country programs
[The current homeland security alert level is YELLOW/elevated.]
Follow these simple steps and you, as an individual, will do more to fight terrorism than all of the world's armies combined.
Remember that ignorance and the lack of a will to be responsible and get involved by doing the right thing for yourself, your family, and your friends are the stuff that terrorism feeds upon both domestically and internationally.
The Role of a Youth Crime Watcher in Homeland Security
Youth Crime Watch of America proposes the following roles for youth and students in this national effort to fight terrorism and build a stronger country:
- Stay in school.
- Make a concerted effort to change your schooling habits so that you ensure your attendance and academic success.
- If your school does not have a Youth Crime Watch program, start one.
- If your school has a Youth Crime Watch program, make it stronger and involve the entire student body and staff.
- Make every effort to sustain your Youth Crime Watch program.
- Become a mentor to those younger than you in order to teach them this ethic and instill a culture of individual responsibility and accountability.
- Assist those younger than you to start and maintain their YCW programs.
- Go into your community and start community-based Youth Crime Watch programs. Concentrate your efforts the most on those neighborhoods in need of resources and infrastructure.
- Make every effort to ensure that your actions have a direct impact on the establishment of a safe environment for all in both your school and community.
- Be an advocate for those who have less than you and who are in need of assistance so that they too can succeed in their own right.
- Renew your responsibilities with your parents and/or guardians and do all within your power to lift your family with you as you grow.
- Be a role model to all, both youth and adult.
- Do not fall prey to negative pressures from within your environment.
- Be inclusive in all you do, not exclusive.
- In fact, be your brother's and sister's keeper.
- Conduct regular school assemblies in order to reinforce these ideals as well as the fact that your program is a way of life and not merely a club.
What Can I Do to Combat Terrorism?
- Report crime, including anything that may be considered a terrorist type of attack, safely and accurately. Have the number of your local police or sheriff handy. Remember that you use 9-1-1 only in an emergency.
- Report
activities that appear to be suspicious because they are
not normal for the place and the time. Report to the authorities
the activities that you believe are suspicious and tell why you think
they are suspicious.
- Suspicious activities may include persons repeatedly driving through a neighborhood, business, industrial or government area with which you are familiar and whom you do not normally see there.
- A person hanging around the neighborhood, school, or other facility that you do not normally see in such a place.
- Someone going door-to-door in the neighborhood without proper permits and for purposes that appear unnecessary.
- Homes in the neighborhood that have unusual numbers of visitors or traffic at night or other odd times of the day.
- Mail that arrives from someone you do not know and appears to have a white powdery substance in it. Do not open this mail! Leave it alone and call the local health department and/or the police or other authorities right away.
- Individually or, even better, in you Youth Crime Watch group, join or establish a team in your community to deal with crises or disasters. There are jobs for persons of many ages. These include being a member of the Community Emergency Response Team that learns how to cope with a disaster or emergency in your neighborhood. Call your fire department to learn more.
- There are also many volunteer activities in which you can participate -- first aid for those who are hurt, guide or escort, teaching youth or others about how to deal with emergencies or crises.
- Help
at your school or in your neighborhood working with adults to put together
a plan to respond to emergencies, that may be natural
disasters, shootings, problems with public facilities, or utilities
such as electric power. Just as well, they may be terrorism.
- Part of the plan is going to be what to do in the event of an emergency, part is going to be who can help with what skills they have, and part will be what things they have such as specialized tools or clothes.
- The closer the students in your school are, the better your relationships, the more likely it is that you can work together in an emergency, and the closer you work together in your neighborhoods, the more likely you are to be successful in responding to an emergency, so build up your neighborhood ties by talking to neighbors and getting to know them.
Additionally, you should note the following when making the reports mentioned earlier:
- Number of subjects
- Description of each person
- Description of vehicles if applicable
- Nature of the acts or statements that have raised your suspicions
- Anything else that you think would help in assisting the authorities to make safe contact with the suspect(s)
The above information was prepared by Lt. (Ret.) Gerald A. Rudoff.
