no
nefarious reasons.
SPEAKER_02 (22:25):
So yeah, and I know like when you're shopping, make
sure they're verified websiteswith secure checking out.
I don't know what they callthat, but there's usually like a
padlock icon, you know, you havelike the HTTP, whatever, yeah.
The UR, and then there'll belike a padlock icon.
So you gotta make sure it'ssecure.
Don't just put your cardinformation in not knowing it's
an app if it's a secure websiteor not.
(22:46):
Right.
Because as you know, a lot ofthese crimes do happen online.
So we got to make sure thatthese are in fact real legit
websites.
SPEAKER_03 (22:54):
Okay, yep.
SPEAKER_01 (22:57):
Uh see.
Oh, one thing too, you can dosome departments will have
vacation watches.
If you call like your localpolice or sheriff's department,
some of them have a offer aservice where they will have an
officer try to run by, notsaying that they will, but if
they're not busy, you know,residences where they've
(23:20):
registered that they're out oftown on vacation, and they will
try to get an officer to atleast ride by, look for anything
out of place, and and no, itgives you an extra benefit of
security with the policepresence in no in that area.
So that's another suggestion.
SPEAKER_02 (23:39):
Yeah.
And also after the holidays,because you know, we're trying
to return to normal, but makesure when you're disposing of
the boxes, put them away wherethey're not out in plain sight.
So if you have new electronics,your computers, laptops, phones,
if you put it out on the side ofthe road and people see that,
they know exactly what you have.
So make sure you dispose of themwhere people cannot see what
(24:01):
those items are.
SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
And I guess one other thing that I I just popped
in my mind that it's not reallysecurity uh theft related or
anything like that, but be awareof fire hazards, your Christmas
tree.
If you're going on vacation andyou have a live tree, don't
leave your lights or don't settimers for that unless you've
(24:24):
got somebody that's activelyputting water into the tray to
keep it moisturized.
Otherwise, you've got apotential fire hazard.
Be aware of where you're puttingthings.
Uh, if you're going to be out oftown for a period of time, you
know, maybe shut your AC maybeoff if you can, and just set it
(24:47):
on where the fan comes on.
And you know, just watching forany fire hazards.
You know, we want to make surethat you know around your home
is picked up, there's nothingthat's combustible per se around
there.
You got canisters of propane orsomething on your patio for your
grill.
Just be mindful of keeping thatmaybe at a distance while you're
(25:10):
gone, because that you know, younever know when a canister is
going to develop a leak, andthen you've got propane going
around, and all it takes is justa spark to ignite that.
Water.
That's another thing, especiallyin the cold in the you know,
with it being Christmas andstuff in some of the colder
environments, pipes freezing andno having a water hat leak or uh
(25:32):
flooding.
Maybe shut your water off whileyou're on vacation if you can.
It's just uh another way ofcontrolling damage control, I
guess is the best thing, becauseyou'd hate to come back and find
your house flooded and a lot ofstuff uh ruined because water's
been in the floor for threedays, and that's gonna put a
(25:56):
damper on your holiday spirit oryour post-holiday spirit.
SPEAKER_02 (26:00):
Yeah, all unless you have you know some work you
wanted to get done.
That's a real quick way to getit done.
We needed it to get rid of thatold uh flooring.
Now you're gonna get fresh newfloor, but yeah, but with all
jokes aside, yeah, you don'twant to come home to some
flooding or even worse, yourhouse is burnt down.
SPEAKER_01 (26:15):
Right.
Okay.
Nothing else has popped in myhead on the home side.
Any you got anything that'spopped into yours that you want
to discuss before we go totravel?
SPEAKER_02 (26:28):
Nope, we'll we'll go right on to travel.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
All right.
Well, now we're gonna discusstravel tactics.
What's your bestrecommendations, best practices
for travel with during theholiday?
SPEAKER_02 (26:40):
Yeah, so during a holiday when you're at the
airports, we've got to make surethat we, I mean, they usually
announce it on the speaker overand over, not to leave your
belongings unattended, but yetpeople still do that.
And I do know that some peoplewill have gifts inside of their
luggage or even you know, itemsthat are very valuable.
So make sure you keep an eye onthat.
Don't ever leave anythingunattended.
(27:00):
Even if you think that you cantrust somebody next to you, hey,
can you you know off my bag?
I'm gonna run to the bathroom.
You don't know who these peopleare.
So never leave those bagsunattended.
Same with your your valuables,such as your your passport and
your ID.
Keep that in a safe, secureplace because the last thing you
want to do is get stuck inanother country or somewhere
else where you're not able tofly back home.
(27:21):
So big pain in the butt.
So make sure you you keep upwith those items.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
Yeah.
And as you're traveling undertravel, you know, especially if
you're within the continental USand you're flying with a
firearm, making sure that youare legally or do it securing it
like you need to for theairlines, the FFA, but also that
you check the jurisdiction orthe area you're going to that
(27:47):
you can that you can legallypossess a firearm concealed or
otherwise, where you're going.
Just knowing where reciprocityis and laws that to that effect.
No, that's a big thing to a lotof people don't think.
Uh, hey, I'm in Florida and I'mgoing to go see family in
Jersey.
And you go to Jersey and you'vegot your 15-round magazine hands
(28:11):
with you.
Oops, I made a mistake.
They're not going to say, oh,well, we'll we'll we'll let you
slide on that.
Uh know your laws, no, know yourregulations of where you're
going so you save yourself somelegal trouble.
SPEAKER_02 (28:25):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (28:28):
Uh good place and little plug here for reciprocity
and a great place to check lawsas you're you know, whether
you're traveling in a car,plane, or bus or something, uh,
go to the USCCA.
They've got a reciprocityfeature either on the app or on
their website that you canactually check the laws of each
(28:48):
state that you may be drivingthrough or going through.
Make sure that there's nothingthat sticks out that you need to
be aware of, like duty toinform, magazine restrictions,
ammo restrictions, things likethat.
Every jurisdiction is different.
So safeguard yourself by keepingabreast of those changes as you
(29:10):
cross state lines and get toyour destination.
SPEAKER_04 (29:19):
Let's see.
SPEAKER_01 (29:23):
And then again, if you travel and you're traveling
with a firearm, you know, someplaces you can use protections,
you know, like if say you'regoing through Illinois, if you
stop and have to stop to get gasor something, and you're
concealed, unless you've gotyour uh uh firearms permit
(29:43):
through the Indiana, yourability, you're the the I forget
the FOID card firearms ownershipID, you make sure that uh if you
aren't can't carry in thatstate, but you can carry in your
vehicle while passing through,make sure that you before you
get out that you put yourhandgun up somewhere where
(30:04):
securely while you're out ofyour vehicle, so you don't get
into any trouble by forgettingafter you get out, and then
oops, I gotta get back in, oryou go into the store and
someone sees it again.
Legal obligations, legaltroubles that you want to avoid.
Anything else you want to put ontravel or talk about on travel?
SPEAKER_02 (30:28):
Just also make sure.
You know, if you're going withan Uber driver, make sure you're
checking the app and you'regetting in the vehicle that's
registered for the Uber app.
And you can even ask for theidentification of the driver.
Don't just get into anybody'svehicle.
This has happened quite a bitwith women.
They've been picked up bysomebody and it's not even the
driver.
And these people are able to goon and create these accounts,
(30:51):
and they're not even who theysay they are.
So be very careful just jumpinginto any Uber or Lyft.
I think Lyft does a better jobthan Uber.
