SALT LAKE CITY & SANDY, Utah(ABC 4 News) – Whether you’re in a crowded city or the quiet suburbs, you’re just as likely to be a target of criminals. The difference? The crimes.
Police say knowing crime trends where you are can be the best protection from criminals.
“They happen all the time,” says Salt Lake Police Detective Dennis McGowan, talking about the number assaults in Salt Lake City's downtown district. “You can be assaulted in the middle of the day just as easily as in the middle of the night,” he warns.
We hit the streets with Detective McGowan to take a class in crime prevention 101. Here, near the city’s center, within a six square block area, ABC 4’s exclusive “Crimetracker” data from Crimereports.com shows 76 assaults in the previous week. Salt Lake is no different from any other big city. The more people there are in a confined space, the more likely it is someone will try to harm someone else.
"People can take preventive measures,” says McGowan. “The key is you have to be alert to your surroundings.”
At times, McGowan sounds more like a football coach than a cop, as he instructs.
“Keep your head on a swivel,” he keeps repeating. “When you are walking on the street, you want to be looking over your shoulders and around yourself at all times.”
And what, exactly, am I looking for?
“Anyone who looks suspicious,” he says.
Is he encouraging me to profile the people I see on the street? Yes.
“If they don’t look right to you, if they look suspicious, if they look like they’re under the influence of something -- drugs or alcohol -- you’ve got to avoid them.”
McGowan talks about having an “escape plan” in your mind at all times.
“If someone is walking along this street, as we are now, and she sees someone walking toward her, the first thing she needs to think is, ‘Where do I run if this person gets too close to me?’”
If people on the streets of Salt Lake City need to learn how to avoid crime, people in the parking lots of Sandy need to learn how not to invite it.
“I can see prescription drugs right there.” says Sandy Police Sergeant Troy Arnold.
On this day, the Sergeant and I are on the prowl – legally, of course – looking for opportunities to commit crimes in the parking lot of a Sandy shopping center. Sergeant Arnold sees things the untrained eye – such as mine – cannot. We approach a red pick-up truck.
“Often, pick-up truck drivers have tools in the back. Prowlers are looking for those kinds of things. I can grab his bucket of tools and, in thirty seconds, be gone with them,” he says. “These are high-dollar items that are unmarked with any serial number. I can take them to a pawn shop and sell a tool kit and get a good price for them.”
Sergeant Arnold is not finished with this truck.
“Look inside at the i-d on the dash,” he says. “There’s a name and a picture on that i-d card. I can take that and cut it out and superimpose it on something else and steal this person’s identity. It’s a good opportunity,” he says.
Then, Sergeant Arnold shows us what may be the worst mistake, but one a lot of people in this parking lot made today.
"Look at the mail right there," he says. "I can break in to this vehicle and in less than thirty seconds, I can get their mail.”
Each piece of mail has the person’s name and address on it.
“I know this person is not home because their car is parked right here. If that’s a close residence, I can drive up and ring the doorbell. If no one is home, I can walk around the back and go in and take what I want.”
Then Sergeant Arnold spots the garage door opener, hanging from the sun visor.
“That’s my key to this family’s home,” he says. “By leaving their mail and their garage door opener in their vehicle in this parking lot, this person has basically given me a map to their home and easy entry. I don’t even have to break in. Not only do I have the incentive to burglarize their vehicle, I now have an avenue to burglarize their home.”
Whether they’re warning against assault in the city or burglary in the suburbs, both law enforcers stress the same basic point:
The more you know about what the criminals are looking for, the better you’ll be at protecting yourself.
