Crime Prevention

Neighborhood Watch downloads to start your own group

• Hollister Police Department has prepared a Social Media Guide for parents/users. It is available in both English and Spanish.

• Always keep your doors and windows locked. Install deadbolt locks on all doors.
• Keep your home well-lit at night, inside and out, and keep curtains closed at night. Have good lighting at all entrances. Use automatic timers to turn on lights on and off.
• Add locks to sliding glass doors and windows to prevent lifting or sliding.
• Install a peephole viewer in your front door. Do not automatically open your door to strangers.
• Insist on identification from repair people, sales people or other strangers. Don't let a stranger come into your house to make a phone call.
• Stop mail, newspapers and other deliveries when you are going away. Don't leave notes on your door when you're gone. Make sure your home looks and sounds occupied.
• Never give out information over the phone indicating you are alone or that you won't be home at a certain time.
• Do not hide spare keys. Give keys to a trusted neighbor instead.
• Identify your belongings.
• Have your locks re-keyed every time you move into a new house or apartment.
• If you live in an apartment, be attentive and careful if you are alone in the laundry room or garage, especially late at night.
• If you come home and find a door or window open, or signs of forced entry, do not enter, instead call the police for assistance from outside the home.
• Know your neighbors and work out a mutual watch and warning system to prevent burglaries or break-ins.

• Never take anything like candy, ice cream, or money from a stranger. Explain that a stranger may look, act, and dress nicely or even wear a uniform.
• Never take a ride from a stranger; always check with parents before taking a ride even with someone they know.
• Never give their name or address to a stranger.
• Never say they are home alone when answering the phone.
• Check with a parent or guardian when leaving the yard or play area. Always try to take a friend when playing outside.
• If your child is lost in a store, instruct your child not to wander around but to go the checkout counter, security office or seek help from someone who works at the store.
• Create a commotion by yelling or screaming if a stranger tries to take them by force. Try and get away and immediately tell a parent or trusted adult what happened.

• Enrollment is at NO cost to Hollister residents.
• Families and caregivers can voluntarily provide information about individuals with special needs by obtaining an application from the Hollister Police Department.
• The information collected will be entered into our database for officers to be able to access during times of emergencies or contact.

• Obtain a copy of the Special Needs Registry Form
• Completion of the Special Needs Registry Form to include:
  • Emergency Contact Information
  • Medical Information
  • Safety and Behavioral Concerns
  • Accommodations for Interaction and Communicating with the Person
  • Information Needed to Find a Missing Person or Identify Someone Who is Found
• Obtain a photograph of the person to be attached with the registration form.
• Submit the completed registration form to the Hollister Police Department.

• Walk confidently. Be alert. Notice who passes you and who's behind you.
• Walk in well-lighted areas. Don't walk close to bushes, alleys and so on. In deserted or dark neighborhoods, walk down the middle of the street.
• If a car pulls up slowly, or the occupants bother you, cross the street and walk or run in the other direction
• If you feel that someone is following you, turn around and check. Proceed to the nearest lighted house or place of business
• Don't overburden yourself with bags or packages, which might impede running or taking care of yourself
• Carry a whistle or personal safety device
• Carry as little cash as possible
• Don't hitchhike
• Hold your purse tightly close to your body. Keep your wallet in a front or in a buttoned, hip pocket
• Be careful when people stop and ask for directions or information. Always reply from a distance. Never get to close to the car.
• Wear clothes and shoes that give you freedom of movement
• If you feel you are in danger, don't be afraid to scream and run

• Ride with traffic. Stop at stop signs, obey traffic lights and most other traffic laws and signs
• Ride in a straight line except when turning, to avoid hitting someone or something, or drive over drains, railroad tracks, hole or hazards
• Use hand signals just as drivers of automobiles before turning
• Ride as near the curb or edge of the street as practicable
• On one way streets with two or more lanes, ride near either left or right curb or edge of the street
• When passing parked cars, look through the rear windows to see if there is someone in a car that may open a door in your path
• Use bicycle lanes where marked on the street. When leaving the bicycle lane to avoid a hazard, do so only when it's safe
• Get of the bicycle and “walk” it across using the crosswalks at busy intersections
• Do not allow anyone to ride as a passenger unless there's a separate seat attached to the bike
• Do not carry anything which prevents holding the handlebars with at least one hand. “No-hands” riding is dangerous
• Do not hitch rides by holding on to or attaching the bike to any other vehicle
• Do not ride on freeways which have signs prohibiting bicycles
• Do not park a bicycle on its side, or so there is no room for persons walking on the sidewalks

• Know whom you're dealing with. In any electronic transaction, independently confirm the other party's name, street address, and telephone number.
• Resist the urge to enter foreign lotteries. These solicitations are phony and illegal
• Delete requests that claim to be from foreign nationals asking you to help transfer their money through your bank account.
• Ignore unsolicited emails that request your money, credit card or account numbers, or other personal information.
• Ignore unsolicited emails that request your money, credit card or account numbers, or other personal information.
• If you are selling something over the Internet, don't accept a potential buyer's offer to send you a check for more than the purchase price, no matter how tempting the plea or convincing the story.
• Protect your personal information. Share credit card or other personal information only when you're buying from a company you know and trust.
• Don't routinely carry your social security card or other cards/documents that display your SSN. Keep your passwords safe and secure. Use security software that updates automatically.

