Richland County Sheriff’s Department Sheriff Leon Lott extends the warmest wishes and the best for this holiday season. During this time of year, Sheriff Leon Lott asks you to stay alert to your surroundings and follow these holiday safety tips for your protection:
Driving Tips * Keep your car in good condition with the gas tank at least half full. * Park in well-lighted areas and lock your doors, no matter how long you'll be gone. * Put valuables out of sight or in the trunk. * Check front and rear seats and floorboards before entering your car. * Drive with all doors locked and windows rolled up. * Never pick up hitchhikers. * If your car breaks down, put the hood up, lock the doors, turn on the flashers, and move to the passenger seat. Do not leave your car. If someone stops to help, roll down the window slightly and ask them to call the police or a tow truck. * Avoid underground and enclosed parking garages if possible. * When parking or returning to your vehicle, carry your keys and be aware of your surroundings. Promptly report suspicious persons, vehicles, and crimes to the Sheriff’s Department! For more on safety tips please contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Department Community Action Team at (803) 309-5070 or www.rcsd.net * Website: www.rcsd.net * Twitter: http://twitter.com/RCSD * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OfficialRCSDPage.fb * Facebook Kids: https://www.facebook.com/rcsdkids * Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/sheriffleonlott * Newsvine: http://richland-cty-sheriff-leon-lott1.newsvine.com/
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The Bridge Creek Cougars are working on helping the
environment as well as the hungry! The Bridge Creek Elementary 4th & 5th Grade Club is gathering Pounds of Plastic for Harvest Hope Food Bank The mission of Harvest Hope Food Bank is to provide for the needs of hungry people by gathering and sharing quality food with dignity, compassion and education. Harvest Hope distributed over 27.5 million meals last year and fed approximately 48,000 people a week. Imagine how many plastic bags it took to distribute that much food!?!? On average Harvest Hope goes through approximately 2000 bags per day. As we move into the Holiday Seasons those numbers will increase. Our plan is to deliver enough bags to help Harvest Hope distribute the needed food to families in need throughout the Holidays. Please save and donate your PLASTIC GROCERY BAGS. There is a collection box located at the RCSD Headquarters on Two Notch Road OR contact RCSD Deputy Kelly Pounds, Bridge Creeks School Resource Officer at 803-462-3900 ext. 32458 or [email protected] to arrange for pick-up or for more information. THE BOXES WILL BE PICKED UP ON DEC. 12th so get you bags in today. Sheriff Leon Lott states, it is his duty to make citizens aware of issues that may affect individuals and their families. One issue that causes me increasing concern is the amount of credit card fraud and theft that is occurring. My biggest concern on this issue is that a large majority of the fraud and theft could be prevented. There are some simple, but effective measures, which businesses can take to prevent our citizens and businesspersons from becoming victims. One of the biggest suggestions that we can make, to prevent these types of crimes, is to ask all businesses to ask for picture identification from customers on all transactions. By requesting picture identification, you will protect the customer, your business and our community from this recurring crime – forcing the criminal to do business somewhere else. Steps To Minimize Credit Card Fraud For Businesses: 1) Ask for picture identification with every purchase. For online/over the telephone orders; take a few extra steps to validate each order. Don't accept orders unless complete information is provided - require address verification for credit card orders. 2) Be wary of orders with different "bill to" and "ship to" addresses -- require anyone who uses a different addresses to send a fax with their signature and credit card number authorizing the transaction. 3) Be careful with orders that come from free email services -- there is a much higher incidence of fraud from these services. Many businesses won't even accept orders that come through free email accounts anymore. It’s easy for a scammer to open a free, anonymous email account in another person's name and then send you, the business, an order using the fake email account and a fraudulent credit card number. 4) Be careful of orders that are larger than your typical order amount, and orders with next day delivery. Crooks don't care what it costs, since they aren't planning on paying for it anyway. 5) Pay extra attention to international orders and validate the order before you ship your product to a different country. 6) If you're suspicious, pick up the phone and call the customer to confirm the order. 7) Consider using software or services that can help you fight credit card fraud online. 8) If you the business are scammed by a credit card thief, contact your merchant processor immediately and inform them of the situation. Credit Card Fraud Prevention Tips: 1) Keep an eye on your credit card every time you use it, and make sure you get it back as quickly as possible. Try not to let your credit card out of your sight whenever possible. 