It’s really sad in this world

@Rhonda They might as well tell you they want drugs and alcohol while they are at it.

@cherokeepatti exactly. My friend did a spring clean and washed and ironed lots of quilts, pillows, blankets etc and gave them to a group of homeless people living outside a closed shop. They ripped the bags open and rummaged through and 2 days later the contents were laying over the street.

@Heartlander Yes they love to find me walking by myself to my car further away from the door, less witnesses and it is very unsettling to be approached by a stranger asking for money. If they catch people off-guard it makes an easy purse or wallet snatching set-up. I did have one incident when I had the boy with me, pushed my shopping cart to the car & was loading stuff in the trunk. A woman drives up behind the car and says “Hey, can I ask you a question?” I say “Yes”. She says “I’m hungry, I need some money to go buy something to eat.” I told her I didn’t have any change and she sped off and right out of the parking lot. Probably thought I was going to call in on her or something. There’s a meal kitchen about 3 blocks away and they never charge anything for a meal or ask about income etc. If she was hungry she could have gone over there for at least two meals a day.

@cherokeepatti This gave me pause to reflect on how many such crimes happened in our area over the years that we've lived here. A quick inventory says at least a dozen and probably another 2 or 3 dozen that didn't catch my awareness or stick in my memory. The same setup: isolation and an excuse to approach and get close.

When our daughter hit her teen years we sent her through a model mugging program. Friends and family were invited to the completion celebration which included demonstrations by the students. The first steps were to avoid isolation situations and be on guard if can't. Then take steps to keep distance from someone trying to approach, regardless of what they are saying,

There was a local incident, maybe 15+ years ago, where an FBI agent from another city was attending a seminar at the local FBI office building, and staying in a downtown hotel. He was robbed and murdered while walking back to his hotel after dinner at a nearby restaurant. Isolated street, shot at close range.

@Heartlander the new thing that human traffickers are doing if they see a young woman that they are targeting to traffic and she’s driving a vehicle alone they will wait till she leaves her car & enters a building (usually her workplace) and put a zip-tie on the passenger side door handle to show the kidnappers what she is driving so they can watch for her approaching that car. They don’t always get them when they mark the car and sometimes they’ll drive home with the zip-tag still attached to the door handle. I’ve read some accounts of fathers finding those zip tags and asking a police officer what it meant. They told them to cut the tag off because it could signal traffickers that their daughter has been tagged as a trafficking victim.