For safer Spring Break, keep plans private

Covington County Sheriff Blake Turman is encouraging people to be safe and keep their homes safe during this week’s Spring Break, and he suggests starting by not sharing all of your plans on social media.

“They don’t need to be posting when they are leaving,” Turman said. “Don’t give the criminals an idea of when they are not going to be at home. The best thing to do is let your close friends know, because you do need to let somebody know that you’re not going to be home, but don’t go posting it on Facebook. I would even recommend that if you have pictures from your vacation that you want to post, wait until you get home.”

The next tip is geared towards teenagers and high school students.

“Make sure that your parents know where you are at all times,” Turman said. “Whether it is a simple text or a simple phone call, it is that easy. Also, don’t abuse alcohol and drugs. That has always been a problem in the county, but for some reason it has picked up, especially with drugs. These teenagers are getting into marijuana and spice, or synthetic marijuana. These kids are experimenting with stuff that is going to lead themselves to a very bad place.

“It’s like this, for years we have always taught our children that drugs can kill you, which is true, but it is also a fact that they won’t kill you. They will just lead you to a life of addiction and that is not a life that somebody wants.”

Turman said that people need to make sure that they leave their houses in proper order before they leave for vacation.

“Make sure that all of your windows are locked,” Turman said. “Make sure that you have somebody to check on your mail and have a neighbor check on your home, whether it’s running in there every once in a while and making sure that nothing is messed with or going around to the back of the house to look around. People need to put things up where other people can’t see them. Don’t leave your weed eater sitting up under your carport, or you chainsaw, just put that stuff up, because criminals are going to take the path of least resistance. If they see something that is quick and easy, that’s what they are going to get.”

He said that people need to be on the lookout for little kids running in their neighborhoods as well as other people in their neighborhoods.

“People need to be on the lookout for everything in their neighborhoods during spring break,” Turman said. “It doesn’t mean that they are up to no good, if you find somebody walking around your neighborhood. But as neighbors we need to look out for each other. A neighborhood watch program is something that I would like to get started because we don’t have a lot of those programs.”

The last thing Turman wants people to be aware of is inattentive driving.

“We had a really big problem with this in the past years,” Turman said. “I mean people are texting, on the Internet or on the phone all of the time. It is OK if you have a hands-free device, but if you are texting, you need to stop yourself and ask, ‘What am I doing?’”