Don't be an easy target for criminals

Holiday shoppers should work to eliminate opportunities for thieves who break in to cars and homes to steal items purchased at stores for holiday gifts, according to Officer Daniel McCulley of the Livonia Police Department's crime prevention bureau.Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture,

“Put presents in the trunk,” McCulley said. “There should be no valuables in plain sight, such as presents, GPS systems or valuables. If they don't see anything there, they will go to the next car.”

McCulley highlighted some crime prevention tips for the holiday season. Shoppers should take a few steps to prevent becoming a crime victim.

Motorists should always lock their car doors before entering stores, McCulley said.

“Be observant and aware of surroundings,” McCulley said. “Park in well-lit areas and close to the building. Keep your keys in hand when walking and on the alarm. Don't be out late at night.”

Larcenies from autos showed a slight increase in 2011 over 2010, from 40 to 44, between Nov. 22 until Dec. 31,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. considered the holiday shopping season. Only one larceny from person was reported in each year during those two years.

Some purse snatchings occurred this summer when shoppers placed their purses in their shopping carts while loading their items into their vehicles. Some victims have forgotten their purse and left it in the shopping cart, driving home before realizing the purse was left behind.

“Don't leave the purse in the cart,” McCulley said. “The purse should be around your shoulder and put the purse in front of you.”

If a robber is armed and demands the purse or a car in an armed robbery or carjacking, let the robber take the purse or the vehicle, McCulley said. “If someone produces a weapon, you don't want to endanger yourself,” he said. “The car or purse is not worth getting hurt over. There is no sense in getting killed or hurt if someone has a weapon.”

If no weapon is evident, victims should use noise by screaming for help, activating alarms on keys or blowing whistles to draw attention to the crime scene.

When at home, residents should exercise caution, too. Windows and doors should be locked. Doors can be secured better with deadbolt locks. “We had several B and E's this summer in which the doors and windows were left unlocked,” McCulley said. “Residents who leave on vacation should lock their doors and windows and have a neighbor watch the house. They should call on suspicious activities and keep an eye on their neighbor's house.

“Don't make your house look like you are on vacation.”

Alarm systems help homeowners protect their residences. Neighborhood watch groups help residents look out for one another, McCulley said.

“Everyone gets to know each other in these groups,” McCulley said. “The groups help everyone keep an eye on what's going on.”

If residents see something suspicious, they should call police.

Shoppers and other motorists should look out for drunk drivers during the holiday season, a popular time of year for parties. Be patient during heavy traffic hours and near malls where shoppers travel.

Residents and relatives should keep an eye on the elderly.The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, Within the last couple of weeks, a Livonia resident fell victim to the “grandparents' scam,” in which someone calls pretending to be a grandson or granddaughter needing financial assistance.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china,

“The caller said he was a grandson and that he was in jail in Mexico,” McCulley said. The grandparent, convinced it was her grandson, sent $2,000, McCulley said.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china, Often the scammers will want the money wired to a specific location, but the crimes are impossible for local agencies to track because the recipients often are in foreign countries. Sometimes these scam artists even know the grandchild's name, McCulley said.

“Whoever receives these calls needs to ask questions,” McCulley said. “If someone calls and says Johnny is in jail or in trouble, they need to call Johnny's mom and dad, or call Johnny himself and ask him.”

Residents should not give out any personal information on the phone or online. They should shred credit card bills, McCulley said.

A trust overseeing the cleanup of the Asarco area estimated it would cost $14 million to repair and maintain the structure over a 50-year period, but Save the Stacks estimates the cost would be $3.9 million.

Save the Stacks has raised more than $50,000 in an effort to save the structure and hired an engineering firm that conducted an analysis of the stacks last month.

"Our analysis and data show the stacks are safe and sound," said engineer Javier M. Carlin of HKN Engineers, which was hired by the Save the Stacks group to perform the structural analysis.

Roberto Puga, the trustee in charge of cleaning up and selling the Asarco site, said in an email last week that that his trust duties include taking any appropriate action "to maximize the sale price of the property to help pay for the remediation and cleanup costs."

He wrote that several parties interested in the Asarco land are not interested in purchasing the site if the smokestacks remain.

If the city wants to buy the smokestacks, Puga wrote, it will have to pay a price "at least equal to what the Trustee could have received from other interested parties who were willing to purchase the Property without the stacks."

The letter also says that the city stands to lose an estimated $5 million to $5.5 million in tax revenues if it buys the land.

Save the Stacks proponents argue that the trust has the authority to deed the stacks to the city.