2) Be very careful of who you give your credit card. Don't give out your account number over the phone unless you initiate the call and you know the company is reputable. Never give your credit card info out when you receive a phone call. (For example, if you're told there has been a 'computer problem' and the caller needs you to verify information.) Legitimate companies don't call you to ask for a credit card number over the phone. 3) Never respond to emails that request you provide your credit card info via email -- and don't ever respond to emails that ask you to go to a website to verify personal (and credit card) information. These are called 'phishing' scams. 4) Never provide your credit card information on a website that is not a secure site. 5) Sign your credit cards as soon as you receive them. Many cops write “check ID” on the back of their cards. 6) Shred all credit card applications you receive. 7) Don't write your PIN number on your credit card -- or have it anywhere near your credit card. 8) Never leave your credit cards or receipts lying around. 9) Shield your credit card number so that others around you can't copy it or capture it on a cell phone or surveillance cameras. 10) Keep a list in a secure place with all of your account numbers and expiration dates, as well as the phone number and address of each bank that has issued you a credit card. Keep this list updated. 11) Only carry around credit cards that you absolutely need. Don't carry around extra credit cards that you rarely use. 12) Open credit card bills promptly and make sure there are no bogus charges. Treat your credit card bill like your checking account -- reconcile it monthly. Save your receipts so you can compare them with your monthly bills. 13) If you find any charges that you don't have a receipt for -- or that you don't recognize -- report these charges promptly (and in writing) to the credit card issuer. 14) Always void and destroy incorrect receipts. 15) Shred anything with your credit card number written on it. 16) Never sign a blank credit card receipt. Carefully draw a line through blank portions of the receipt. 17) Never write your credit card account number in a public place (such as on a postcard or so that it shows through the envelope payment window). 18) Ideally, it's a good idea to carry your credit cards separately from your wallet. 19) Never lend a credit card to anyone else. 20) If you move, notify your credit card issuers in advance of your change of address. Note: ** Richland County Sheriff’s Department offers FREE crime prevention classes on these and many other safety tips. Please call (803) 576-3118 or visit the website at www.rcsd.net Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, in partnership with our business community, would like to encourage you to be safe shopping this holiday season. The Sheriff is asking you to take some extra precautions and follow some tips that will keep you safe. Sheriff Leon Lott realizes that the holiday season is fast approaching and that many of you will be out shopping getting into the holiday spirit – kicking off the holiday season with some early morning shopping and some of you shopping in all day marathons on black Friday and the days to follow. Unfortunately we live in a society where not everyone is out spreading holiday cheer. It is with that in mind, that Sheriff Leon Lott and your community businesses want to remind you to be vigilant and alert as you venture out. Sheriff Leon Lott offers these tips: Be aware of your surroundings, scan the area from time to time Avoid concentrating so hard on shopping that you fail to keep track of your surroundings, or others near you or your personal property. Be alert in crowded places. Pickpockets favorite places are revolving doors, jammed aisles, elevators, and at public transportation bus stops – make sure your pocketbook/wallet is on your person at all times. Wear conservative, comfortable clothing. Grip your carried items firmly and avoid leaving them attended. Carry the day’s most expensive purchases closest to your body, and don’t carry so much you lose the ability to react quickly. Do not leave purchased items visible in the car - leave them in the trunk. Carry minimal cash and valuables, wear minimal jewelry. Credit cards offer convenience and security, however, keep track of all cards and keep receipts to compare to your monthly statement. Shop with friends or relatives if possible; there is safety in numbers. If possible, leave your children with a baby-sitter while you are shopping. If you take your children with you, keep a close eye on them while shopping. While shopping in the evening hours may be less crowded, there are also additional potential risks involved – park in areas with adequate lighting, again shop with someone rather than alone. When returning to your vehicle, carry your keys in your hand and be ready to unlock the door and enter as quickly as possible. As you approach your vehicle, scan the area, glance underneath, and take a quick look