I mean, I'm not a I don't workfor them or anything, but from
what I've known, it seems thoughLyft is a little bit better
option when it comes to safetyand security of their passengers
than Uber.
So just be very careful and alsomake sure that they don't have
that lock, like the child lockon when you get into a vehicle
(31:16):
so that if something did gowrong, you can get out and
you're not trapped in thatvehicle.
And drive responsibly.
If you're out for the holidayscelebrating, don't drink and
drive.
Time of year we have a lot ofDUIs and it's just not a good
position to be in.
SPEAKER_01 (31:31):
Yeah, because you don't want to ruin your time
away having a good time thancausing a bad situation for
yourself or somebody else.
Uh in an injury or hope it neverhappens, death is not going to
be an enjoyable ride.
SPEAKER_02 (31:50):
Yep.
Yeah, I definitely don't wantthat.
SPEAKER_01 (31:53):
Uh see.
Oh, when you do travel, giveyour timeline to the people that
you're going to visit or bewith, and then also to somebody
back at home that, hey, I shouldbe in Wyoming on Thursday around
in the evening or something, andthen follow up with those to
(32:15):
make sure that you've got youknow some sort of timeline if
something were to happen, thatlaw enforcement has an ability
to narrow the parameters of whatthey may need to do if you're uh
late arriving because and thenthey you get into an accident,
they've got a shorter time spanto look for you instead of well,
(32:37):
they left uh last Thursday andit's Wednesday, and I haven't
heard from them since.
No, that's just something thatyou want to uh it's a good
practice to have that let peopleknow where when you're leaving,
what time you're gonna getthere, and keep in touch with
them if you get delayed orsomething.
It's courtesy to do that, andthen it's also a safety
(33:00):
technique to keep yourself safeand secure.
SPEAKER_02 (33:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (33:09):
Okay.
Again, if you travel by publictransportation, bus, plane, or
something, make sure you adhereto the guidelines for that
carrier that you're using,because uh airplane travel is
(33:30):
very strict.
So make sure you if you have anyquestions on am I doing it
correctly, reach out to either alaw enforcement officer or even
maybe another firearmsinstructor and say, Hey, I I
haven't traveled you know withmy gun since I've got my
license, uh, but I'm travelingthis time.
You know, what's the bestpractice for me to do this?
(33:52):
And then also you can alsocontact that airline, and they
usually will give you a prettydetailed list of what you need
to do and how you need to storeeverything for flying and
everything.
SPEAKER_02 (34:05):
Yeah, make sure whatever bag you're using
doesn't have a firearm in itbecause it's happened even to
attorneys that you go to theairport and you forget there's a
firearm in the bag, you havesome ammo.
The other day when I wastraveling to Utah, I dumped my
bag a million times.
Like I checked it to make surethat there was nothing in it
because sometimes you forget,you just throw something in
(34:26):
another bag and you didn't thinkabout it, especially if you have
more than one firearm.
Yeah, like me, what I'll do isI'll switch bags out.
And there might be something inthere that you forgot was in the
bag, so just make sure thatyou're checking it.
Yeah, and if you have childrenat home, obviously you want to
make sure that there's nothingleft behind or anything that
your children get a can get ahold of, but just make sure that
those firearms are not in thatbag when you go to the airport.
SPEAKER_01 (34:48):
Yeah.
And it's no you that elusiveround that pops out of the
magazine or that you had at therange in your in this particular
bag that you used.
No, dumping it one time and notfalling out, it may not come
out.
It may be caught in a crevice orsomething.
But you really need to look atit because if you try to take
(35:09):
that bag that has that roundthat got stuck into an airport
or something, you're looking atsome major federal laws that you
broke.
SPEAKER_02 (35:18):
So yeah, that's why I carried a backpack that I use
for my it's for my laptop bag.
So it wasn't one of my rangebags, but because as an
instructor, you know, thingsfall out just exactly like you
just said, like you said.
Um, and what I did was I dumpedit outside, I checked every
seam, every crevice, everythingthat I could imagine.
I I checked just in case, eventhough I know I don't use that
(35:39):
bag for that purpose, I knowthat something like that could
happen.
Um then I had another personcheck it as well.
But yeah, you're absolutelyright about that.
The the shell casing ammo canget in in these little tight
spots, and that can be a bigproblem for you at the airport.
SPEAKER_01 (35:54):
Yeah, even if it's a spent cartridge, it can still be
a big problem.
SPEAKER_02 (35:58):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (36:00):
All right.
You don't have anything else?
We'll go to our businesses thatare out there and uh give them
some some tips.
And this is kind of no a littlebit on what you do on on the
side in another podcast, butlet's talk about some business
tactics that business owners orbusinesses with their employees
(36:20):
can take during this holidayseason because we got a lot of
cash that's uh goingtransactions, a lot of bank
travels.
Uh give us some tips, Crystal.
SPEAKER_02 (36:31):
Yeah, and this actually happened to my mother
many years ago when she wasworking with her boss.
There was a vehicle that knewwhat the routine was and what
time they did their drops.
And the vehicle came and blockedher boss.
And as he was going to leave, hethey drove their car and parked
it right behind her boss, and hewas robbed right there in the
parking lot.
So if you do do your your drops,make sure you kind of change up
(36:52):
the time, especially during theholiday in case someone is
watching you.
I mean, it's a good idea idea todo that anyway, but during the
holiday season, as we know,especially right now with
everything that's going on withyou know the lock of the
government shutdown.
People are desperate for money.
SPEAKER_05 (37:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:08):
So don't do the same routines.
Be very careful, keep your eyesopen when you're out in public.
Also have somebody else be alookout for you.
So if you know you're going toyour vehicle with your bank,
take a look around and make surethere's nobody that's standing
around getting ready to rob youin the parking lot.
So definitely be careful ofthat.
Also be careful of who you areallowing in your building.
(37:28):
I know a lot of these companieshave those door fobs and you got
to go in.
But what happens is people willallow anyone to walk in behind
them.
So they're like, Oh, you'recoming in?
Oh, come on in.
So they'll piggy back in.
SPEAKER_05 (37:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:40):
Be very careful.
You don't know what the people,you know, what their intentions
are, especially with the uh likewhat do you call like jewelry
stores now at this time of year?
SPEAKER_05 (37:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:48):
The jewelry store heist, just be very careful
about who's coming through thatfront door.
SPEAKER_01 (37:52):
Right.
Yeah.
And one thing though, we talkedabout businesses making their
drops and everything at thebank.
I know most law enforcementagencies, especially and they
understand more so during theholiday, they do it as a
service.
No, you call and say, Hey, Ineed a would like to have an
officer escort me to my bank tomake a a drop.
(38:14):
Most of them will send somebodyif they're not all tied up, but
they'll they will send somebodyto escort you or follow you to
the bank and kind of watch youuntil you drop it, and then you
split ways and everything.
But that's a another tip for thebusinesses that maybe don't
normally have law enforcementhelp or don't have normally
(38:35):
large deposits that they dealwith, but during the holiday you
do.
It's just a thing that uh beaware of that you can do if you
especially if you don't have asecond person that kind of
watches for you or goes orfollows you.
SPEAKER_05 (38:50):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (38:55):
And if I guess you know, with businesses, no, make
sure if you got cameras.
Most businesses, I won't saymost, a lot of businesses are
going to recordings, uh,cameras, uh CCT, CCTV.
If you have them and you are youknow, got one over a register or
(39:15):
something, I my preference or mysuggestion is make sure it
works.
