A question can set a chain of events in motion which literally changes reality. The query which is also the title of this post is intended to change reality regarding how safe we are in our persons, possessions and places, both brick and mortar, and at events. I invite people into the safety creation process instead of sell them one way subscriptions to it the way traditional service providers do. While I can and do offer services to clients, I also offer the chance to join me in creating safety which is within their comfort zones and addresses the problem ( s ) at hand. Recently, a friend asked me to accompany her on what turned out to be an interesting quest hunting down her stolen smart phone via GPS on her laptop. She invited me to create safety with her, by being back up and a witness, while she searched for locations where her phone was, including whatever encounters awaited once we arrived. Lately, safety creation for me often starts with a text, social media ...
We live in an era of digital surveillance cameras; facial recognition software; license plate readers; tipster apps on smart phones; actual security robots on patrol and other high tech crime fighting tools. They make the task of safety creation, professional and personal, much easier. I do caution allies who feel these innovations are the only way to save the day that looking out for each other remains the highest technology at our our command. I illustrate my point by underscoring that aside from being a quantum leap in criminal identification, these innovations still can't apprehend suspects. They aren't like the Autobots from the Transformers comic book, cartoon and movie series. Not yet at least. The simple yet supremely important act of looking out for each other is the highest technology brought to bear against crime. Our sheer numbers as members of the public and potential to displace negativity which innovations can only document and report about can...
What would eventually become my UrbanSafetyist consulting began by protecting my widowed, maternal grandmother, our neighbors in her peer group and neighborhood association members in the same demographic. They were Black women who'd outlived husbands, Jim Crow, the Axis, and a Cold War but had very real fear of surviving the Urban Apocalypse around them. Stable communities that experienced external discrimination were overwhelmed by internal devastation. In the midst of such carnage I was calling, comforting, collecting information and hitting the streets, first as an advocate and then professionally with employers or alone. Fast forward to 2018 and the city and cast of characters has changed but safety creation remains the same. What I once did for inner city senior citizens I now do for a diverse selection of merchants and nearby neighbors. Client's pigmentation has largely changed but my purpose is unchanged. Safety has no color and we have n...
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