Americans Still Perceive Crime as on the Rise

Two-thirds of Americans say there is more crime in the United States than there was a year ago, reflecting Americans' general tendency to perceive crime as increasing. Still, the percentage perceiving an increase in crime is below what Gallup measured in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but is higher than the levels from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Americans are somewhat more positive about the trend in crime in their local area, but still are more likely to see it going up than going down. These trends, based on Gallup's annual Crime survey, come at a time when both the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics recently reported drops in property and violent crime from 2008 to 2009 in separate studies, as well as documenting longer-term declines in both types of crime.

Though the latest Gallup estimates, from an Oct. 7-10, 2010, survey, would reflect a more up-to-date assessment of the crime situation than those reports do, Americans were also likely to perceive crime as increasing both locally and nationally in the 2009 Gallup Crime survey. The apparent contradiction in assessments of the crime situation stems from Americans' general tendency to view crime as increasing.

That said, the percentage holding this view appears to be higher when crime actually is increasing, as in the late 1980s and early 1990s, than when it is not. Americans' perceptions of crime may also be influenced by their general assessments of how things are going in the country.

Americans generally believe the crime situation to be better when their satisfaction with national conditions is high, as in the late 1990s, when the economy was strong, and in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, when patriotism and support for political leaders surged. Thus, the current estimates of increasing crime may to some degree be inflated due to widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the U.S. today.

Apart from whether the crime rate is increasing, 60% of Americans believe the crime problem in the U.S. is "extremely" or "very serious," up from 55% in 2009 and tied for the highest Gallup has measured since 2000. A majority of Americans have typically rated the U.S. crime problem as extremely or very serious in the 11-year history of this question.

As is usually the case, Americans are much less concerned about the crime problem in their local area, as 13% say the crime problem is extremely or very serious where they live.

Americans who have been victimized by crime in the past 12 months are about twice as likely as those who have not been victimized to describe the crime problem in their local area as very serious (18% to 10%). Crime victims are also substantially more likely to perceive crime as increasing in their local area (62% to 43%). However, being a victim of crime bears little relationship to the way one perceives the crime situation in the U.S.

TRAINING PROCESS IDEAS....

