William Riley Teaches Seniors to Avoid Crime (video)
(Crystal A. Proxmire, April 11, 2014)

“If you understand how crime works, once it starts it’s too late,” warned Wayne County Sheriff Deputy William Riley as he spoke to the Ferndale Seniors group on Wednesday.  Riley visited the group to share tips for being safe and avoiding being victims of crime.
After three tours in Vietnam and several decades in law enforcement, Riley says he knows how to spot trouble before it starts.  He’s written a booklet called “Crime Score: Behavior Profiling for Everyone,” which is available for Kindle on Amazon.com. He also does presentations to groups such as the Ferndale Seniors to help spread the word on how to stay safe.
Riley said the first key is to be aware of one’s surroundings, and make a quick note of who is in one’s vicinity. “Three seconds is all it takes.  If you look at someone and you can’t tell me in three seconds what they’re doing, better go the other way,” he said.
“Hyper-awareness is the key.  Predators not only have to watch for their prey, but they have to watch for the ones preying on them,” Riley said.  “So if someone is constantly looking around to see what’s happening, it’s a bad sign.  I caught one guy, didn’t match the description, his vehicle didn’t match the description, but he turned around to see who was following him.  And that was the key.  I knew maybe it was the right person.”
“Keep an eye on what people look at, because that’s what they want.  That does apply even if you’re just saying do you like it,” he said.  Criminals may look busy but their eyes will be repeatedly going towards their victim, or towards the item they may be thinking of stealing.
One way to avoid being a target is to walk with confidence, and to travel in groups.
“Criminals do a risk-reward analysis.  How much benefit am I going to get for how much work?  And I will tell you this, two people are always a harder target than one so the first rule is if you can at least travel in pairs.  One woman said, my mother is independent; she doesn’t want to have anybody help her.  I said, okay, tell her she’s helping them.”
Riley said he could speak for hours about crime prevention, and his 20-minute talk was just a sample of what could be learned from his book.  Check out the video of his presentation at XXXXXXXXXXXX and download the Kindle version of Crime Score at http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Score-William-Riley-ebook/dp/B00EPLS5V6/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397252579&sr=1-1-fkmr2&keywords=bill+riley+crime+score.
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