inside before entering. Report suspicious people or activity to law enforcement immediately! Sheriff Leon Lott extends the very best of this Holiday Season from our family to yours! There's no doubt that if a child goes missing, every second counts until they return home. The Richland County Sheriff's Department "Kid Print Program" helps speed up the process of an investigation and the recovery of a lost child. The program also reminds us just how important it is to talk with our children about being safe. Kid Print is a great program, it's very important and most importantly it works. Kid Print events take place weekly all over Richland County. The program is offered FREE to the public and is sponsored by the Richland County Sheriff's Foundation. Over the past 5 years, almost 30,000 children were printed and photographed by our Kid Print team. The parents of those children received an identification picture, statistical information about their child and an imprint of the right and left thumb all on an 8x10 paper for use in an emergency situation. The Sheriff’s Department does not keep a record of the information, all the material goes home with the parents. The Sheriff stated that a lot of times we have people from out of town visiting the area come to an event that Kid Print is present at, and they have their child fingerprinted. They will compliment RCSD on the program; some don't have something like this where they are from, and so we are happy to accommodate them. It provides comfort and the assurance that all the critical information about the child is in one place. As your Sheriff I understand the importance of program like Kid Print and the importance of child safety. I am extremely proud of those that are making this program a success and that help give parents that peace of mind in the case of an emergency. I want to remind everyone to talk with their children and grandchildren about staying safe and about what to do when danger approaches. Please encourage your kids to go to our child page of our website at www.rcsd.net or our interact with us on our teen facebook page – as adults I would encourage you to go to our website and social media sites to receive tons of FREE information that can protect you and your community. So far this year, we have printed and photographed over 7,000 children. Our teams can come out to visit community groups, schools, churches, and other organizations (under the premise that the event is children related). For more information about the Kid Print program visit http://www.rcsd.net/dept/kidprint.htm or email a request to have us come out at [email protected]. Bridge Creek Cougars are working on helping the environment as well as the hungry! Starting November 13, 2017 the Bridge Creek Elementary 4th & 5th Grade Club will be working to gather Pounds of Plastic for Harvest Hope Food Bank The mission of Harvest Hope Food Bank is to provide for the needs of hungry people by gathering and sharing quality food with dignity, compassion and education. Harvest Hope began in 1981 as the result of a shared vision of business leaders and the faith community who set out to provide for the hungry in Columbia. Since then Harvest Hope has increased its mission to feed the hungry across 20 counties of South Carolina. Harvest Hope distributed over 27.5 million meals last year and fed approximately 48,000 people a week. Imagine how many plastic bags it took to distribute that much food!?!? On average Harvest Hope goes through approximately 2000 bags per day. As we move into the Holiday Seasons those numbers will increase. Our plan is to deliver enough bags to help Harvest Hope distribute the needed food to families in need throughout the Holidays. Please save and donate your plastic grocery bags! We will have collection boxes all throughout the school for you to deposit the bags in or contact RCSD Deputy Pounds, Bridge Creeks School Resource Officer at
803-462-3900 ext 32458 for more information. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott continues to warn citizens of not falling prey to criminals who call and demand money. The Sheriff stated that the department continues to receive calls from citizens stating that they have been contacted by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Leon Lott states that no government agency will call you and threaten jail time if you do not pay them; furthermore, the big red flag should be the fact that these scam artists are asking you to go and purchase Green Dot cards. No one is immune from receiving telephone calls from these scammers. The Sheriff stated that the suspects behind these scams are ramping up their efforts as the holiday season approaches to steal your hard earned money. The Sheriff reminds us to not give out your personal information over the phone if you are unsure of who you are actually speaking to; some of these criminals are pretty good at convincing you into believing in what they say, DON”T BE FOOLED! Always verify, hang up and call the official number for any State agency that these scammers say may be calling from and you’re not familiar with. Sheriff Leon Lott also warns of scams that are specifically targeting our precious