You know, you can have it as adecoy or a dummy, but if you if
you want to splurge, or youknow, like I said, you got those
Roku, those other forms ofwireless cameras that you know
you can record on a SD card orsomething, or on a phone, you
(39:39):
can have it backed up to thephone.
You can you've got it there forsafety in case you were robbed
or in case something did happen.
I would just that's myrecommendation to you know at
least try to have a workingcamera in your high value
points, whether it's the frontdoor, the register, the back
(40:00):
room, or something that uh isactually working.
So you've got something toprotect yourself if you do have
a crime where they can possiblyuse it for prosecution.
SPEAKER_02 (40:11):
Yeah, and if they don't have cameras, and even if
they do, it's a good idea toalso, you know, educate your
employees on what to do ifsomething were to happen, uh,
and also to note the physicaldescription.
So they're able to give a decentdescription to law enforcement
of who the person is.
If you have cameras, obviouslyyou can go back to the cameras,
but if you don't, which a lot ofthese companies that I've spoken
(40:32):
to, they have a camera, but it'snot even working, like you said
earlier.
So we're gonna rely on what ourstaff have seen.
So, you know, give a goodphysical description.
SPEAKER_01 (40:44):
Okay.
Uh anything else on the businessthat you can think of that you
want to do.
SPEAKER_02 (40:51):
Yeah, actually, I thought about it is you know,
train your employees that whatto do during a robbery.
So don't have them fight the badguy or bad girl.
You know, I've seen videos, manyvideos where an innocent person
was hurt because I chasedsomebody out of the store that
was, you know, running out witha over here by me at least it
happens all the time, where aperson will be stealing from the
(41:14):
supermarket or a TJ Maxx or aMarshall's, they'll run out of
the store, and then sometimesyou'll see the store employee
chasing after them.
SPEAKER_06 (41:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:22):
Never give chase.
It's all you know insured, it'snot worth your life.
So just let them go, even ifit's hard to do, because it's
very frustrating to see a thiefrun out with your property.
But you know, teach your staffnot to pursue that, just let
them go.
SPEAKER_01 (41:37):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (41:37):
So that they're they're safe.
SPEAKER_01 (41:39):
Yeah, and that you know, the going back to the
chasing of somebody out of yourstore, you don't know what
you're walking into.
There may be a couple peoplebeing watches out front waiting
for this person to come out andthen to jump in a vehicle, run
down the alley or whatever.
You just don't know what you'regonna situation you're gonna be
putting yourself into by givingchase.
(42:02):
So just be mindful of that.
Yeah, I guess having a plan.
If you have like a I know somedepartment stores or some large
stores have walkie-talkies withtheir earpieces where they can
(42:25):
communicate with people, uhother employees.
If you have a big store and havea lot of staff during the
holiday season, that may be agood wise investment is to have
those walkie-talkies where maybeyou got an employee in the back
and you know someone's up frontand something happens out front.
You can maybe tip off thatemployee in the back that hey,
(42:47):
don't come out to hide orsomething like that.
Or no, you need help because yougot a medical situation out
front.
No, there's a lot of stuff thatcan can happen.
No, just having communication isa good thing to have uh in your
business.
SPEAKER_02 (43:02):
So yeah, and we you know, we think about theft and
these types of crime from theoutside, but there's also a lot
of internal theft that happens,especially during the holidays
where we have temporary workers.
SPEAKER_06 (43:13):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (43:13):
So we really need to have a robust hiring practice
when we're hiring for theholidays, because it's a lot
easier for this internal theftto happen when it's somebody
that's new or hasn't really beenvetted properly.
Right.
So be very careful when you'rehiring somebody, do a thorough
background, otherwise it's gonnacome back to bite you in the
butt.
SPEAKER_01 (43:33):
Yes.
Okay.
Uh I think we've kind of got thenutshell wrapped up here.
Just wanted to give somepersonal tips and tactics to
everybody for safe holidays.
Uh, we want to see everybodyhave fun, but we also want to
(43:53):
see them safe and secure and youknow return back to their their
lifestyle after the holidays.
So take these uh tips and try toimplement them if you don't
already do that in your dailyroutine and enjoy the holidays.
Uh we're still gonna we're stillworking on some podcast
(44:15):
interviews, scheduling andstuff, but enjoy your holidays.
We hope to have you back eitherduring the holidays listening or
you know after your holiday rushis over, coming back and and
getting back into the podcast.
But uh like to thank everybodyfor taking the time to listen.
Hope these tips and tactics aresomething that uh you know pick
(44:39):
up on and and use.
Thank you, Crystal, for you knowyour input on this.
Like I said, I know you've gotanother podcast that you're
doing, more business related,and kind of in some of the stuff
that we discussed here, but it'ssomething that we all need to be
watchful and mindful of thingsduring the holidays because it
(45:00):
does get so rushed and hustleand bustle that you know we tend
to let our guard down, tend tooh, it won't happen to me.
I'm just going to the store,going just running into the mall
to grab something real quick andcome back out.
And no, we just want to havemake sure everybody has a safe
holiday.
SPEAKER_02 (45:19):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (45:20):
All right, Crystal.
Any closing remarks you want togive before we end this uh this
episode?
SPEAKER_02 (45:28):
Uh, just want to say happy holidays to everybody.
Just keep your eyes open, besafe, enjoy the time you have
with your family and friends,and uh yeah, we'll see you on
the next episode.
SPEAKER_01 (45:38):
All right, sounds good.
Thank y'all, and uh we hope youhave a wonderful holiday.
SPEAKER_00 (45:43):
Um the information provided in this podcast is
intended for educational andinformational purposes only.
The content is not a substitutefor professional self-defense
training, legal advice, orconsultation with relevant
authorities.
Listeners are encouraged tospeak guidance from qualified
self-defense instructors oflegal professionals to interrupt
directly aligned with localprocess regulations.
Hi, welcome to the Armed Guardian Podcast.
I'm your host, Brian, here withour co-host Crystal.
Today we're going to talk aboutholiday safety, personal home,
travel, business, shopping,things that you can do to be
more secure, safe with yourholiday stuff, because this is
going into a time of the yearwhere a lot of people are out
(00:50):
shopping, a lot of money istrans transacted between people.
And no theft and burglary arehigher during the holidays.
So we wanted to kind of reachout to everybody and just kind
of give them some tips, someinformation.
And let's go from there to helpmake you, your home, your
(01:10):
travel, everything a lot moresafer and more comfortable.
Crystal, welcome.
How you doing today?
SPEAKER_02 (01:18):
Doing great, Brian.
I'm looking forward to theholiday season, as well as
spending this time to educateour listeners on some safety
tips that hopefully don't ruintheir holiday season.
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
Right.
Okay.
Well, I guess we'll uh we'll dothis like we did with Kess, uh,
the last recording, just kind ofhave an open discussion about
you know the four different uhtopics that we have here.
And we'll go, I'll give you theopportunity to talk about yours,
and then I'll I'll interject alittle bit.
And then if I've got anything toadd, then put mine on the tail
(01:52):
end and we'll just follow thatthrough the four four topics
that we have.
So our first is uh personaltactics.
What can we do to make ourselvesmore secure, more safe, either
at home personally, or whilewe're out in the public?
What's what are some things thatyou suggest or that you teach or
(02:13):
advise people on?
SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
Let's start from being out in public during the
holidays.
There's a lot of shopping goingon.
This is a time of year whereeverybody is out doing their
thing, and oftentimes we let ourguards down.
We need to remember that wealways need to be aware of our
environment at all times.
