What is Target Hardening?
Target hardening is a means of crime prevention. Any criminal, whether opportunistic or strategic, is always going to be evaluating their victims on a risk versus reward scale.
They want the highest reward possible with the lowest risk applied to themselves.
To achieve effective target hardening in personal security you need to increase the risk to potential criminals and decrease their perceived reward.
- You need to make yourself and your belongings less appealing.
- You need to be (or appear to be) a risky or dangerous target.
By increasing the risk to criminals and decreasing their potential reward you are able to deflect their interest to another target.
Target Hardening: Personal Safety
One of the best ways to make yourself a hardened target and reduce the risk of being seen as a potential victim by criminals is by using good situational awareness practices. Use your body language and behavior to display that you are paying attention and won’t be caught by surprise.
Body Language Tips:
- Keep your head up and look around. By scanning your surroundings you are much more aware of what is going on and harder to catch off guard.
- Make eye contact with people around you. Don’t be creepy or antagonistic by glaring or holding eye contact, but instead smile and bounce your eyes around the room. Briefly look into other peoples eyes before glancing away. You are letting people know that you see them.
- Look confident – square your shoulders, smile, move with intentionality. A confident person is off-putting to most opportunistic criminals.
Target Hardening: Home and Vehicle Safety
Criminals don’t just target people, but also their homes and vehicles. Using the same principles of increasing risk and reducing reward we can deflect a criminal’s interest in our property as well.
Home and Vehicle Tips:
- Lock doors and windows. Anytime you are not in your home or vehicle it should be locked.
- Close everything up at night. Make sure any doors or windows that could be accessed (specifically ground floor) are closed and locked. Pull the curtains and blinds shut as well.
- Keep valuables out of sight. When people walk past your home or vehicle, what can they see through the windows? Do you keep wallets or keys visibly by the door or front window of the house? Do you leave a personal bag sitting on the passenger seat while running in to get a cup of coffee?
- Consider leaving a light on at home overnight and/or while you’re out. A dark house is inviting to potential criminals. A house with a light on both exposes the would be offender and creates doubt as to whether someone might be home.
Are You A Hard Target?
There are numerous other ways to protect yourself, those you care for, and your property from criminals. But when it comes to becoming a hard target, remember the basics:
- Decrease your perceived value to criminals
- Increase your perceived threat to criminals
Take steps today to review your behaviors and practices to see where you can shore up vulnerabilities.
Become a hard target!
