Officer Dave Snider of the Crime Prevention Unit at Springfield Police Department was the guest Speaker at the March 4 SCA General Meeting.  In spite of another round of nasty weather on Sunday and Monday nearly 70 people turned out for breakfast to hear Officer Snider’s presentation.  Everyone agreed that Officer Snider is one of the very best Speakers we’ve ever enjoyed at our General Meetings. 

For those of you who could not make it, these are some of the tips he gave us:

• Make sure there is lots of white light on your property at night.  Yellow light is not good as colors are not true and if someone is seen it is harder to get a good description of the culprit. 
• Keep your property clean and well-maintained to deter the bad guys.  This goes for your neighborhood as well. 
• Make sure you have a clearly marked entry to your property in order to keep track of who is coming and going. 
• Replace or trim bushes and trees that block your windows or doorways to cut down on hiding places and cover if someone does get inside. 
• If your a/c is caged with open bars, plant roses, holly or other thorny plants (throw some poison ivy in there, too) around the cages to keep thieves out.  You can always trim them back if necessary for service.  
• Wipe down counters and doors frequently, especially if you have a lot of people coming and going. Then if a bad guy does get in, the police are more likely to get good fingerprint evidence.  
• Make sure your alarm system is in good working order. Use real cameras as dummies will do you no good. 
• If something or someone looks suspicious pay attention to details. This could make all the difference in identifying a suspect. 
• If you are away from home during the day, keep your blinds open so thieves cannot hide inside. 
• Post your property with No Trespassing signs and give the Police a Letter of Enforcement.  This allows them to eject unwanted persons from your property immediately. 

Finally, Officer Snider offered to come to you and do a site survey to show you where you are vulnerable and give you suggestions for making your property more secure.  He welcomes your inquiry at dsnider@springfieldmo.gov or you may call him at 417.837.5874.