This is not the time to let itdown and get on our phone and
get distracted because that'sexactly what criminals are
(02:37):
looking for.
(03:44):
Okay where my screen just wentto because now it's not there.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
Oh, if you want to keep it uh this, I wasn't gonna
do the video, I was just gonnado the I lost you and I'll edit
the the silence out, but the seewhat was it?
SPEAKER_05 (04:04):
Uh pickpocketing.
SPEAKER_01 (04:05):
Okay, uh your safety being no not letting your guard
down with your phone and stuff,and that that's about the point
that I lost you and we'll pickup from this point continuing
on.
SPEAKER_02 (04:15):
Okay.
All right, so I was saying wasduring this time of year, we're
in crowds, such as the shoppingmalls, and pickpocketing can be
a big problem for us.
So if you're a gentleman, makesure you keep your wallet in
your front pockets, don't leavethem in your back pocket, which
makes it a lot easier forcriminals to come up and snatch
it without you knowing.
(04:36):
For the ladies, if you have acrossbag or a purse that goes
over or uh even a fanny pack,let's just say put those special
items or your valuables, yourwallets inside of that area.
Don't just fling it over yourshoulder where somebody can grab
your purse and run.
We don't want to look like aneasy target for them.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
Right.
Yeah, the the one thing with thefanny packs, if you carry one, I
know a lot of them have sotheir, well, not a lot of them,
I know some that have theirsecurement on the back side.
So if you're carrying the pouchin the front, the the latch or
joint connecting pieces in theback.
Some of them will have it upnext to the pouch itself, but
(05:18):
make sure that that connectionis somewhere where you've
visibility to watch it and notsomebody can come up, press the
butt, press, undo it, and thensnatch it from you.
SPEAKER_02 (05:30):
Yeah, that's how mine is too.
It's right on the side, itdoesn't latch in the back.
So you're absolutely right aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (05:36):
And then another thing, no, you talked about guys
with wallets.
One thing I used to teach in mysituational awareness classes
that for guys, carry two, carryall your important stuff in your
front pocket and carry a dummywallet with just maybe a couple
of dollars, a couple of olddebit cards that are no good
(05:57):
anymore, or even go get prepaidcards but just don't activate
them and put them in your walletbecause you giving them
criminals something, they'regonna think that they've got
something and more than likelyrun off after you give them what
what little bit they are askingfor, but you still got your
license, your good credit cardsor debit cards, and your money
(06:20):
and stuff still in you know youryour front pocket, or if no,
wherever you want to carry it,but no, have have a dummy wallet
and actually use that to youradvantage.
I tell them to carry it on theirnon-dominant side, and that way
when they're turning, they canturn and reach for the wallet.
(06:42):
The people will see that they'rereaching for the wallet, and if
you're carrying, it actuallywill give you a chance to move
your other hand to yourconcealed weapon if you need to
to draw it while distractingthem with giving them that
wallet.
So that's just some of thetactics that I used to teach uh
whenever I was teaching thatsituational awareness and carry
(07:04):
options.
SPEAKER_02 (07:06):
Yeah, I call it the decoy keys or decoy wallets.
So you're exactly right aboutthat.
I encourage them to do the samething, but just whatever we do,
we want to make sure it's a lotharder for the criminal to
target us.
And if you're if you just givethem something, they run off,
they're happy, you're safe.
That's you know exactly whatwe're trying to do.
SPEAKER_01 (07:23):
Yeah.
And during the holiday seasons,more of no, if you can shop,
shop in pairs or groups, andthen just have somebody
designated more so if you needto, to be an observer while
you're putting stuff in the car,getting out of the car, going in
and out of businesses, just uhno, do it in groups because, as
(07:45):
we know, criminals, especiallysolo criminals, they don't want
to engage a group of people thatthey think that they could be
overpowered or you know caughtinjured or something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:59):
And that goes into another point you're saying,
like when we're going out to ourvehicles, and if we have our
gifts that we've just purchasedand we put them in our vehicle,
we want to make sure thatthey're in the trunk.
Don't just sit them on yourfront seat or your back seat
where they're visible becausecriminals are opportunists.
And the minute that they walk byand they see your bags there,
your window's gonna be smashedand your bags are going to be
(08:19):
gone.
So make sure you put them inyour trunk.
It doesn't mean it can't happenin your trunk because there are
people who will watch you in theparking lot and then just pop
your trunk and go.
But um, it's it's a lot moresecure though, if they're not
just sitting in their frontseat.
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Yeah, or the back.
Go go ahead.
SPEAKER_02 (08:36):
No, that was it.
SPEAKER_01 (08:37):
Okay, I was gonna say also, you know, with some of
the SUVs that have that openback, make sure you have, if you
can, purchase or have includedthe cover that retractable cover
that you can pull over becauseout of sight, out of mind is a
big determent, but you justdon't want it to look like hey,
there's something in there.
If they can't see in there, theyit's less of a enticement for
(09:02):
them to break in and then nothave anything uh comprised to
looking in, seeing something,and okay, I break this window, I
can grab this and go, and andthings of that nature.
So uh just be aware of you know,if you've got an open area in
your SUV or van or somethingthat you know you have some way
(09:24):
of covering or making it looklike not much is maybe in there.
SPEAKER_02 (09:28):
So yeah.
And another thing too, whenwe're out shopping, if you can,
if you have credit cards, useyour credit cards.
I'm not telling you to go andget in debt, but use your credit
cards because if something wereto happen and there's fraud on
your credit card, it's a loteasier to get that taken care of
with credit than it is fordebit.
So if you can use credit, usecredit.
(09:49):
Just don't go crazy and getyourself in debt because that's
gonna be a whole nother problemfor you.
But yeah, use your credit cardsif possible and be very wary of
where you're shopping at.
You know, you got to make sureit's a legit business.
Um, if you're doing onlineshopping, that's another problem
in itself.
Yeah, but definitely use yourcredit card when possible.
SPEAKER_01 (10:09):
Yeah, and no, I have heard stories and have actually
seen it, but be aware, you know,popular like restaurants or
stores where you know you giveyour card to the waiter,
waitress, the cashier, and theyturn and and move away for or
book the card out of your site.
Be leery because they may berunning that card through a
(10:32):
skimmer before they run it intoyour the register and stuff
where they got your information.
So just be aware of that.
Try not to let your card out ofyour site uh while you're giving
it to somebody for a purchase orsomething.
SPEAKER_02 (10:47):
Yeah, and don't carry large amounts of cash.
There's people that run to thebank and they don't want to use
credit or debit, and forwhatever reason they go take out
a lump sum of money and they'rewalking around with it.
Now you get robbed, and youcan't get that cash back.
SPEAKER_05 (11:01):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (11:02):
So it's not a good idea, and don't go out wearing
fancy jewelry and you know,expensive purses, anything that
makes you look like an easytarget or look like you have
something of value.
So, you know, leave your yourbeautiful diamond earrings at
home, diamond rings, nicenecklaces.
This is not the time to be outthere flaunting it, right?
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Okay.
Let's see.
I can't really think of anythingelse that we really haven't
covered.
Just remember, you know, your ifyou've taken a class for
situational awareness, rememberthe color codes, you know, and
(11:44):
remember the path of that youreally need to watch or go
through.
Don't cut through the alleys,don't go in through the parking
garages, you know, try tominimize that if you do that.
Because that's where you're moreso out of the sight of others,
and that's the prime breedingground for robbery or assault or
(12:06):
something to happen.
And uh, we want to try tominimize that.