elderly; family members should always check to make sure our seniors are not getting caught up in such scams. The Sheriff adds that senior citizens can fall prey and become too embarrassed to tell anyone about how much money they’ve lost to these criminals. Stay alert, protect yourself and your family members! The Sheriff reminds citizens to be aware of these scams and the techniques used to steal your money: - beware of phone calls or letters claiming that you have won the lottery or sweepstakes - beware of phone calls claiming they are the IRS, INS, RCSD, or any law enforcement agency collecting money - be suspicious of any call asking for money The Sheriff states that Richland County Sheriff’s Department investigators will continue the efforts to arrest those responsible for fraud. If you have any information to assist with solving these types of crimes, please call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CrimeSC Students will soon be walking and riding their bikes to school in the dark due to Daylight Saving Time ending. If you are a parent, teacher or road safety professional reading this you probably realize how important it is that children can be seen by drivers. Here are some ideas to help you encourage children to be bright. On the Catwalk
WHAT IS DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME? Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of moving the clocks forward one hour from Standard Time for the summer months, and changing them back again in the fall. The general idea is that this allows us all to make better use of natural daylight. However, DST has many detractors. WHEN IS DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME 2017? To remember which way to set their clocks, folks often use the expression, “Spring forward, fall back.” DST ends on Sunday, November 5, at 2:00 A.M. At this time, we “fall back” in the fall by setting clocks back one hour (i.e., gaining one hour). DST 2018 will begin on Sunday, March 11, 2018, at 2:00 A.M. Remember to “spring forward” in the spring and set your clocks forward one hour (i.e., losing one hour). THE HISTORY OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME Does changing the clocks really provide benefits? We’ll let you be the judge. BLAME BEN? Benjamin Franklin’s “An Economical Project,” written in 1784, is the earliest known proposal to “save” daylight. It was whimsical in tone, advocating laws to compel citizens to rise at the crack of dawn to save the expense of candlelight: “Every morning, as soon as the Sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing: and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be fired in every street to wake the sluggards effectually… . Oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and it is probable that he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening.” DST’S TRUE FOUNDER? The first true proponent of Daylight Saving Time was an Englishman named William Willet. A London builder, he conceived the idea while riding his horse early one morning in 1907. He noticed that the shutters of houses were tightly closed even though the Sun had risen. In “The Waste of Daylight,” the manifesto of his personal light-saving campaign, Willet wrote, “Everyone appreciates the long, light evenings. Everyone laments their shrinkage as the days grow shorter; and nearly everyone has given utterance to a regret that the nearly clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used… . That so many as 210 hours of daylight are, to all intents and purposes, wasted every year is a defect in our civilization. Let England recognise and remedy it.” Willet spent a small fortune lobbying businessmen, members of Parliament, and the U.S. Congress to put clocks ahead 20 minutes on each of the four Sundays in April, and reverse the process on consecutive Sundays in September. But his proposal was met mostly with ridicule. One community opposed it on moral grounds, calling the practice the sin of “lying” about true time. WORLD WAR I LED TO ADOPTION OF DST Attitudes changed after World War I broke out. The government and citizenry recognized the need to conserve coal used for heating homes. The Germans were the first to officially adopt the light-extending system in 1915, as a fuel-saving measure during World War I. This led to the introduction in 1916 of British Summer Time: From May 21 to October 1, clocks in Britain were put an hour ahead. The United States followed in 1918, when Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which established the time zones. However, this was amidst great public opposition. A U.S. government Congressional Committee was formed to investigate the benefits of Daylight Saving Time. Many Americans viewed the practice as an absurd attempt to make late sleepers get up early. Others thought that it was unnatural to follow “clock time” instead of “Sun time.” A columnist in the Saturday Evening Post offered this alternative: “Why not ‘save summer’ by having June begin at the end of February?” The matter took on new meaning in April 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson declared war. Suddenly, energy conservation was of paramount importance, and several efforts