5 Top Safe Driving Tips

5 Top Safe Driving Tips
December 5, 2012 by Police Driving 

 No. 1—Speed

Driving at a “normal” speed is dangerous enough for law enforcement. Granted, we often drive fast in our profession, but the risk must always be weighed against the potential gain of higher speed. The danger level increases dramatically as the speedometer needle rises. Be aware of your total environment (road conditions, traffic conditions, weather conditions, etc.) before you decide to press that gas pedal a little harder.

You’re stuck with the speed at which you enter a turn or negotiate a corner, so slow down in advance of changes in direction to maintain your position on the roadway. Entering at the proper speed and position, and then gradually accelerating out of the curve will ensure that you continue to your destination. After all, you can’t help if you don’t get there.

No. 2—Intersections

When running code and coming up to an intersection, you must stop and clear that intersection lane by lane (in both directions) before continuing through. Your red and blue lights and siren don’t give you carte blanche to blow through an intersection, and you can be held civilly liable if you do.

No. 3—Distractions

We have a lot of technology mounted inside our patrol vehicles these days. All this technology will distract the best of us. Use them wisely and at the appropriate times. If you’re running code, for any reason, I hope your cell phone is in your pocket or your bag. When you’re getting messages over your MDC, take a second to read just a portion of the message. Check traffic and when it’s safe to do so, take another second or two to read another portion of the message. That message on the computer screen will remain there, but you might not if you’ve been looking at the screen too long.

No. 4—Seatbelts

Most states have seatbelt laws. Most agencies—but not all—also have seatbelt policies when driving a law enforcement vehicle. Whether your agency does or does not, you should always wear your seatbelt. Many severe injuries, or worse, could have been prevented by just clicking your belt on. There are those out there of the mindset that it’s a tactical decision to not wear a seatbelt. With all the training that we do, why not train to tactically remove your seatbelt? You’ll know when circumstances warrant removing your belt. There are simply no reasons not to wear it. If you can work a retention holster, you can work a seatbelt.

No. 5—On-Duty Mindset

This goes for just about anything we do in law enforcement. “When/then”- and “what if”-type thinking and mental rehearsals will better prepare you for the real thing. Everyone must remain in an “on-duty mindset” while working. Be aware of your surroundings and environment. Be alert to the actions and reactions of vehicles ahead of you and around you. Be vigilant when making a roadside contact or face-to-face encounter. Always keep your head on a swivel to be aware of passing traffic while on a traffic stop. Be prepared! The Boy Scouts said it first, but it applies to police work just as well.

Bottom line: The ultimate achievement in our profession is winning and surviving. Do your loved ones a favor and make it home at the end of your shift.

Mike Allen started the YOUTH (Younger Officer Unified Training Habits) Program in 2008 to reduce vehicle-related deaths in law enforcement.

Special Thanks to www.lawofficer.com

Don't fall for this coupon scam on Facebook

Don't fall for this coupon scam on Facebook

By Kevin Downey

PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK/KROGER

It's easy to brush off Facebook scams as nothing but a minor annoyance. After all, you hear about Facebook scams every day.

Some are silly, like a recent "Christmas bonus" scam that probably didn't fool too many people. Facebook is giving away money for Christmas? Unlikely.

Still, you can't just dismiss Facebook scams. Some of them are costly, like a woman who lost $44,550 to help her would-be fiance return to America.

Now, there's word of a Facebook scam involving a tempting coupon, to save money at a major grocery store. It sounds like a harmless scam, but it isn't. In fact, it's scary because you could end up sharing your personal information with cyber criminals.

You may see a 40% off Kroger coupon on Facebook. It's easy to get fooled.



This Facebook scam gets points for being convincing. It looks like a Kroger coupon, saying you can save 40% on your shopping until the end of the year, and all you have to do is say "thanks" under comments.

The problem begins when you click on the coupon, so you can print it out. If you do, you're taken to a bogus site.

There, you're asked to fill out personal information. There may also be links that would infect your device with malware.

Kroger posted a warning about the coupon scam on Facebook (see photo above): "This is currently an unauthorized 40% off all purchase in store offer circulating.

"This giveaway is not affiliated with, or supported by the Kroger Co. in any way. We recommend not engaging with sites that offer links to the coupon, or providing them with any personal information. Our team is actively working with Facebook and domain service providers to address the concern."

Stop stores and airports from tracking your movements

Stop stores and airports from tracking your movements
By Kim Komando


Did you know that for several months Wal-Mart tested a facial recognition system that can pick an individual out of a crowd and track them automatically through a store? It's true. Wal-Mart was mainly using the system to spot known shoplifters, but I'm sure you can think of more worrying purposes.