Stay on the sidewalks, take thelong way around if you have to,
and then no, always if you cango in groups.
So that's pretty much ahead.
SPEAKER_02 (12:18):
Yeah, and well-lit areas, be mindful of where
you're parking.
I know it's gonna be busy, theparking lots are full, but if
you can park near a if you'reout shopping at night, and even
now, so with the time changesgetting darker a lot earlier.
So if you know, six, seveno'clock at night, it's dark out.
You need to make sure you'reparked where there's bright
lighting so somebody just can'tambush you in the dark.
(12:39):
And it's also a good idea tohave a tactical flashlight if
you are gonna be shopping outnight, even if you're parked
under bright light.
I do like tactical flashlightsto give you more of an advantage
so I can see what's going onaround me.
And if I have to use it as adefensive weapon, I can do that
as well.
SPEAKER_01 (12:53):
Right.
And there's one other thing thatjust popped in my mind that when
you're pulling into a parkinglot at a restaurant, mall, a
store, or something, wheneveryou park, keep your doors locked
and wait just a few minutes.
Uh, observe around you beforeyou get out.
And then whenever you return tothe vehicle, once you get in the
vehicle, get in as quickly asyou can to put your stuff up and
(13:17):
then jump in the vehicle.
But as soon as you get in, lockthe doors.
That way you prevent anybodyfrom just snatching open the
doors.
They'd have to break the windowto get in or get access to you.
SPEAKER_02 (13:58):
Yeah, and don't sit there and check your text
messages and emails at thatpoint.
Just go ahead and get out ofthat spot.
And if you have to go someplaceelse to do that, that's fine.
But just don't do it in theparking lot in case somebody's
actually watching you.
SPEAKER_05 (14:10):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (14:10):
You don't want to make yourself an easy target by
just sitting in your car anylonger than you need to be.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Right.
Okay.
Uh, anything else on under thepersonal that you want to
address or touch on?
SPEAKER_02 (14:23):
Just like we were saying, we want to make sure
we're aware of our environment.
If you feel like something isoff, trust your gut.
There's a lot of sketchy peopleout out, a lot of sketchy people
out this time of year.
So just be mindful of that.
SPEAKER_01 (14:34):
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, let's talk about hometactics that we can use for you
know fortifying or you know,being safe at home.
What are some of yourrecommendations or your your
teachings that you do?
SPEAKER_02 (14:49):
So, first of all, we need to start by locking our
doors.
It's amazing how many peopledon't even lock their doors.
SPEAKER_05 (14:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
And that's a big problem.
So make sure you have your homesafely secured.
If you're gonna go on vacation,don't announce it, don't put it
all over social media.
The countdown has begun, youknow, four more days till our
trip.
And, you know, anybody,especially if you have a public
profile, if they know you're outof town, you're gonna be an easy
target for somebody to come inand break into your home.
(15:16):
So just be very careful of whatyou're sharing on social media.
And maybe you're out of town andyou're sharing pictures of where
you're at at that current time.
It's not a good thing for acriminal.
I mean, it's not a good thingfor you because criminals will
also know that you're away.
If you have a neighbor orsomebody that can come and check
your product uh property, makesure you set that up beforehand.
(15:36):
Back in the day when we used toget newspaper deliveries, that
used to be a big thing, like yougot to have somebody pick up
your newspapers.
Not too many people have thatanymore.
But if you're gonna be away foran extended period of time and
you do have mail, the mail willhold that for you.
So you don't have to worry aboutyou have, you know, a mailbox
that's getting full, and peoplesee that and they say, wait a
minute, you know, there's a lotof mail in that box, somebody's
(15:57):
not around.
But contact your mail, your postoffice, and have them hold your
mail for you.
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
And even some of your carriers like FedEx, UPS,
uh, some of those you can haveactual delivery instructions uh
for packages after they ship.
So if you know you're not goingto be there, you can actually
say, leave it, leave this withmy neighbor at such and such.
And most of them that I haveencountered will do that, or
either you can just have themhold it.
(16:23):
They don't like to hold it, butsome of them understand and will
do that.
But if you can't do any of that,you know, again, your neighbor
that you have that you trust,hey, I'm having a package come
on Wednesday.
You know, I'll be out of town.
Would you pick that up and takeit in and I'll get it when we
get back and stuff?
And then you were also sayingabout the photos, social media,
(16:45):
wait until you get back homefrom your vacation or your trip
to photo dump and everything.
SPEAKER_02 (16:50):
Right.
Yeah.
Uh back to the home delivery,too.
During the holidays, porchpirates they go crazy.
This is the time of year I Imean, it's a good percentage of
the holiday crimes that do occurare porch pirates.
So if you have Amazon Prime andyou have those smart garage door
(17:11):
openers, you can set it up wherethey can deliver those packages
into your garage.
They get like a one-time codeand they put it in, whether or
not you feel comfortable withthat.
But if you do and you have thattechnology, they will more than
happily, they're more than happyto deliver those packages into
your garage.
You can also request that theyleave them behind your house.
(17:32):
Like if you tell them, hey,deliver, you know, in my
backyard or behind my fence,they're willing to do that
behind some kind of a plant.
You know, people have like thesebig pots and stuff, put it
there.
But you can request that.
Also, if there's a way torequest a signature so that you
know there's not just going tobe left behind if you have no
other options.
(17:53):
So these are some things that wecan do to kind of counter these
porch pirates.
I've been a victim of it myself,and it's it's so annoying.
And then you have to contact theAmazon or whoever and see if
they can re-deliver it.
And if it's the holidays, theymay not get it in time.
So another thing too is makesure you report it.
I believe it's only about 10% ofthese types of crimes are ever
(18:14):
reported.
So when we're talking aboutcrime statistics in our area, we
can't get a really accurateindicator when people are not
reporting these types of crimes.
So definitely report it.
Doesn't matter if it's thesmallest item, please report it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:29):
And and talking about the porch pirates and you
know, leaving your packages,alternative spots on your
property, security cameras, uh,ring cameras, they actually
would be a wise thing.
I've you know people have themset up uh you know as their
doorbell or they have a camerain a window or on the eve of
(18:51):
their home where they recordpeople coming up to their door
around their property and stuff.
Now, if you've got that, and andyou don't have to have that
through a security system, youcan do that you know
individually, like with uh Iknow Roku security has cameras,
uh Ring has cameras.
There's several people that youknow you can do the
(19:12):
wireless-based and it willrecord it to either a cloud if
you pay for it or to the memorycard, or you you know, you get
notification on your phone thatthere's movement or something,
you can look at it while you'reaway.
So do that if you have an alarmsystem, make sure that that's
armed during the vacation whileyou're gone or even while you're
(19:33):
at home, because they are bigdeterrents a lot of time,
especially if people know thatyou have an alarm system or you
have the the signage out front.
And I've I've known people thathave gotten signs and put them
out front, even though theydon't have an alarm system, but
it's a good deterrent.
SPEAKER_02 (19:51):
Right, I've seen that too, or fake cameras, even.
SPEAKER_01 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (19:55):
Anything you can do to try and trick the bad guys,
right?
SPEAKER_01 (19:58):
Yeah, and then no, like like we were saying, uh no,
some of the other things thatyou can do for your home while
you're away is you know, have aneighbor come over, turn on,
turn off and on lights in thehome to make it look like
there's somebody in and out.
If you have a relative or aneighbor that has a spare car,
you know, have them move a cararound in your driveway or on
(20:21):
your property so it makes itlook like somebody's there and
it's less more of a deterrentfor somebody not knowing if
you're home or not, actually, toyou know do something.
SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
So yep, that that works.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
Let's see.
We talked about alarms, wetalked about porch pirates,
cameras, neighbors, mail holds.
Uh anything else you can thinkof?
SPEAKER_02 (20:52):
Yeah, we gotta be careful of the holiday scammers
out there.
SPEAKER_01 (20:56):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (20:56):
Well, these offers that are too good to be true, be
very careful of those.
They're everywhere during theholidays.
They're going around asking fordonations.
You need to do your research andmake sure that they are they are
in a legit organization.
Because anybody, well, nowadayseverybody has Zell or Cash App
or Venmo to have some way ofgetting your money.
SPEAKER_05 (21:16):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
And if you didn't do any research, God knows where
that money's going to.
Right.
So be very careful of thosescams.
Another thing they do online isyou'll get, being that we're
always doing a lot of onlineshopping, you'll get these
notifications about yourtracking and information of
that, or click on this.
Be very careful becauseoftentimes those are scams.
SPEAKER_01 (21:36):
Yeah, or they look real.
And the ones that say, uh,there's a problem with your
package or your delivery, clickthis link.
So I we do a lot of onlineshopping, so it's hard during
the holiday season, so it's hardto know if that's true or not.
The best thing is I know, likewith Amazon, you can go to
(21:58):
Amazon and click on your orderand see exactly what's going on
with it.
If there's a problem, they'llhave it in the in the app for
you to contact somebody.
So don't just laxly click on thethe links or anything.
Do some investigation on itbecause that, like you said,
they make it look realprofessional, real true, and all
(22:18):
all it is is a fishing or tryingto get your information for no
nefarious reasons.
SPEAKER_02 (22:25):
So yeah, and I know like when you're shopping, make
sure they're verified websiteswith secure checking out.
I don't know what they callthat, but there's usually like a
padlock icon, you know, you havelike the HTTP, whatever, yeah.
The UR, and then there'll belike a padlock icon.
So you gotta make sure it'ssecure.
Don't just put your cardinformation in not knowing it's
an app if it's a secure websiteor not.
(22:46):
Right.
Because as you know, a lot ofthese crimes do happen online.
So we got to make sure thatthese are in fact real legit
websites.
SPEAKER_03 (22:54):
Okay, yep.
SPEAKER_01 (22:57):
Uh see.
Oh, one thing too, you can dosome departments will have
vacation watches.
If you call like your localpolice or sheriff's department,
some of them have a offer aservice where they will have an
officer try to run by, notsaying that they will, but if
they're not busy, you know,residences where they've
(23:20):
registered that they're out oftown on vacation, and they will
try to get an officer to atleast ride by, look for anything
out of place, and and no, itgives you an extra benefit of
security with the policepresence in no in that area.
So that's another suggestion.
SPEAKER_02 (23:39):
Yeah.
And also after the holidays,because you know, we're trying
to return to normal, but makesure when you're disposing of
the boxes, put them away wherethey're not out in plain sight.
So if you have new electronics,your computers, laptops, phones,
if you put it out on the side ofthe road and people see that,
they know exactly what you have.
So make sure you dispose of themwhere people cannot see what
(24:01):
those items are.
SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
And I guess one other thing that I I just popped
in my mind that it's not reallysecurity uh theft related or
anything like that, but be awareof fire hazards, your Christmas
tree.
If you're going on vacation andyou have a live tree, don't
leave your lights or don't settimers for that unless you've
(24:24):
got somebody that's activelyputting water into the tray to
keep it moisturized.
Otherwise, you've got apotential fire hazard.
Be aware of where you're puttingthings.
Uh, if you're going to be out oftown for a period of time, you
know, maybe shut your AC maybeoff if you can, and just set it
(24:47):
on where the fan comes on.
And you know, just watching forany fire hazards.
You know, we want to make surethat you know around your home
is picked up, there's nothingthat's combustible per se around
there.
You got canisters of propane orsomething on your patio for your
grill.
Just be mindful of keeping thatmaybe at a distance while you're
(25:10):
gone, because that you know, younever know when a canister is
going to develop a leak, andthen you've got propane going
around, and all it takes is justa spark to ignite that.
Water.
That's another thing, especiallyin the cold in the you know,
with it being Christmas andstuff in some of the colder
environments, pipes freezing andno having a water hat leak or uh
(25:32):
flooding.
Maybe shut your water off whileyou're on vacation if you can.
It's just uh another way ofcontrolling damage control, I
guess is the best thing, becauseyou'd hate to come back and find
your house flooded and a lot ofstuff uh ruined because water's
been in the floor for threedays, and that's gonna put a
(25:56):
damper on your holiday spirit oryour post-holiday spirit.
SPEAKER_02 (26:00):
Yeah, all unless you have you know some work you
wanted to get done.
That's a real quick way to getit done.
We needed it to get rid of thatold uh flooring.
Now you're gonna get fresh newfloor, but yeah, but with all
jokes aside, yeah, you don'twant to come home to some
flooding or even worse, yourhouse is burnt down.
SPEAKER_01 (26:15):
Right.
Okay.
Nothing else has popped in myhead on the home side.
Any you got anything that'spopped into yours that you want
to discuss before we go totravel?
SPEAKER_02 (26:28):
Nope, we'll we'll go right on to travel.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
All right.
Well, now we're gonna discusstravel tactics.
What's your bestrecommendations, best practices
for travel with during theholiday?
SPEAKER_02 (26:40):
Yeah, so during a holiday when you're at the
airports, we've got to make surethat we, I mean, they usually
announce it on the speaker overand over, not to leave your
belongings unattended, but yetpeople still do that.
And I do know that some peoplewill have gifts inside of their
luggage or even you know, itemsthat are very valuable.
So make sure you keep an eye onthat.
Don't ever leave anythingunattended.
(27:00):
Even if you think that you cantrust somebody next to you, hey,
can you you know off my bag?
I'm gonna run to the bathroom.
You don't know who these peopleare.
So never leave those bagsunattended.
Same with your your valuables,such as your your passport and
your ID.
Keep that in a safe, secureplace because the last thing you
want to do is get stuck inanother country or somewhere
else where you're not able tofly back home.
(27:21):
So big pain in the butt.
So make sure you you keep upwith those items.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
Yeah.
And as you're traveling undertravel, you know, especially if
you're within the continental USand you're flying with a
firearm, making sure that youare legally or do it securing it
like you need to for theairlines, the FFA, but also that
you check the jurisdiction orthe area you're going to that
(27:47):
you can that you can legallypossess a firearm concealed or
otherwise, where you're going.
Just knowing where reciprocityis and laws that to that effect.
No, that's a big thing to a lotof people don't think.
Uh, hey, I'm in Florida and I'mgoing to go see family in
Jersey.
And you go to Jersey and you'vegot your 15-round magazine hands
(28:11):
with you.
Oops, I made a mistake.
They're not going to say, oh,well, we'll we'll we'll let you
slide on that.
Uh know your laws, no, know yourregulations of where you're
going so you save yourself somelegal trouble.
SPEAKER_02 (28:25):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (28:28):
Uh good place and little plug here for reciprocity
and a great place to check lawsas you're you know, whether
you're traveling in a car,plane, or bus or something, uh,
go to the USCCA.
They've got a reciprocityfeature either on the app or on
their website that you canactually check the laws of each
(28:48):
state that you may be drivingthrough or going through.
