Festive season, general elections safety and security advisory

COMMENT | Samson Tinka | Crime often follows discernible patterns influenced by various temporal factors. Understanding these patterns provides insight into when criminal acts are more likely to take place. The distribution of criminal activity is not uniform across hours, days, or seasons, but rather exhibits distinct fluctuations.

Major holidays often bring specific shifts in crime patterns. Property crimes, such as theft, burglary, shoplifting, and personal larceny, frequently increase around the holiday season, particularly in December. For instance, property crimes, including theft and burglary, rise by approximately 22% during the festive period. Robbery and personal larceny specifically increases by about 20% in December.

Cybercrimes and identity theft can also spike due to increased online shopping and transactions. Also property crimes rise; more violent crimes like murder typically increase during these periods. Additionally, driving under the influence (DUI) arrests often increase around celebratory holidays.

A combination of festive season activities with elections additionally complicates the safety and security space, and this critically calls for more alertness, situational awareness, super behavior on the roads, etc. if one is to maneuver during these next 60 days.

Elections

Elections attract huge crowds; some of the rally attendees don’t only come to attend the rally but also steal, hurt, injure, pickpocket, etc. The Temperature/aggression theory also posits that communities of greater population density are more susceptible to seasonal changes in violent crime. The mechanisms of greater aggression and lowered inhibitions should increase the rate of violence in more densely populated areas that join offenders and victims in space. Therefore, people living in urban setups are likely to be in more danger compared to people living in villages.

Elections are associated with huge movement of vehicles. Most traffic rules and procedures are violated by drivers and other vehicle users. Cases of overloading and driving on road shoulders are common, and all these are unsafe practices. Should one not be careful, one can lose life or get permanent body damage.

Strikes and demonstrations are also common during this period, especially when one candidate loses elections. Supporters riot and destroy people’s valuables, including shops, vehicles, houses, market stalls etc.

A lot of cash movement is also common with elections. Money is used to facilitate election activities like fuel, meals, electoral materials, etc. People moving money from point to point become a target.

Movement of goods and services is often impaired, and there could be a shortage of supply of essential goods and services like fuel, household items, etc.  Sometimes the internet is not spared either, and this ultimately affects communication.

Festive season.

You might feel like the holiday season is approaching quickly this year. Christmas lights and decorations are already emerging and brightening up the dark evenings. Now, as the office parties, celebrations and festive events take place, people will be keen to have fun and distract from what may have been a difficult year for many people.

At the same time, as someone who advises companies, families and high-profile figures on how to avoid dangerous threats, I would say this is also an important time to raise awareness levels.

Firstly, it gets dark earlier now, and muggers, along with other street criminals, do take advantage of the low visibility once daylight fades. Try to avoid poorly lit areas, whether walking around or parking your car.

When there are festive parties going on, bag thieves can be especially active in bars, restaurants and pubs. During celebrations, it’s easy to assume friends or colleagues are watching each other’s bags, but often guards get dropped and bags disappear. Even phones left on tables can suddenly get removed by quick hands.

This could be on a street or on public transport. Route selection is important, as is choosing the safest way of getting home. It’s also much better if people can avoid travelling alone.

When waiting for a private taxi to arrive, choose carefully where you wait and actively engage your situational awareness when exiting venues and when arriving at your house or apartment building.

Another factor to take into account is that as we get closer to the end of the year, people’s energy levels can dwindle. When people are tired, it can affect their levels of alertness.

Should someone look fatigued, they become an inviting target for all kinds of criminals. Try to clock those moments when fatigue sets in and awareness dwindles.

In my training approach, Tri-Tier, there are three levels of training. One of these is resilience.

By building your resilience, you become a less appealing target. Simple practices, like the utilization of your breathing in a focused way and adjusting your posture, can reignite awareness and energy levels.

Then, we will use principles and practices from older martial arts traditions, so this resilience and awareness training can be taken to even more subtle levels.

Enhance your home/shop/store security locking mechanism

Introduce enhanced security locking protocols. Be it padlocks, hand-operated locks, etc., one needs reputable locks to secure a home, shop or warehouse. If the risk is so high and the place has high-value items, deploy enhanced due diligence measures ( EDD).

You cannot have a warehouse with goods worth sh 1billion and you want to use an ordinary Solex padlock. Support your usual locks with intruder alarms, burglar-proofed doors and maybe with an armed guard. It’s also important that you enhance your facility with an online CCTV system that you can view from wherever you are around the world.

Don’t drink and Drive.

Deputy Director of Traffic Police CP-Musinga Norman and the team will be on the roads to enforce behavior while on the road, but this alone is not good enough. Self discipline is the deal. Don’t rush, leave early, drive safely and reach home in peace, not in pieces. Stop and stretch every 2 hours. Avoid night driving where possible. Hydrate with juices and water as much as possible. Wear your seat belt if you are behind the steering wheel.

Shop early.

Fake products are entering the market now. Fake in terms of adulteration, weight, expiration, etc. To avoid buying counterfeit products, shop early and shop from a recognised place. Where possible, obtain a receipt. Avoid street purchases especially when goods appear cheaper than the average market price

Leave someone in your house.

If the whole family is going to the village for festive season celebrations, try to leave an adult at home. If impossible, secure guarding services from private security companies. The bad guys are monitoring you. You will return to a shell of a house.

Situational awareness

Situational awareness refers to the ability to perceive and understand your environment, recognize potential hazards, and predict their impact. It involves being mindful of your surroundings, identifying changes, and responding appropriately to maintain safety. It’s true security agencies will endeavour to secure us, but they also have limitations. The best police officer is yourself. Appreciate your surroundings.

Lastly, information contributes a lot in the space of security and safety. We can get information through social media, electronic and print media. Listen to radios and follow what’s happening within the region, the locality and the nation as a whole.

Christmas and the end of the year are just 2 days. Don’t lose your life because of two days when you have managed to keep safe for 360 days. Safety and security are everyone’s responsibility. Do your part, and the police will do its part.

As I end this article, “If you want to be on Santa’s good list this year, then make sure you are safe. Warm wishes on Christmas to you Ugandans.”

“I really wish you a wonderful Christmas, but more than merriment, I pray for a safe and blessed Christmas for you.

“Warm wishes on Christmas to you. Make sure you take along only good memories into the next year by having a safe festive season and elections.”

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