Security and Safety Tips For University Students
Friday, October 5th, 2007
1. Ensure that all accessible external doors and windows are fitted with locks and the keys removed and hidden from view. This is a basic security measure, especially in places where you’re new and anybody can just break in your room.
2. Check with the landlord that previous tenants no longer have any keys. The previous tenants might come back and just enter without your permission. They might not have clean intentions. To avoid this, make sure that they had surrendered their keys to the landlord.
3. If in shared accommodation check the room door can be locked. It might not be safe with many people in one building. And it’s not always safe when you’re sharing your accommodation with someone you’ve just met. Privacy also comes into play, and a lock on your door may just help.
4. Join your local Neighbourhood Watch scheme and meet the neighbours. If there are any on your new place, join them! Other than being a great way to meet new people and make new friends, you’ll also be able to keep up with the different dangers in the area and security measures to employ.
5. Arrange for a friend to visit the property regularly if you are away to remove any mail and put it in a safe place. Don’t forget to provide them with a contact number. If you have to go somewhere, like go back home to your parents’ house for an occasion, have your friend take care of things for a while. It’s important that people will think that there is still someone present in the property to avoid burglary and break-ins.
6. Check outside lighting does work and leave lights on in the house during darkness using a suitable timing device. Lighting and timing devices have proven to be a burglar’s enemies.
7. Remove any valuables from show and put in a safe place, hidden from view. If you don’t them stolen, then better to keep it hidden safely.
8. Whenever you leave your home always lock all doors, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes. Don’t think that a few minutes isn’t enough for a burglar.
9. If the property has a garden, check access is secure. Burglars sometimes use the garden as a hiding place. Check whether anyone can possibly use the garden as a tool for hiding and check for any entrance and exits.
10. Ensure you have the household insurance policy details and a contact number handy in case a claim has to be made. Check in detail what the insurance covers in the likely situation that belongings will be stolen.
Source: Easier Finance
German-based 
License plate recognition sofware employs a series of algorithms to turn the video image of a vehicle’s plate into electronic text. This software costs around $1,500 to $3,000. It helps with authenticating the plates based on their anti-fraud features, logs the data into a computer where it is stored in the database. 
2. Being Burgled
A pickpocket is a person who steals money, wallets, and others, in the pockets of people in public and crowded places. One minute, you have your wallet in your back pocket, and when you reach for it twenty minutes late, it’s not there anymore. Swiped. And you didn’t know when it was taken and who it was. This can give a shock to some people who think that being in public place with lots of eyes watching can be a safe haven from thieves. It can save you from an assault, of course. But you’d still be scared a little at how someone can just swipe your money off you in a place full of people. 
