Arizona Crime Prevention Association

Free Child ID Clinic

2010-07-12T10:13:00.002-07:00

On Saturday, July 24, from 9 am to 12 pm, the Gilbert Police Crime Prevention Unit will be hosting a FREE Child ID Clinic for children ages 3 and older. This free event will be held at the central station, 75 E. Civic Center Drive in Gilbert.

In partnership with the Arizona Crime Prevention Association (ACPA), Inc., the Gilbert Crime Prevention Unit will provide each child with an ID card and a CD, which will include a photograph, digital fingerprints and a voice recording. Should it be needed, this information provides the necessary information for police departments and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED AND AN APPOINTMENT TIME MUST BE MADE. Call 480-635-7521, 480-635-7520 or 480-635-7522 to make an appointment.

This program is sponsored by the Arizona Crime Prevention Association, Inc., Target, Pediatric Dental Specialists and the Arizona Masons.

Free Identity Theft Education

2010-07-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Do you have a group, organization or business that would be interested in learning more about identity theft and how to protect personally identifiable information?

LifeLock’s Speaker Series presentations are customized to fit the needs of many groups — from senior citizens to college and high school students, faculty, businesses, and more. An identity theft protection expert can help your group better understand:

Identity theft trends
The many ways identity theft happens
The risks individuals face
What you can do to protect yourself and minimize your risk

To request more information or schedule a speaker, contact the LifeLock Corporate Communications Team at speakerrequest@lifelock.com or 480-457-2032.

Password Security

2010-07-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

A good password consists of 14 or more random characters, upper and lower case, numbers and symbols.

Of course, having such random strings and a different set for every account will make it difficult to remember. A few things you can do —

Use a strong password storage program that uses encryption to protect its data. The most commonly used program is Roboform. For the Mac and PC, you can check out PasswordVault by Lava Software. Some programs, including this one, generate passwords.
For low-security sites where it doesn’t matter if the info is discovered, have a simple user name and password that you only use on these sites. What you DON”T want to do, is write your passwords down.
If you use a word in the English language as a password, even if you double it (such as “friendfriend”), spell it backwards (“dneirf”) or add some numbers at the end (“friend481”), a powerful computer using brute force can discover it in a few hours.
If you use a non-word password with only five jumbled characters, all lower case, it takes a mere 11.9 seconds to crack it. Even if you use a mixture of all characters, upper and lower case, numbers, punctuation, etc., it takes only 2.15 hours — still easily achievable for a hacker to run overnight.

Hacking programs, in the guise of genuine password recovery software, are freely available on the Internet. Installed on someone’s PC, either directly or over the Internet through malware, they can unscramble pretty much all passwords used in email and instant messaging programs, those stored in Internet browsers or otherwise disguised by asterisks.

What these things tell us is, first, that our passwords should not only be made up of random characters, but should also be lengthy — 16 characters is recommended.

Second, not only should be protect our computers against malware attacks, but that we should change our passwords frequently, in case anyone has managed to grab them.

It is also good practice to use a different password for each important account. Why? Certain websites and online forums are easy to hack. If you’re registered there and you’re using the same user name and password as you do for your online banking….someone’s got their hands on your money.

The bottom line is that no password is 100% safe and uncrackable, even if it is encrypted, but tough strings of characters and encryption (provided by some software) will usually be enough to defeat and deter the hackers.

Fabulous New Trainings!

2010-04-21T11:54:00.004-07:00

Visit the ACPA Training page for more information -- www.acpa.net/training.htm

Crisis Management in Rural Schools / School Shootings
April 27
Free Web Cast

S.A.F.E. Instructor Training & Certification
June 24 in Tempe
$35 refund Early Bird registration special for the first 10 ACPA members who register.

Crime Prevention Specialist Certification Class
July 13-15 in Scottsdale
$250 for ACPA members; $275 for non-members

Domestic Violence
August 18 in Mesa

Crime Trends II
September 8-9 in Tempe
DEA will be talking about Mexican Drug Cartels; ID Theft and more! At the Fiesta Inn.

Shredding Event - Don't Forget!

2010-03-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

Don't forget the upcoming shredding event on April 10 from 9am to 11am.

Location: Premiere Document Shredding, 2250 W. Broadway Rd. #104 in Mesa

Shred up to 2 standard boxes for free, with your donation of spare coins/change. charges may apply for more than 2 boxes.

Got an old cell phone that you don't know what to do with? Bring it to this event to donate. Tax deductible receipts will be available.

Home Inventory Software -- Free download!