Facial recognition is one of many technologies that brick-and-mortar retailers are testing to get real-time data on their customers. Online stores can see exactly what products and ads a user looks at, but offline retailers traditionally only know what people buy. They want to change that so they can maximize their marketing and profits.

HOW RETAILERS TRACK YOU

  While facial recognition is still in limited use, many retailers, and other locations with a lot of traffic like airports, are using Mobile Location Analytics to track your exact location. For example, an airport knows how much time you spent in a shop, moving through security or at the baggage claim. A store knows when you move from one department to another, or even linger in a certain aisle.

How do they do this?

MLA uses the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in your smartphone or tablet. Every mobile gadget has a unique 12-digit hardware identifier called a MAC address that it broadcasts via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. As your gadget comes in range of the various Wi-Fi routers and Bluetooth hubs scattered around a store or airport, the MLA system picks up your MAC address.

Companies collect this information over time and use it to track traffic flow, line wait times, popular products or aisles, tweak employee work schedule and more. But could they use the information to do something more?

The good news is that on its own, your gadget's MAC address tells the store nothing about you. Your name, email and phone number aren't transmitted. At most, it might be able to figure out what manufacturer made your phone.

Most of the companies that handle this tracking have also signed agreements that they won't try to tie your MAC address to any other information they might have about you. Of course, those agreements are voluntary and there are ways a company could identify you if it wanted.

HOW A COMPANY COULD LEARN YOUR IDENTITY

One way is by using in-store beacons. These beacons use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Near-Field Communication to connect with your phone and send you deals on products you're walking past. To receive these deals, however, you have to be running the store's app, or have signed up to receive them. So, there's no real privacy concern.

However, imagine if a store were to combine your MAC address location with a beacon pushing a deal to your phone. You likely signed up to receive the deals with your name and email address. It's a simple matter to link that information up with the company's records of your purchase history from your credit card or loyalty card. The store could have a full profile on you in seconds.

Then there's facial recognition, as we talked about earlier. If a company knows your gadget's location, it's a simple matter to point a camera at you. Granted, most facial recognition systems require a photo on file to make a match.

However, if a company has your name and email address, it's a short leap to get your profile picture from Facebook and spot you as you walk into the store. Of course, that's unlikely for the foreseeable future because of the backlash it would cause.

However, it doesn't have to be the store that's tracking you. If law enforcement was doing an investigation and got your gadget, they could technically subpoena records from MLA companies for the gadget's MAC address and learn your movements. Or if the MAC address records were lost in a data breach, I'm sure hackers could find some use for them.


HOW TO STOP THE TRACKING

The Future of Privacy Forum has set up a site called Smart Store Privacy. If you go there, you can put in your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth MAC addresses and it will tell participating tracking companies (there are 12 signed on at the moment) not to track those addresses. You don't have to give any other information.

Finding your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth MAC addresses is a little tricky depending on your gadget. Here are some general instructions.

APPLE

For Apple gadgets, go to Settings>>General>>About and look under Wi-Fi Address and Bluetooth. You're looking for a 12-digit number like 91:17:7B:82:C2:A5 or 91-17-7B-82-C2-A5. It should be clearly labeled. If you don't see an address, you should turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and then check again.

Note: If you're using an Apple gadget running iOS 8 or higher, it changes its MAC address every time it connects to a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth hotspot. So, a store won't be able to track you because it will look like a new gadget every time.

ANDROID

For Android gadgets, every phone manufacturer has things set up a little differently. First, make sure Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are turned on. Then go to Settings>>About Phone, or Settings>>About Tablet. It might be under Hardware Information or Status. If you can't find it, check your gadget's manual for the precise location.

WINDOWS PHONE

For Wi-Fi, go to Start>>Settings>>Connections>>Wireless LAN>>Advanced. Look in the MAC field. Wi-Fi needs to be on for this to work.

For Bluetooth, go to Start>>Settings>>Connections>>Bluetooth>>Accessibility and look under Address. Bluetooth needs to be on for the address to show up.

BLACKBERRY

For Wi-Fi, go to Setup>>Options>>Device>>Device and Status Information, and look under the WLAN MAC heading.

On Blackberry gadgets running OS 5 or earlier, go to Options>>Status and look under WLAN MAC.

For getting the Bluetooth address, go to Connections>>Bluetooth>>Properties to find the MAC address.

Of course, there are tracking companies out there not signed up with Smart Store Privacy. To totally avoid tracking, you'll have to turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth before entering a store. That keeps your MAC address from broadcasting.