View from the cop: Crime & punishment
View from the Cop is moving to a new site on Wordpress. Blogger Steve Rose of the Sandy Springs Police Department gives his take on crime, offers safety tips and give his weekly picks from the police blotter. Follow Steve Rose to the new blog site.
AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2008 > January > 11
Friday, January 11, 2008
Hot tips on pepper spray and staying safe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember to use some commons sense during all this nice warm weather. If you’re going to run or jog after work, remember that it gets dark earlier and that cars, when they hit pedestrians, generally come out in better shape. Make sure you have a vest or jacket with reflective material on it. You could carry a light or a large torch or maybe just duct tape some flashlights on your head. Whatever.
The other warning is this: Don’t get out there and get yourself isolated, after dark, where you’re vulnerable to being robbed. Street-level robberies are all based on the opportunity, which in this case is darkness and an isolated victim. Running with someone else greatly enhances your chances of NOT being attractive as a target. If you run and especially if you’re a woman, do yourself a big favor and buy a can of pepper spray.
Pepper spray is a non-toxic self-defense product derived from hot cayenne peppers, the same type of peppers used when cooking. Most pepper spray contains 15 percent Capsaicin* as the active ingredient. This in turn produces a defense spray measuring 2 million Scoville Heat Units, probably named after a guy named Bob Scoville.
More Than You Want To Know *Capsaicin is the oil extracted from the placenta tissue just below the stem of the hot pepper. Capsaicin determines the pungency of the red peppers. The pungency of these peppers is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHUs) and is not to be confused with OC percentages. OC percentages only measure the amount of pepper. Scoville Heat Units is also known as the dry weight of Capsaicin in the spray. 2 million SHUs is the maximum amount of pungency contained in any defense spray.
Bottom Line: Good Stuff. You can buy it online. Remember the contents and don’t buy the key-chain mist type of pepper spray. You want something that will shoot a distance of about ten feet. If you are having problems finding it online, send me an e-mail. Remember that although pepper spray isn’t lethal, it is effective so be careful and remember the first rule of pepper spray: Know which direction it’s pointed in.
Some, but not all, incidents reported to the Sandy Springs Police over the past week:
Office Creepers
A woman said that someone took her wallet from her work desk, at her office at 5670 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd. She said she observed an unauthorized male in the office. She asked the man what or who he was looking for. He replied that he was looking for the Pharmacy. She said she thought he had something in his jacket. Her credit cards were soon used for over $1000 in the metro area.
A woman reported that a man came into her business in the 6500 block of Rowell Road and asked to use a phone, located at the rear of the office. She walked back, retrieved the phone, and when she returned, the man was gone. He had taken her black back bag from a shelf located at the front of the office area. (You should seriously consider keeping all employee personal items safely secured in a rear, and preferably locked area. The man ismelled of intense body odor. (Homeless guys have little to lose and make good office creepers. They’ve got all day to do it and a night in jail is like a hotel stay.)
Friends You Don’t Need
Benjamin reported that he let Calvin spend the night at his apartment along with some other friends. The next morning, Calvin said he needed bus fare so Benjamin gave him two bucks. Calvin said he was thirsty so Benjamin laid his wallet down and went into the kitchen to get Calvin some water. When he came back, Calvin had taken the rest of Benjamin’s money from his wallet and was doing the 100-yard dash down the road. Benjamin chased him but finished second. All he knows is that the man’s name is Calvin. He doesn’t know his last name and said Calvin lives in West End.