There are many different training and development methods. On-the-job training, informal training, classroom training, internal training courses, external training courses, on-the-job coaching, life-coaching, mentoring, training assignments and tasks, skills training, product training, technical training, behavioural development training, role-playing and role-play games and exercises, attitudinal training and development, accredited training and learning, distance learning - all part of the training menu, available to use and apply according to individual training needs and organisational training needs.
Training is also available far beyond and outside the classroom. More importantly, training - or learning, to look at it from the trainee's view - is anything offering learning and developmental experience. Training and learning development includes aspects such as: ethics and morality; attitude and behaviour; leadership and determination, as well as skills and knowledge.
Development isn't restricted to training - it's anything that helps a person to grow, in ability, skills, confidence, tolerance, commitment, initiative, inter-personal skills, understanding, self-control, motivation (see the motivation theory section), and more.
If you consider the attributes of really effective people, be they leaders, managers, operators, technicians; any role at all, the important qualities which make good performers special are likely to be attitudinal. Skills and knowledge, and the processes available to people, are no great advantage. What makes people effective and valuable to any organization is their attitude.
Attitude includes qualities that require different training and learning methods. Attitude stems from a person's mind-set, belief system, emotional maturity, self-confidence, and experience. These are the greatest training and development challenges faced, and there are better ways of achieving this sort of change and development than putting people in a classroom, or indeed by delivering most sorts of conventional business or skills training, which people see as a chore.
This is why training and learning must extend far beyond conventional classroom training courses. Be creative, innovative, and open-minded, and you will discover learning in virtually every new experience, whether for yourself, your team, or your organization. If you want to make a difference, think about what really helps people to change.
Many of these methodologies are explained on this website. Explore them and enjoy them, and encourage others to do the same.
All supervisors and managers should enable and provide training and development for their people - training develops people, it improves performance, raises morale; training and developing people increases the health and effectiveness of the organization, and the productivity of the business.
The leader's ethics and behaviour set the standard for their people's, which determines how productively they use their skills and knowledge. Training is nothing without the motivation to apply it effectively. A strong capability to plan and manage skills training, the acquisition of knowledge, and the development of motivation and attitude, largely determines how well people perform in their jobs.
Training - and also enabling learning and personal development - is essential for the organisation. It helps improve quality, customer satisfaction, productivity, morale, management succession, business development and profitability.
As regards conventional work-related training planning, and training itself, these are step-by-step processes - see and download a free training process diagram. More free training tools are available for download at the free training tools and resources page.
See for example the training planner and training/lesson plan calculator tool, which are templates for planning and organising the delivery of job skills training and processes, and transfer of knowledge and policy etc. See also the training induction checklist and planner tool.
Use these tools and processes to ensure that essential work-related skills, techniques, and knowledge are trained, but remember after this to concentrate most of your 'training' efforts and resources on enabling and facilitating meaningful learning and personal development for people. There is no reason to stop at work-related training. Go further to help people grow and develop as people.
Having said this, we do need to start with the essentials, for example induction training for new starters. Induction Training is especially important for new starters. Good induction training ensures new starters are retained, and then settled in quickly and happily to a productive role. Induction training is more than skills training. It's about the basics that seasoned employees all take for granted: what the shifts are; where the notice-board is; what's the routine for holidays, sickness; where's the canteen; what's the dress code; where the toilets are. New employees also need to understand the organisation's mission, goals and philosophy; personnel practices, health and safety rules, and of course the job they're required to do, with clear methods, timescales and expectations.
Managers must ensure induction training is properly planned - an induction training plan must be issued to each new employee, so they and everyone else involved can see what's happening and that everything is included. You must prepare and provide a suitable induction plan for each new starter.
These induction training principles are necessarily focused on the essential skills and knowledge for a new starter to settle in and to begin to do their job. However there is great advantage in beginning to address personal development needs, wishes, opportunities, particular strengths, abilities, talent, etc., during or very soon after the induction process. The sooner the better.
An organisation needs to assess its people's skills training needs - by a variety of methods - and then structure the way that the training and development is to be delivered, and managers and supervisors play a key role in helping this process.
People's personal strengths and capabilities - and aims and desires and special talents (current and dormant) - also need to be assessed, so as to understand, and help the person understand, that the opportunities for their development and achievement in the organisation are not limited by the job role, or the skill-set that the organisation inevitably defines for the person.
As early as possible, let people know that their job role does not define their potential as a person within or outside the organisation, and, subject to organisational policy, look to develop each person in a meaningful relevant way that they will enjoy and seek, as an individual, beyond the job role, and beyond work requirements.
If possible 'top-up' this sort of development through the provision of mentoring and facilitative coaching (drawing out - not putting in), which is very effective in producing excellent people. Mentoring and proper coaching should be used alongside formal structured training anyway, but this type of support can also greatly assist 'whole-person development', especially where the mentor or coach is seen as a role-model for the person's own particular aspirations.
It's important that as a manager you understand yourself well before you coach, or train or mentor others:
Are your own your own skills adequate? Do you need help or training in any important areas necessary to train, coach, mentor others? What is your own style? How do you you communicate? How do you approach tasks? What are your motives? These all affect the way you see and perform see the training, coaching or mentoring role, and the way that you see and relate to the person that your are coaching, or training, or mentoring. Your aim is to help the other person learn and develop - not to create another version of yourself. When you understand yourself, you understand how you will be perceived, how best to communicate, and how best to help others grow and learn and develop.
And it's vital you understand the other person's style and personality too - how they prefer to learn - do they like to read and absorb a lot of detail, do they prefer to be shown, to experience themselves by trial and error? Knowing the other person's preferred learning style helps you deliver the training in the most relevant and helpful way. It helps you design activities and tasks that the other person will be more be more comfortable doing, which ensures a better result, quicker. Various models and tests are available to help understand learning styles - look at the Kolb model.



--Shobha Shandilya, M.D, PLN9 Security Services Pvt. Ltd.

Britain’s Security Future

The coalition government of centre-right Conservatives and more centre-left Liberal Democrats that emerged from Britain’s general election on 6 May 2010 soon pledged itself both to severe cuts in public expenditure and a major review of the country’s defence posture. Now, four months after the election, both issues are colliding with a vengeance.

The outcome of the “strategic defence and security review”, announced by the ministry of defence in July 2009 and now well underway, promises to be very painful for the country’s armed forces. But how does the immediate political concern with money-saving relate to the larger security questions that are at stake in considering Britain’s long-term future as a country and as part of a global community?

