Welcome to this month’s PENS, Police Email Notification System, bulletin. This monthly bulletin is brought to you from the Cobb County Police, Precinct 5 Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU5) and is designed to keep you aware of safety alerts and crime trends in your area and measures you can take to keep you and your family safe.

Public Safety Topic of The Month

Summer Safety Tips

We have reached the end of another school year and “Summer Time” is right around the corner. Kids will be out of school and the temperatures will be on the rise. We would like to pass along a few safety tips to keep you and your kids safe this Summer.

Beat the Heat

Anybody can be at risk for a heat-related illness (Heat Stroke, Heat Exhaustion, Heat Cramps). Those most at risk include: Infants, Young Children, Elderly, Pets, and people working or playing outdoors.

• Take extra breaks
• Drink lots of water

Bug Safety

Mosquitoes can cause a number of illnesses, including Zika Virus and West Nile Virus. To prevent being infected:

• Use EPA registered insect repellent with DEET
• Wear long-sleeve shirts and long pants
• Once a week, scrub or empty planters, birdbaths, and vases; mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water

Water Safety

Between 800 and 900 children drown every year in the United States. The CDC said the main factors that increase the risk of drowning include:

• Lack of swimming ability
• Lack of barriers to prevent unsupervised water access
• Lack of close supervision while swimming
• Failure to wear life jackets

Playgrounds

Emergency departments see more than 20,000 children ages 14 and younger for playground-related brain injuries each year. 80% of playground injuries are caused by falls. Watch out for these potential hazards:

• Improper ground surfaces: Surfaces should have 12 inches of wood chips, mulch, sand, pea gravel, or rubber mats.
• Playgrounds should be free of exposed concrete footings, rocks or tree stumps.

Bike Safety/May is National Bike Month

Bicycling is one of the best ways to get exercise and see the sights. However, bicyclists face many hazards including sharing the road with vehicles. It is vital to follow these safety precautions:

• Always inspect your bike prior to riding. (seat height, tires inflated, proper reflectors)
• Plan to be seen. (wear bright clothing, if riding at night use flashing lights)
• Wear a Helmet. (ensure proper size, center chin strap buckle, position helmet level on your head)
• Follow Rules of the Road. (Ride single-file in direction of traffic, use hand signals)

Park Safety

Now that Spring is in full bloom, many residents head outside and on the trails. With a variety of trails throughout the county, understanding the trail markers is recommended, especially should an emergency arise. To help dispatchers and first responders locate you quicker, be familiar with these blue signs; the Emergency Location Makers. To learn more and to understand Cobb County's trail makers watch this quick video.

Current Crime Trends

Entering Autos

Ladies and Gentlemen, our current crime trends continue to be Entering Autos. The bulk of the Entering Autos are taking place overnight and early in the morning. The majority of all the Entering Autos have been UNLOCKED vehicles with valuables including guns left inside. PLEASE remove all valuables especially guns from your vehicles every time you park and leave the vehicle. During these Entering Autos, we had several vehicles that were also stolen. The perpetrators were able to steal the vehicles because victims had left their Key Fobs inside the vehicles. Even if you hide the Key Fob it still allows the perpetrator to hit the push-button start and leave with the vehicle. Remove all keys and key fobs before leaving your vehicle. Also, double check that ALL vehicle doors are locked.

If you observe someone breaking into vehicles do not approach them and immediately call 911. From a safe place provide 911 with an accurate description of the suspects, involved vehicles, and what direction the suspect is going. NO property is worth getting hurt over.

**Update**

The recent increase in entering autos incidents, all have been unlocked vehicles. The vehicles have been parked in the driveways of residences. Videos from home security systems showed the suspects walking up to vehicles and checking the door handles. If the doors were unlocked, they entered the vehicle, rummaged through any contents, and took whatever valuables they were interested in. In one video, the suspect even opened and checked the trunk of a sedan. Their objective is to steal as much property from unlocked vehicles as possible without being detected so there are no reports of broken windows. If a vehicle was locked, they moved on to another vehicle. This is the most common practice of an entering auto thief.

No one can guarantee that a thief will not break out your vehicle window but incident data shows that forced entry to a vehicle’s window usually correlates with valuables inside the vehicle that are visible from outside the vehicle.

Again, remove all valuables from your parked vehicles, especially firearms. Lock your doors, even when parked at your residence. These two practices statistically reduces your chances of being an entering auto victim.

What You Can Do to Prevent Theft

Burglary Prevention

• Lock your doors, including the one from the garage.
• Keep garage doors closed--check before bed every night.
• Use motion sensor-activated lighting.
• Use surveillance cameras.

Entering Auto Prevention

• Lock your vehicles and remove items of value and items that appear to contain valuables.
• If you can’t keep them with you, secure your valuables in the trunk before reaching your location.
• Keep your vehicle locked and your purse or wallet on your person while fueling at the gas station.

Postal Theft

• Use anti-theft mailboxes with a special locking system.
• Use security cameras.
• Do not raise the mail flag.
• Do not send cash, checks, or anything that has credit card information.

Remember to CALL 911 to report any suspicious persons or activity. If you see something, say something!

Cobb County Camera Registry

The Cobb County Police Camera Registration program is a police/community video partnership that operates on a voluntary basis with homeowners, neighborhoods and business owners who own private video surveillance systems. We encourage both businesses and residents to register their cameras online by completing the form below.

This program is intended to let our officers know where cameras are active in the county in case a crime occurs. It is not intended for active surveillance, and officers will not have direct access to homeowners' cameras. Those who register a camera will be contacted if a crime occurs in the vicinity of that camera.

Information provided by residents and businesses will be maintained in a secure database.

 

If you have not already signed up to receive the monthly PENS updates, please subscribe. Feel free to forward this e-mail to your HOA members and local businesses.

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Stay Safe,

Det. Lieutenant  T.M. Fuller
Det. Sergeant J.T. Rainwater
Cobb County Police Department
Criminal Investigation Unit Pct. 5
4640 Dallas Highway
Powder Springs, GA 30127
(770) 499-4578