were launched to enlist public support for changing the clocks. A group called the National Daylight Saving Convention distributed postcards showing Uncle Sam holding a garden hoe and rifle, turning back the hands of a huge pocket watch. Voters were asked to sign and mail to their congressman postcards that declared, “If I have more daylight, I can work longer for my country. We need every hour of light.” Manhattan’s borough president testified to Congress that the extra hour of light would be a boon to home gardening, and therefore increase the Allies’ food supply. Posters chided, “Uncle Sam, your enemies have been up and are at work in the extra hour of daylight—when will YOU wake up?” With public opinion in its favor, Congress officially declared that all clocks would be moved ahead one hour at 2:00 A.M. on March 31, 1918. (Canada adopted a similar policy later the same year.) Americans were encouraged to turn off their lights and go to bed earlier than they normally did—at around 8:00 P.M. FARMERS DID NOT FAVOR DST Many Americans wrongly point to farmers as the driving force behind Daylight Saving Time. In fact, farmers were its strongest opponents and, as a group, stubbornly resisted the change from the beginning. When the war was over, the farmers and working-class people who had held their tongues began to speak out. They demanded an end to Daylight Saving Time, claiming that it benefited only office workers and the leisure class. The controversy put a spotlight on the growing gap between rural and urban dwellers. As a writer for the Literary Digest put it, “The farmer objects to doing his early chores in the dark merely so that his city brother, who is sound asleep at the time, may enjoy a daylight motor ride at eight in the evening.” The Daylight Saving Time experiment lasted only until 1920, when the law was repealed due to opposition from dairy farmers (cows don’t pay attention to clocks). No fewer than 28 bills to repeal Daylight Saving Time had been introduced to Congress, and the law was removed from the books. American had tolerated Daylight Saving Time for about seven months. DST RETURNS The subject did not come up again until after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, and the United States was once again at war. During World War II, Daylight Saving Time was imposed once again (this time year-round) to save fuel. Clocks were set one hour ahead to save energy. After the war (which concluded with Japan’s final surrender on September 2, 1945), Daylight Saving Time started being used on and off in different states, beginning and ending on days of their choosing. LOCAL DIFFERENCES AND INCONSISTENCY Inconsistent adherence to time zones among the states created considerable confusion with interstate bus and train service. To remedy the situation, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, establishing consistent use of Daylight Saving Time within the United States: Clocks were to be set ahead one hour on the last Sunday in April and one hour back on the last Sunday in October. That was the rule, but some state legislatures took exception via a loophole that had been built into the law. Residents of Hawaii and most of Arizona did not change their clocks. Residents of Indiana, which straddles the Eastern and Central time zones, were sharply divided on Daylight Saving Time: Some counties employed it, some did not. In 1986, the U.S. Congress approved a bill to increase the period of Daylight Saving Time, moving the start to the first Sunday in April. The goal was to conserve oil used for generating electricity—an estimated 300,000 barrels annually. Still, some resistance remained:
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME TODAY The current daylight saving period was established with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which went into effect in 2007. As a result, most Americans now spring forward (turn clocks ahead and lose an hour) on the second Sunday in March (at 2:00 A.M.) and fall back (turn clocks back and gain an hour) on the first Sunday in November (at 2:00 A.M.). However, even today, farmers’ organizations lobby Congress against the practice, preferring early daylight to dry their fields and a Standard Time sunset for sending their work at a reasonable hour. Some farmers point out that the Daylight Saving Time is deceptively misnamed. “It is a gimmick that changes the relationship between ‘Sun’ time and ‘clock’ time but saves neither time nor daylight,” says Katherine Dutro, spokesperson for the Indiana Farm Bureau. Most of Canada is on Daylight Saving Time; only portions of Saskatchewan and small pockets of British Columbia remain on Standard Time year-round. However, the practice has its detractors. In the words of a current-day Canadian poultry producer, “The chickens do not adapt to the changed clock until several weeks have gone by, so the first week of April and the last week of October are very frustrating for us.” Similarly, one Canadian researcher likened an increase in traffic accidents to the onset of Daylight Saving Time. Other experts insist that the extra hour of daylight reduces crime. https://www.almanac.com/content/when-daylight-saving-time |