Safety Tips for everyone 2/3

How to Handle Kidnapping for Ransom

 

• Give the kidnapper your land line number having caller ID and name to contact.
• Be calm, family must inform police on emergency immediately, for instructions on how to deal with the situation.
• Decide upon a negotiator within the family.
• Father and son should; preferably, not travel to work together. 
• Do not carry cheque book unless necessary. Write fake/ coded balance on counterfoil. Do not disclose the actual financial status.
• Discuss within family how to respond to emergencies i.e. kidnapping etc.
• How to escape a kidnapping situation with family still inside the vehicle:
• If someone has taken you hostage by sitting in the back seat with the gun, be calm. If they tell you to move to the next seat, just step out of the car and then refuse to accompany them. If you have your children in the car, tell them softly but firmly to step out. Tell the kidnapper to take your purse, car, cell phone, and whatever is inside and try to assure that you will not report this incident for an hour but refuse to accompany them.
• If they tell you to drive off while they are sitting in the back, go ahead and drive. View the road and keep your car amongst other vehicles. Try to come to the traffic signal with red light and bang the car in front. This will create a commotion. Show your jittery and get down pacifying the driver of the car you struck with. The kidnappers will get down and escape at the first opportunity.

Office Security

• Have a designated person for locking and unlocking your premises at the start and end of the business day. It is best not to operate on the basis of 'first employee in and last employee out lock up policy'. Avoid leaving entrance doors unlocked and unattended.
• Where electronic access control is in place, issue access cards on the basis of 'least access to perform a specific job'. 24/7 access should only be assigned to employees who really require it as part of the nature of their job. Properly manage missing, lost or stolen cards immediately. Request employees to produce their assigned cards at least on quarterly basis.
• Request employees to wear their access cards for marking strangers. To discourage 'piggybacking', ensure closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras are installed at entrances.
• To help prevent theft of proprietary information, a 'clean desk' policy should be instituted. To ensure compliance, inspections should be conducted every two to four weeks for first three months and at least quarterly thereafter. Use of self inspection check list can encourage employees to keep their desks clean, an secure sensitive data as well, when they leave their work area unattended.
• Laptops and PCs, especially those considered to be 'state-of-the-art' are prime targets for thieves. Preventing computer theft begins with mail room, reception, shipping/ receiving etc, should be secured with cable locks or preferably with plate locks. This will give an impression to thieves that all computers in the office are protected. Installing secure docking stations, on roller shelves that can be rolled into the lockable furniture when the employee is leaving.his/ her work area. If employees spend most of their time in the office, issuing them a desktop instead of highly portable easily concealed laptop can mitigate the risk of laptop theft. Outside the office, employees should be encouraged to carry laptops in a sports bag or briefcase, instead of manufacturers bag.
• Secure stairwells either by locking them or installing suitable electronic devices and card readers. where crossover floors can't be locked, consider renovating the floors so that they are located outside of the protected area.

Secure Property

• Preferably cash, household articles etc should be insured.
• Keep valuables in bank.
• Give special instructions to bank that if the signature is deliberately being extended, on a cheque, take the person in custody and call police.
• When having a new chequebook issued, count its leaves in serial order and exact quantity as stated. A missing cheque can be used for fraud by the bank/ own office staff.     

Safety tips for everyone 1/3

Individual protective measures while undertaking any move

 

• Let someone know about your destination before leaving the premises.
• Before stepping into any vehicle, look around for any suspicious person watching your departure.
• Before driving, lock the doors of vehicle and fasten seatbelt. 
• Use vehicle mirrors to check if anyone is following you or otherwise.
• Avoid unknown short-cuts and use main routes.
• Avoid poorly lit areas.
• Avoid quiet residential/ remote areas.
• If possible, try avoiding overcrowded public places and plan your journey before hand.
• Do not use set patterns of movement.
• Use random timetable for walk/ jogging and outings.
• Keep changing routes while approching office/ workplace and living areas.
• While driving, always be vigilant about your surroundings to avoid getting into suspicious situations/ traps.
• Maintain distance from the car in front giving enough space to getaway in case of emergency.
• Do not give way to suspicious vehicles flashing headlights from behind to corner you at signal.
• Keep in your lane to avoid traffic jams.
• If someone suspicious blocks the road, try to use exit points; even at the cost of damaging you car, to escape to blockage.
• Avoid giving lifts to strangers coming accidentally in front or even standing with family, depicting fake emergency situation.
• Develop the habit of using rear and side view mirrors of vehicle and check who is following you. In case of any suspicion, stay calm, drive fast and do not approach your residence or a friend's place. Try to make your way to the nearest safe house like police station, rescue 1122/ military check post etc.

