Police offer ways to shop safely during holidays

The holidays can be the happiest time of the year. For criminals.

Because of holiday shopping and traveling, thieves have more openings — and incentive — to come after your stuff. That's why officers from Henderson Police Department's problem solving unit spent Black Friday at a Best Buy to make consumers aware of ways they can protect themselves.

"Any number of property crimes can occur," Lt. Jeff Farley said. "There's certainly a spike in opportunity."

As dozens of customers lined up before the Best Buy on Marks Street near the Galleria at Sunset mall, officers handed out fliers with safety tips and information about the ReportIt online service.

ReportIt, at reportit.leadsonline.com, gives people an opportunity to list their belongings, record serial numbers and item descriptions and upload photos. Police have access to the information and can use it to identify stolen goods. It can also be used for insurance purposes, in case there is a fire or other damaging occurrence, Farley said. Officers parked a mobile command unit at the shopping center and set up a table with a laptop to help shoppers register.

It's not uncommon for police to find items that are apparently stolen while serving a search warrant. But without information to track it back to the owner, police can't prove it was stolen or tie it to a specific crime, he said.

"If we can't tie them to a victim, that's frustrating to us," he said. "We love to recover property and return it to the owner."

Angel Hernandez, 9, knows what it's like to have stuff stolen. He said his family was burgled about three years ago, and Angel's Xbox was stolen. So he had his dad register the PlayStation they just bought while an officer let him and his brother peek inside a patrol car.

"They got a lot of our stuff," Angel said. "That's why I wanted to do the ReportIt thing. I wanted to protect myself."

Last year police helped more than 100 shoppers register their purchases with ReportIt, but officers also wanted shoppers to be proactive about their safety.

A thief can snatch a purse in a shopping cart or break a car window to get expensive items in a matter of seconds. Boxes and piles of newspapers make homes enticing targets for burglars.

"Mail theft and package theft are also easy. An Amazon box is easily recognizable," Farley said. "That's really easy for opportunistic criminals to take advantage of."

Jamar King, who bought something big and expensive for his mother, said he's going straight home with it.

"I'm not worried about it being stolen from the house," he said. "I remember two or three years ago, people were buying items, putting them in the car, going to another store, putting them in the car. So theives were just walking around breaking into vehicles all day."

"The last thing I'm going to do is leave it in the car. I purchase the item and take it straight to the house," he said.

That's exactly what Henderson police say you should do.

Police also advise that shoppers carry purses close to your body and keep wallets in your front pocket to deter pickpockets. Shop in groups and be aware of your surroundings at all times, police said.

And if you become the victim of a property crime, have as much information about the items as you can and report it to police as soon as possible. That increases the likelihood of police finding the crook and getting your stuff back, Farley said.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl