It was already dark when I arrived at her apartment complex at 6:30 P.M. As I was looking for the correct apartment, I was met by a woman near the mailbox area who introduced herself as the person I was supposed to meet. We walked a short distance to her apartment. As we arrived at the front door, she reached out, turned the door knob, and walked inside. The door was not locked. I was somewhat disturbed to learn that she did not lock the door when she went to pick up her mail, and I was quick to point this out to her. She had just created an easy opportunity for a criminal to sneak into her apartment. After what had recently happened, I thought she would be more aware of her vulnerability.

When I conduct crime prevention presentations, I frequently tell people about another woman who was nearly robbed by two armed men while making an ATM transaction by herself after dark. Fortunately a police officer staked out at the bank saved her and arrested the two robbers. Believe it or not, the police officer who made the arrest saw the same woman about three weeks later using the same ATM by herself at night.

Unfortunately, some people do things that increase their vulnerability to crime. Be honest with yourself. Are you one of these people? What kind of opportunity do you present to a criminal? Are you an easy target? When I started writing this column, I stressed the importance of understanding and practicing three basic crime prevention principles. It's time to review those principles and apply them to your daily activities.

Principles

1. Take control of yourself and your environment. You control your appearance, awareness, activities, location, and vulnerability. You can also control the appearance of your home, car, and workplace. It's up to you to use that control to manipulate things to your advantage.

2. Make yourself, your actions and your environment as safe as possible. This has a tremendous impact on whether a criminal will choose you or your property. You can also make it harder for criminals to commit a crime if they try.

3. Understand how criminals operate and learn to influence their behavior. The typical criminal usually considers three factors before committing a crime. First, the criminal must have a reason or a motivation to commit the crime. Money, revenge and anger are three of the most common motivators. Second, criminals make risk assessments of potential targets. They consider their chances of being caught before taking action. Third, criminals usually look for the easiest opportunities they can find. Why would a burglar go through the trouble of breaking into a home that is alarmed and well-protected when he can find other homes that have doors and windows that are wide open?