Before the election, both the then Labour government and the Conservative Party sought to address the United Kingdom's long-term security concerns in respective “green papers”; each document reflected current thinking by addressing climate change and related issues. Labour’s paper went further in its global analysis (see "Britain, let's talk about security", 9 May 2010); but there was a shared acceptance that the world was entering a more fragile and uncertain era where global warming and the exclusion of many millions of people from sustainable economic life were becoming drivers of insecurity (see "A world on the margin", 20 May 2010).

The conclusion drawn from this welcome awareness, however, was that keeping Britain secure in such circumstances could best be guaranteed by consolidated military projects (and sustaining alliances such as Nato); a real focus on preventing or containing the problems in the first place was absent.

A turf war

The post-election environment creates new challenges for the architects and service-personnel of British defence policy. The predicament the defence ministry faces is accentuated by the fact that it already, even before the proposed reductions, faces serious economic constraints. The huge cost overruns in existing projects, such as the Nimrod MR4A maritime-reconnaissance plane and the new Astute-class of nuclear-attack submarines, contribute to a shortfall estimated at £32 billion. This cannot be met from current budgets.

There are further expensive current commitments. The Trident nuclear-missile replacement programme will consume up to £100 billion over a forty-year-plus lifespan, much of which comes early in its life; it frontloaded, the two huge new aircraft-carriers and their planes will cost more than £15 billion; the renewal of military-transport aircraft and the replacement of huge amounts of equipment worn out by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will also require billions.

The three branches of the armed forces have become intent on fighting for their own interests. The army persistently highlights the financial and personal costs of fighting in Afghanistan, and works hard to maintain the popular profile of its soldiers even amid persistent doubts over and criticism of the war itself.

The Royal Air Force for its part highlights the occasional forays by Russian long-range aircraft close to United Kingdom airspace, in the process raising cold-war echoes and memories (notwithstanding Russia is far less potent than the intensely militarised Soviet Union). The Royal Navy, meanwhile, emphasises a Russian Akula-class boat’s tracking of Trident missile submarines (though again, the Russian navy has barely a handful of boats with such a capacity). So far there is in London none of the “yellow-peril” talk of Chinese military expansionism that plays so well in Washington, but that will doubtless come.

An equal misery

The services’ concerns, amplified as they may be for protective purposes, are exacerbated by a report from the lower house of parliament’s cross-party defence select committee, which says that the defence review is being rushed. They are also articulated in the context of an exceptionally powerful and well-organised lobby representing the defence (military equipment and weapons) industry, which has serious worries about future profits.

At the same time, the new coalition government - at least its dominant Conservative element - remains absolutely committed to implementing sharp overall spending cuts, and to doing so quickly. The axe-wielding instinct here reflects an ideological affinity with the early years of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership (1979-90), creating palpable unease among the government’s Liberal Democrat junior coalition partners. LibDem activists away from Westminster in particular are increasingly dismayed at their leadership’s acceptance of the Conservative agenda, and fear serious losses in local elections in spring 2011.

The Conservatives’ determination to cut broadly and deeply suggests that the defence review really is driven by financial concerns rather than strategic thinking. The probability is that the defence review will recommend a series of cuts across the armed forces as a whole - a sort of “equal misery” approach. This could involve substantial project-cancellations, including one or even both of the aircraft-carriers§§. But the savings involved will not be combined with a genuine rethink of fundamentals. In that case, the hope for a different kind of analysis of Britain's long-term security challenges - forensic, integrated and radical rather than driven by ideological fixation and political calculation - will not be met.

A cathartic moment

A question then arises about the influence of the idea of “sustainable security”. Will the urgent need for a rapid transition to a low-carbon and a more equitable global economy as a fundamental matter of security be dismissed or just ignored? (see The Great Transition, New Economics Foundation, 19 October 2009).

In the short-term the answer is probably “yes”, meaning that another great opportunity for new thinking will be missed. But in the medium term, this may change. For major cuts of Britain’s armed forces, amid the effort to maintain around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, will explode the pretense that Britain can play at being a mini-superpower. The need for a fundamental rethink will become unavoidable. Therein lies the opportunity for a proper, realistic assessment of the challenges that face the country - with sustainable security at its heart (see "A world in need: the case for sustainable security", 10 September 2009)

Britain's comforting attachment to past glories will still get in the way - and will need to be countered by an ability to adapt quickly and with imagination. But in this fluid and pressured situation for the country and its armed forces, the very shock of sharp cuts may be the catharsis that makes serious new thinking possible.