Security of vehicle

• Install vehicle alarms and satellite vehicle tracking system which caters for security and safety of your family.
• When approaching a parked car, ensure that strangers are not around.
• Do not leave children in the parked vehicle. Avoid sitting in the vehicle on roadsides or shopping centres.
• Instruct drives to park the car at a prominent place, lock it and stand away from the car while waiting. 

Security of family

• Do not display your name on the gate of your apartment/ home, just the address.
• Auto lock system at gate and doors connected to speaker system can improve security. To avoid security breach, use closed circuit TV around the house and entrance porch.
• Intercom with coded identification to communicate with guards/ servants to allow across is very effective against any threat.
• Guards should be positioned on terrace with censored light activated around the house.
• Employees must depost:
• ID Card.
• Photo.
• Reference.
• Registration with police for servants, maids, guards, sweepers etc.

• Keep bedrooms locked and use predetermined coded words for opening at all times. Identify restricted areas of the house for servants, specially males. This will also prevent burglars from accessing the rooms of other family members.
• Do not be threatened by dacoits/ burglars to disclose hidden cash/ jewellery on the mere threat of killing a family member. Make a small safe place where nobody looks for valuables. Preferably distribute your valuables at different secure places. Be calm, do not be intimidate, act scared, start crying etc. They want to scare you to get the right information giving you a chance to lie.

Personal safety

• Print only plain visiting cards.
• Discourage display of mobile phone by children.
• Don't carry weapons.
• Don't drive without driving license.
• Late night outings should be avoided.
• Be careful whilst inside and when leaving lockers, banks, money changers, and approaching ATMs.
• When approaching any of the above, visually scan the area before getting out of your car. If you see something or someone suspicious like a person just standing around or many people in a nearby vehicle but nobody specially at the ATM, leave the area immediately. In case you sense like "something is just not right", play safe and go to another ATM place. When your transaction is completed, immediatelt take your property, ATM card, cash, receipt etc and leave. You can always count your money later in the safety of your car or home.
• When in the lockers to take jewellery home, wear it on; never carry it in your purse. Put your dupatta/ scarf around while leaving. Observe the outside area as explained above.
• Bank and money changing booths are always hot favourite for criminals. They will try to scan and observe while standing next to you or waiting outside for you. Be extremely cautious and alert when returning.
• Share a family code for identifying genuine phone messages sent through strangers/ acquaintances for its authenticity.
• Use your cell phone to call the place/ house you intend to visit. It helps establishing your last location and movement.
• Do not leave old people on their own at the mercy of mere servants.
• Always get a digital phone line installed with caller's ID.
• Take care when photographed at parties, those can be misused.
• Never get blackmailed. Face it courageously at the very first point and get the blackmailers apprehended.
• Do not make phone friends.
• Do not encourage/ indulge in chatting to strangers over the internet.
• When facing extortion/ threats, call police.
• Certain criminal elements employ a technique to trace/ identify your location through any bugging device concealed in any presentable souvenir as a marketing material. To avoid such attempts, it is advised not to accept such gifts/ souvenirs from such strangers/ unidentified representatives of any company etc.
• Such gifts/ souvenirs may also contain explosive material which can be a timed or radio controlled device. It can explode any time and can endanger your life and property.      

Security tips mentioned in this post are intellectual property of AGL. These were initially published by AGL in a pamphlet titled " Security Tips for Pakistani Citizen". These remain intellectual property of AGL and are being posted as a series of 3 posts of security tips for the benefit of general audience.