Make sure that there's nothingthat sticks out that you need to
be aware of, like duty toinform, magazine restrictions,
ammo restrictions, things likethat.
Every jurisdiction is different.
So safeguard yourself by keepingabreast of those changes as you
(29:10):
cross state lines and get toyour destination.
SPEAKER_04 (29:19):
Let's see.
SPEAKER_01 (29:23):
And then again, if you travel and you're traveling
with a firearm, you know, someplaces you can use protections,
you know, like if say you'regoing through Illinois, if you
stop and have to stop to get gasor something, and you're
concealed, unless you've gotyour uh uh firearms permit
(29:43):
through the Indiana, yourability, you're the the I forget
the FOID card firearms ownershipID, you make sure that uh if you
aren't can't carry in thatstate, but you can carry in your
vehicle while passing through,make sure that you before you
get out that you put yourhandgun up somewhere where
(30:04):
securely while you're out ofyour vehicle, so you don't get
into any trouble by forgettingafter you get out, and then
oops, I gotta get back in, oryou go into the store and
someone sees it again.
Legal obligations, legaltroubles that you want to avoid.
Anything else you want to put ontravel or talk about on travel?
SPEAKER_02 (30:28):
Just also make sure.
You know, if you're going withan Uber driver, make sure you're
checking the app and you'regetting in the vehicle that's
registered for the Uber app.
And you can even ask for theidentification of the driver.
Don't just get into anybody'svehicle.
This has happened quite a bitwith women.
They've been picked up bysomebody and it's not even the
driver.
And these people are able to goon and create these accounts,
(30:51):
and they're not even who theysay they are.
So be very careful just jumpinginto any Uber or Lyft.
I think Lyft does a better jobthan Uber.
I mean, I'm not a I don't workfor them or anything, but from
what I've known, it seems thoughLyft is a little bit better
option when it comes to safetyand security of their passengers
than Uber.
So just be very careful and alsomake sure that they don't have
that lock, like the child lockon when you get into a vehicle
(31:16):
so that if something did gowrong, you can get out and
you're not trapped in thatvehicle.
And drive responsibly.
If you're out for the holidayscelebrating, don't drink and
drive.
Time of year we have a lot ofDUIs and it's just not a good
position to be in.
SPEAKER_01 (31:31):
Yeah, because you don't want to ruin your time
away having a good time thancausing a bad situation for
yourself or somebody else.
Uh in an injury or hope it neverhappens, death is not going to
be an enjoyable ride.
SPEAKER_02 (31:50):
Yep.
Yeah, I definitely don't wantthat.
SPEAKER_01 (31:53):
Uh see.
Oh, when you do travel, giveyour timeline to the people that
you're going to visit or bewith, and then also to somebody
back at home that, hey, I shouldbe in Wyoming on Thursday around
in the evening or something, andthen follow up with those to
(32:15):
make sure that you've got youknow some sort of timeline if
something were to happen, thatlaw enforcement has an ability
to narrow the parameters of whatthey may need to do if you're uh
late arriving because and thenthey you get into an accident,
they've got a shorter time spanto look for you instead of well,
(32:37):
they left uh last Thursday andit's Wednesday, and I haven't
heard from them since.
No, that's just something thatyou want to uh it's a good
practice to have that let peopleknow where when you're leaving,
what time you're gonna getthere, and keep in touch with
them if you get delayed orsomething.
It's courtesy to do that, andthen it's also a safety
(33:00):
technique to keep yourself safeand secure.
SPEAKER_02 (33:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (33:09):
Okay.
Again, if you travel by publictransportation, bus, plane, or
something, make sure you adhereto the guidelines for that
carrier that you're using,because uh airplane travel is
(33:30):
very strict.
So make sure you if you have anyquestions on am I doing it
correctly, reach out to either alaw enforcement officer or even
maybe another firearmsinstructor and say, Hey, I I
haven't traveled you know withmy gun since I've got my
license, uh, but I'm travelingthis time.
You know, what's the bestpractice for me to do this?
(33:52):
And then also you can alsocontact that airline, and they
usually will give you a prettydetailed list of what you need
to do and how you need to storeeverything for flying and
everything.
SPEAKER_02 (34:05):
Yeah, make sure whatever bag you're using
doesn't have a firearm in itbecause it's happened even to
attorneys that you go to theairport and you forget there's a
firearm in the bag, you havesome ammo.
The other day when I wastraveling to Utah, I dumped my
bag a million times.
Like I checked it to make surethat there was nothing in it
because sometimes you forget,you just throw something in
(34:26):
another bag and you didn't thinkabout it, especially if you have
more than one firearm.
Yeah, like me, what I'll do isI'll switch bags out.
And there might be something inthere that you forgot was in the
bag, so just make sure thatyou're checking it.
Yeah, and if you have childrenat home, obviously you want to
make sure that there's nothingleft behind or anything that
your children get a can get ahold of, but just make sure that
those firearms are not in thatbag when you go to the airport.
SPEAKER_01 (34:48):
Yeah.
And it's no you that elusiveround that pops out of the
magazine or that you had at therange in your in this particular
bag that you used.
No, dumping it one time and notfalling out, it may not come
out.
It may be caught in a crevice orsomething.
But you really need to look atit because if you try to take
(35:09):
that bag that has that roundthat got stuck into an airport
or something, you're looking atsome major federal laws that you
broke.
SPEAKER_02 (35:18):
So yeah, that's why I carried a backpack that I use
for my it's for my laptop bag.
So it wasn't one of my rangebags, but because as an
instructor, you know, thingsfall out just exactly like you
just said, like you said.
Um, and what I did was I dumpedit outside, I checked every
seam, every crevice, everythingthat I could imagine.
I I checked just in case, eventhough I know I don't use that
(35:39):
bag for that purpose, I knowthat something like that could
happen.
Um then I had another personcheck it as well.
But yeah, you're absolutelyright about that.
The the shell casing ammo canget in in these little tight
spots, and that can be a bigproblem for you at the airport.
SPEAKER_01 (35:54):
Yeah, even if it's a spent cartridge, it can still be
a big problem.
SPEAKER_02 (35:58):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (36:00):
All right.
You don't have anything else?
We'll go to our businesses thatare out there and uh give them
some some tips.
And this is kind of no a littlebit on what you do on on the
side in another podcast, butlet's talk about some business
tactics that business owners orbusinesses with their employees
(36:20):
can take during this holidayseason because we got a lot of
cash that's uh goingtransactions, a lot of bank
travels.
Uh give us some tips, Crystal.
SPEAKER_02 (36:31):
Yeah, and this actually happened to my mother
many years ago when she wasworking with her boss.
There was a vehicle that knewwhat the routine was and what
time they did their drops.
And the vehicle came and blockedher boss.
And as he was going to leave, hethey drove their car and parked
it right behind her boss, and hewas robbed right there in the
parking lot.
So if you do do your your drops,make sure you kind of change up
(36:52):
the time, especially during theholiday in case someone is
watching you.
I mean, it's a good idea idea todo that anyway, but during the
holiday season, as we know,especially right now with
everything that's going on withyou know the lock of the
government shutdown.
People are desperate for money.
SPEAKER_05 (37:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:08):
So don't do the same routines.
Be very careful, keep your eyesopen when you're out in public.
Also have somebody else be alookout for you.
So if you know you're going toyour vehicle with your bank,
take a look around and make surethere's nobody that's standing
around getting ready to rob youin the parking lot.
So definitely be careful ofthat.
Also be careful of who you areallowing in your building.
