Bag Safety

Purses, wallets, & backpacks are known, popular targets, and an unwatched bag is a dream to a thief. Your purse, backpack, or briefcase usually contain your phone, your keys, & your wallet which houses your credit/debit cards, cash and your Driver’s License which lists your address. If your belongings are stolen, the criminal has access to a lot of personal information, as well as expensive objects, especially if they have your address and your keys. Don’t let yourself be the victim of a thief, follow the bag safety steps below to help keep your belongings safe and to help prevent the occurrence of a theft.

• Inventory what you carry everyday and see what is actually necessary for you to carry.
  • Never leave your Social Security card in your wallet. This could lead to your identity being stolen.
• Make a photocopy of everything you carry in your wallet, and keep the copies stored in a safe place.
  • Let a close relative or friend know where it’s hidden in case you need them to have access to it.
• When out & about, don’t hang your belongings on the back of your chair or put them on the floor.
  • This makes it easy for a criminal to walk by and take it without you realizing it’s happened or being able to react.
• When you’re carrying a purse, carry it in front of you, held close to your body.
  • When you carry your purse hanging by your side, a thief can easily run up and grab it.
  • While cross-body purses are safer in some situations, when you carry a cross-body purse, it goes beyond bag safety and gets more into physical safety. Not only will some thieves just cut the strap and run off, but now the bag is more attached to your body. If someone tries to grab it and run, they could yank you.
• Consider carrying a decoy wallet, or decoy cash- a few $1’s folded/rolled inside of a larger bill.
• If a criminal confronts you and asks you for your belongings, how would you respond to their demands?
  • It’s important to decide this in advance to ensure that your response is automatic- this determines whether you will comply, fight, run, or just freeze? If you’re wondering, freezing is the most common reaction because most people haven’t considered the what-if’s.
• When a mugger confronts their target, most of the time they’re more interested in getting the cash and valuables.
  • Never just hand them your belongings!
    • Toss your purse, wallet, decoy wallet, decoy cash roll, etc. several feet away from you.
    • Dump the contents of your purse out on the ground and toss the purse away.
  • Both of these actions will most likely send the assailant scrambling after the money/valuables which allows you a better chance of escaping.
• A preventative measure you can take is to carry an:
  • Anti-theft cross-body purse
  • Anti-Theft Purse
  • Anti-Theft backpack

These bag safety tips are good habits to form to keep your belongings safe & to prevent yourself from being a victim.