Help Kids Socialize Safely Online

The Hollister Police Department urges parents to talk to their children about social networking sites, and offers these tips for using social media websites safely:

• • Help your kids understand what information should be private. Tell them why it's important to keep some things — about themselves, family members and friends — to themselves. Information like their full name, Social Security number, street address, phone number, and family financial information — like bank or credit card account numbers — is private and should stay that way. Tell them not to choose a screen name that gives away too much personal information.
  • Use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on your child's website. Some social networking sites have strong privacy settings. Show your child how to use these settings to limit who can view their online profile, and explain to them why this is important.
  • Explain that kids should post only information that you — and they — are comfortable with others seeing. Even if privacy settings are turned on, some — or even all — of your child's profile may be seen by a broader audience than you're comfortable with. Encourage your child to think about the language used in a blog, and to think before posting pictures and videos. Employers, college admissions officers, team coaches, and teachers may view your child's postings. Even a kid's screen name could make a difference. Encourage teens to think about the impression that screen names could make.
  • Remind your kids that once they post information online, they can't take it back. Even if they delete the information from a site, older versions may exist on other people's computers and be circulated online.
  • Know how your kids are getting online. More and more, kids are accessing the Internet through their cell phones. Find out about what limits you can place on your child's cell phone. Some cellular companies have plans that limit downloads, Internet access, and texting; other plans allow kids to use those features only at certain times of day.
  • Talk to your kids about bullying. Online bullying can take many forms, from spreading rumors online and posting or forwarding private messages without the sender's OK, to sending threatening messages. Tell your kids that the words they type and the images they post can have real-world consequences. They can make the target of the bullying feel bad, make the sender look bad — and, sometimes, can bring on punishment from the authorities. Encourage your kids to talk to you if they feel targeted by a bully.
  • Tell your kids to trust their gut if they have suspicions. If they feel threatened by someone or uncomfortable because of something online, encourage them to tell you. You can then help them report concerns to the police and to the social networking site. Most sites have links where users can immediately report abusive, suspicious, or inappropriate online behavior.
  • Read sites' privacy policies. Spend some time with a site's privacy policy, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and parent sections to understand its features and privacy controls. The site should spell out your rights as a parent to review and delete your child's profile if your child is younger than 13.

A Few More Tips to Protect Pre-Teens

Many of the tips above apply for pre-teens, but parents of younger children also can:

• • Take extra steps to protect younger kids. Keep the computer in an open area like the kitchen or family room, so you can keep an eye on what your kids are doing online. Use the Internet with them to help develop safe surfing habits. Consider taking advantage of parental control features on some operating systems that let you manage your kids' computer use, including what sites they can visit, whether they can download items, or what time of day they can be online.
  • Go where your kids go online. Sign up for — and use — the social networking spaces that your kids visit. Let them know that you're there, and help teach them how to act as they socialize online.
  • Review your child's friends list. You may want to limit your child's online “friends” to people your child actually knows and is friendly with in real life.
  • Posting photographs should be considered permanently on the web. With advanced technology any photograph posted to social media websites can and most likely will be saved on several or many other computer systems that the original poster will not have access too. A good rule of thumb is prior to posting any photograph online is to ask yourself if you would want it published in a public forum (newspaper, television, etc)? If the answer is “no” than it should not be posted online.
  • Understand sites' privacy policies. Sites should spell out your rights as a parent to review and delete your child's profile if your child is younger than 13.

Additional Online Resources
ConnectSafely : ConnectSafely is a forum for parents, teens, educators, and advocates designed to give teens and parents a voice in the public discussion about youth online safety, and has tips, as well as other resources, for safe blogging and social networking. Along with NetFamilyNews.org , it is a project of the non-profit Tech Parenting Group.

Cyberbully411: Cyberbully411 provides resources and opportunities for discussion and sharing for youth — and their parents — who have questions about or may have been targeted by online harassment. The website was created by the non-profit Internet Solutions for Kids, Inc., with funding from the Community Technology Foundation of California.

GetNetWise: GetNetWise is a public service sponsored by Internet industry corporations and public interest organizations to help ensure that Internet users have safe, constructive, and educational or entertaining online experiences. The GetNetWise coalition works to provide Internet users with the resources they need to make informed decisions about their and their family's use of the Internet.

Internet Keep Safe Coalition: iKeepSafe.org is a coalition of 49 governors/first spouses, law enforcement, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other associations dedicated to helping parents, educators, and caregivers by providing tools and guidelines to promote safe Internet and technology use among children.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; www.netsmartz.org: NCMEC is a private, non-profit organization that helps prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation; helps find missing children; and assists victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and the professionals who serve them.

Staysafe: An educational site intended to help consumers understand both the positive aspects of the Internet as well as how to manage a variety of safety and security issues that exist online.