(37:28):
I know a lot of these companieshave those door fobs and you got
to go in.
But what happens is people willallow anyone to walk in behind
them.
So they're like, Oh, you'recoming in?
Oh, come on in.
So they'll piggy back in.
SPEAKER_05 (37:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:40):
Be very careful.
You don't know what the people,you know, what their intentions
are, especially with the uh likewhat do you call like jewelry
stores now at this time of year?
SPEAKER_05 (37:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (37:48):
The jewelry store heist, just be very careful
about who's coming through thatfront door.
SPEAKER_01 (37:52):
Right.
Yeah.
And one thing though, we talkedabout businesses making their
drops and everything at thebank.
I know most law enforcementagencies, especially and they
understand more so during theholiday, they do it as a
service.
No, you call and say, Hey, Ineed a would like to have an
officer escort me to my bank tomake a a drop.
(38:14):
Most of them will send somebodyif they're not all tied up, but
they'll they will send somebodyto escort you or follow you to
the bank and kind of watch youuntil you drop it, and then you
split ways and everything.
But that's a another tip for thebusinesses that maybe don't
normally have law enforcementhelp or don't have normally
(38:35):
large deposits that they dealwith, but during the holiday you
do.
It's just a thing that uh beaware of that you can do if you
especially if you don't have asecond person that kind of
watches for you or goes orfollows you.
SPEAKER_05 (38:50):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (38:55):
And if I guess you know, with businesses, no, make
sure if you got cameras.
Most businesses, I won't saymost, a lot of businesses are
going to recordings, uh,cameras, uh CCT, CCTV.
If you have them and you are youknow, got one over a register or
(39:15):
something, I my preference or mysuggestion is make sure it
works.
You know, you can have it as adecoy or a dummy, but if you if
you want to splurge, or youknow, like I said, you got those
Roku, those other forms ofwireless cameras that you know
you can record on a SD card orsomething, or on a phone, you
(39:39):
can have it backed up to thephone.
You can you've got it there forsafety in case you were robbed
or in case something did happen.
I would just that's myrecommendation to you know at
least try to have a workingcamera in your high value
points, whether it's the frontdoor, the register, the back
(40:00):
room, or something that uh isactually working.
So you've got something toprotect yourself if you do have
a crime where they can possiblyuse it for prosecution.
SPEAKER_02 (40:11):
Yeah, and if they don't have cameras, and even if
they do, it's a good idea toalso, you know, educate your
employees on what to do ifsomething were to happen, uh,
and also to note the physicaldescription.
So they're able to give a decentdescription to law enforcement
of who the person is.
If you have cameras, obviouslyyou can go back to the cameras,
but if you don't, which a lot ofthese companies that I've spoken
(40:32):
to, they have a camera, but it'snot even working, like you said
earlier.
So we're gonna rely on what ourstaff have seen.
So, you know, give a goodphysical description.
SPEAKER_01 (40:44):
Okay.
Uh anything else on the businessthat you can think of that you
want to do.
SPEAKER_02 (40:51):
Yeah, actually, I thought about it is you know,
train your employees that whatto do during a robbery.
So don't have them fight the badguy or bad girl.
You know, I've seen videos, manyvideos where an innocent person
was hurt because I chasedsomebody out of the store that
was, you know, running out witha over here by me at least it
happens all the time, where aperson will be stealing from the
(41:14):
supermarket or a TJ Maxx or aMarshall's, they'll run out of
the store, and then sometimesyou'll see the store employee
chasing after them.
SPEAKER_06 (41:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:22):
Never give chase.
It's all you know insured, it'snot worth your life.
So just let them go, even ifit's hard to do, because it's
very frustrating to see a thiefrun out with your property.
But you know, teach your staffnot to pursue that, just let
them go.
SPEAKER_01 (41:37):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (41:37):
So that they're they're safe.
SPEAKER_01 (41:39):
Yeah, and that you know, the going back to the
chasing of somebody out of yourstore, you don't know what
you're walking into.
There may be a couple peoplebeing watches out front waiting
for this person to come out andthen to jump in a vehicle, run
down the alley or whatever.
You just don't know what you'regonna situation you're gonna be
putting yourself into by givingchase.
(42:02):
So just be mindful of that.
Yeah, I guess having a plan.
If you have like a I know somedepartment stores or some large
stores have walkie-talkies withtheir earpieces where they can
(42:25):
communicate with people, uhother employees.
If you have a big store and havea lot of staff during the
holiday season, that may be agood wise investment is to have
those walkie-talkies where maybeyou got an employee in the back
and you know someone's up frontand something happens out front.
You can maybe tip off thatemployee in the back that hey,
(42:47):
don't come out to hide orsomething like that.
Or no, you need help because yougot a medical situation out
front.
No, there's a lot of stuff thatcan can happen.
No, just having communication isa good thing to have uh in your
business.
SPEAKER_02 (43:02):
So yeah, and we you know, we think about theft and
these types of crime from theoutside, but there's also a lot
of internal theft that happens,especially during the holidays
where we have temporary workers.
SPEAKER_06 (43:13):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (43:13):
So we really need to have a robust hiring practice
when we're hiring for theholidays, because it's a lot
easier for this internal theftto happen when it's somebody
that's new or hasn't really beenvetted properly.
Right.
So be very careful when you'rehiring somebody, do a thorough
background, otherwise it's gonnacome back to bite you in the
butt.
SPEAKER_01 (43:33):
Yes.
Okay.
Uh I think we've kind of got thenutshell wrapped up here.
Just wanted to give somepersonal tips and tactics to
everybody for safe holidays.
Uh, we want to see everybodyhave fun, but we also want to
(43:53):
see them safe and secure and youknow return back to their their
lifestyle after the holidays.
So take these uh tips and try toimplement them if you don't
already do that in your dailyroutine and enjoy the holidays.
Uh we're still gonna we're stillworking on some podcast
(44:15):
interviews, scheduling andstuff, but enjoy your holidays.
We hope to have you back eitherduring the holidays listening or
you know after your holiday rushis over, coming back and and
getting back into the podcast.
But uh like to thank everybodyfor taking the time to listen.
Hope these tips and tactics aresomething that uh you know pick
(44:39):
up on and and use.
Thank you, Crystal, for you knowyour input on this.
Like I said, I know you've gotanother podcast that you're
doing, more business related,and kind of in some of the stuff
that we discussed here, but it'ssomething that we all need to be
watchful and mindful of thingsduring the holidays because it
(45:00):
does get so rushed and hustleand bustle that you know we tend
to let our guard down, tend tooh, it won't happen to me.
I'm just going to the store,going just running into the mall
to grab something real quick andcome back out.
And no, we just want to havemake sure everybody has a safe
holiday.
SPEAKER_02 (45:19):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (45:20):
All right, Crystal.
Any closing remarks you want togive before we end this uh this
episode?
SPEAKER_02 (45:28):
Uh, just want to say happy holidays to everybody.
Just keep your eyes open, besafe, enjoy the time you have
with your family and friends,and uh yeah, we'll see you on
the next episode.
SPEAKER_01 (45:38):
All right, sounds good.
Thank y'all, and uh we hope youhave a wonderful holiday.
SPEAKER_00 (45:43):
Um the information provided in this podcast is
intended for educational andinformational purposes only.
The content is not a substitutefor professional self-defense
training, legal advice, orconsultation with relevant
authorities.
Listeners are encouraged tospeak guidance from qualified
self-defense instructors oflegal professionals to interrupt
directly aligned with localprocess regulations.
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