11 important security tips if you are living in Ghana

You are a target if you are usually found alone or in solitude. Before killers strike, they monitor the scene over a period to know the soft spots, and being alone is certainly one of such targets.

Be careful with even familiar people. They are more potent at luring you into danger as you may trust them. At times, the prowlers could use a person you know or you are familiar with as the bridge to win your trust and get at you.

All children are likely to be naive. Aware of this, adults need to talk to children constantly, and one of the warning signposts you must flash at them is to beware of persons who claim to be emissary of their parents, siblings, teachers, or any person known to them. Persons who claim to be acting on behalf of others for the children can cause harm and leave without any traces.

Always beware and be alert about ordinary persons running petty services to households. They use seemingly legitimate business or chores to get closer. This offers them the opportunity to take a closer look at you and decide on the next line of action. If in their estimation you are wealthy or better off, they can catch you by surprise and attack you.  In this connection, look out for plumbers, electricians, water suppliers, garbage collectors, carpenters, shoemakers, hawkers etc.

As crime continues to get sophisticated, know that criminals are possibly thinking ahead of you. Some Companies that supply maidservants and houseboys could be criminal gangs that spy on you in the form of these housekeepers. Some have killed their masters and taken their money and valuables away.

Official security and private security guards are to be commended for their express missions. However, both are carried out by humans, and humans are sometimes driven by self-interest. Any of these can change from being a bulwark to a bulldog to attack or kill you and take your property away. Watch them all the time. If possible change them often, put them on their toes with unplanned visits by weird people, or monitor them very closely.

Rather than jump at unexpected gestures from others, such passes at you must alarm you. Do not fall for sudden bursts of friendship. Tread with care. Note that all actions are remotely laced with ulterior motives.

Do not put a baby there unattended and assume your dog cannot do the unthinkable such as using the baby as a substitute for raw animal meat. When animals are hungry, they become desperate and more amoral.

Those who wake up early to do their chores, or work late into the night, usually starting or finishing alone, are soft targets of any would-be assassin. Remember they monitor before they move in. Often their victims are killed.

Inside large crowds are deadlier. A man attended a funeral with his four-year-old son in 2017. The boy went missing at the funeral. Six years on, the child cannot be traced. Marketwomen who allow children to wander in crowds in the market may soon come out crying loud over their missing children. This has been happening already.

If possible, avoid eating anything at social gatherings such as parties or funerals.