2010-03-15T10:32:00.001-07:00

There is a great free home inventory program you can download. Record all the important info, upload photos, receipts, other documentation, etc. Several ways to print out the info as well. Great for your insurance company should you need it.

http://download.cnet.com/What-You-Own-Home-Inventory/3000-2131_4-10911674.html

Phishing Game

2010-03-15T10:29:00.002-07:00

The best way to avoid being phished is to learn the signs of a phishing scam. The Federal Trade Commission’s OnGuardOnline.gov has created a game to help users learn how not to be phished. To play, visit:

http://www.onguardonline.gov/games/phishing-scams.aspx.

Online Business Crime Prevention Training

2010-01-25T14:54:00.001-07:00

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers free online crime prevention resources that crime prevention practitioners can use to assist small businesses with their crime prevention needs. The first resource is an online Crime Prevention training course that can help small business owners understand how they can use crime prevention measures to reduce their losses from crime. The 30 slide PowerPoint presentation, with audio, is self-paced and easy to use and understand. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. To access the training, the user needs to complete a simple registration, with a few questions, that takes less than a minute to complete. Upon completing the course, the user can receive an online Certificate of Completion from the SBA.

The document Curtailing Crime - Inside and Out is also available online. It includes measure to safeguard small businesses against employee dishonesty, shoplifting, bad check passing, burglary and robbery. The PODCAST, Disaster Preparedness for Business Owners, is also available.

NCPC Training PowerPoints

2010-01-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

The National Crime Prevention Council, through the support of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, has developed 22 presentations for your use in PowerPoint format. They are intended for use by crime prevention practitioners who bring their experience and expertise to each crime prevention topic, by modifying it to meet their local needs. Some of the presentations: Neighborhood Watch, Seniors and Crime Prevention, Bullying, School Safety, Drugs, Online Predators. Check it out!

Senior Anti-Crime University

2010-01-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Free classes from the Attorney General's Office on avoiding scams, preventing fraud and staying safe. Several dates/locations throughout the Valley. Visit www.azag.gov/seniors/ for registration information. Space is limited.

January 28 in Mesa
February 18 in Phoenix
March 18 in Sierra Vista
March 24 in Sun Lakes
April 7 in Green Valley

Shredding Events

2010-01-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Shred up to 2 standard file boxes of documents FREE with donation of spare coins/change. Charges may apply for more than two boxes. OLD CELL PHONE DONATIONS will also be accepted at all events. Tax deductible receipts will be available for donated phones.

January 30, Saturday
9:30 am to 11:00 am
CostCo, 1445 W. Elliot, Tempe
Sponsored by USA On Watch
February 6, Saturday
9 am to 11 am
Sam's Club, 15255 N. Northsight, Scottsdale
Sponsored by USA OnWatch
April 10, Saturday
9 am to 11 am
Premiere Document Shred, 2250 W. Broadway Rd., #104, Mesa
Sponsored by the ACPA

Search with GOODSEARCH!

2009-12-30T16:48:00.002-07:00

Here is an easy way to help the ACPA raise a bit of extra funds to help pay for trainings! Just start using Yahoo! powered GoodSearch.com as your search engine and they will donate about a penny per search to the ACPA every time you do a search.

In addition, shop through GoodSearch's online shopping mall, GoodShop.com, where you can shop at more than 900 top online retailers and a percentage of your purchase will be given to the ACPA. You don't pay extra by using GoodShop.com.

GoodSearch has been featured in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, the Wall Street Journal and on CNN and ABC News, to name a few.

The ACPA now has it's own customized toolbar that you can download and add to your browser homepage.
Visit http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/arizona-crime-prevention-association-acpa to download the ACPA toolbar.

TUCSON NEWS

2009-12-30T14:16:00.002-07:00

Well we will know Jan 5 how many cops we are losing and how many civilian positions. We have already experienced pay cuts and are looking at even more. It is a very scary time down here and getting worse by the minute! Help us all!!! Crime prevention requires cops, etc right?

2010 Trainings!

2009-12-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

The ACPA has some great trainings in the works for 2010. The first one is a FREE-to-Members Webinar on Workplace Violence, February 18 beginning at 9:00 a.m. For non-members there is a $60 fee to participate in this training. Some of the topics covered will be the characteristics of offenders, characteristics of victims, psychological affects, helping the employee, policies/procedures and more.

Other training topics for 2010:

Church Safety and School Security
S.A.F.E. Train the Trainer, April 19 in Scottsdale
Lighting
Current Trends in Law Enforcement II
Domestic Violence

Visit the ACPA Web site at http://www.acpa.net/ for additional information as it becomes available.

Welcome to our Blog!

2009-12-09T15:08:00.002-07:00

The ACPA has now plunged into the world of blogging. We hope to keep our members updated by posting current information and trends here. If you have a question about anything related to crime prevention, please don't hesitate to click on the comments link and post your question or comment and, if needed, one of the ACPA board members will respond, and other ACPA members may choose to also. We look forward to interacting with our members through this blog.