---

-- Shobha Shandilya, M.D, PLN9 Security Services Pvt. Ltd.

Security beefed up this diwali

In order to avert any kind of untoward incident to mark the first anniversary of the Margao bomb blast on October 16 last year, the police have heightened vigilance in the state.

Besides tightening security, police will intensify patrolling and post policemen at specific points.

Police spokesperson Atmaram Deshpande said, "There is no specific intelligence input. However, we have stepped up vigilance inorder to ensure that there is no untoward incident."

Source said that the police are trying to ensure that mischief mongers do not use this as an opportunity to flare communal tension by attempting to commemorate the anniversary of the blast.

On the eve of Diwali last year, as people were celebrating narkasur, there was a blast which killed two Sanatan Sanstha members, who are also accused in the case. Police had also diffused two more improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at Verna thereby averting a major mishap.

Later, six persons, owing allegiance to the Sanstha were arrested by the Goa police. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) which then took over the blast probe had in their chargesheet said that the blasts were to protest against the act of glorifying 'Narakasur', a demon.

--Shobha Shandilya, M.D, PLN9 Security Services

India’s Private Security Metamorphosis

Thousands of young men throughout India begin each day in blue uniforms that closely resemble that of official police officers, and often armed with little more than batons and radios, they patrol, survey, search and check guests and clients of some of the largest multinational firms in the country.

These young men are escorting VIPs, checking luggage and bags with bomb-sniffing canines, surveying landscapes with binoculars and night-vision goggles and even using hi-tech electronic equipment to scan for cyberinvasions and other network threats for a multitude of private clients.

The company they work for is busy assessing security risks for elite multinationals doing business in India while providing them with personal, private security. In the event of an emergency, the company claims it will deploy a “quick response team” dispatched through a 24-hour manned security control room.

In an increased blurring of the lines between security guard services and the private security personnel of companies that often raise eyebrows in western media, several Indian firms are preparing to earn their spot in the global private security industry.

Anti-terrorism is big business

Much like the private security industry boom that was experienced throughout North America and Europe in the aftermath of 9/11, India also experienced a rapid increase in demand for security in the period following the Mumbai attacks. 

According to India’s Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), as of June 2009 India’s private security industry had grown to “approximately 5.5 million security guards employed by about 15,000 security companies [and] as an industry, is now the country’s largest corporate taxpayer.”

The emergence of companies like PLN9 Security Services represents India’s ability to quickly create private forces to respond to perceived gaps in its national security. However, India’s private security industry is rather unique to the degree that it was once made up of mostly unarmed, static security guards that patrolled apartment buildings, hotels and other businesses and are now transforming into armed, anti-terrorism units.

“India's [private military and security] market has gotten very interesting since the Mumbai attacks a year ago. What used to be a country guarded by loosely trained, ‘lathi’-equipped ‘chowkidars’ that guarded individual homes and apartment complexes is transforming to one attempting to address and mitigate sophisticated terrorism,” Shlok Vaidya, analyst and author of NaxliteRage.com, told ISN Security Watch.

One report noted that “Even before the [Mumbai attack], the industry was experiencing an annual growth rate of 25 percent due primarily to the country’s infrastructure development [and CAPSI] now estimates an annual growth rate of 40 percent.”

Essential training

But even as the industry grows, some critics maintain that much of India’s private security companies are still unprepared to respond to threats such as terror attacks. Part of the reason could be the time it takes to prepare employees of these countries to adequately respond in the wake of a crisis. And in the industry’s rapid growth over the last year, private companies are recruiting India’s youth to begin careers that might quickly become India’s first line of defense against unconventional attacks.

In March 2009, Homeland Security Newswire reported that these young men who were “recruited at random […] from India’s small farming communities and thrown a uniform,” must now “prove who they are, pass a medical exam, and show they can read and write and do elementary math, [and while] there are no rigorous investigations into a recruit’s background or character, security firms argue [for] mandatory training courses [to] help weed out the weak and corrupt from the applicants.”

This ultimately resulted in the state’s Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) training many of those new applicants to “to combat terror strikes.” According to a recent report by the Times of India, a senior official with the ATS stated that the employees it had trained would be “allowed at multiplexes, cinema halls, banks and other prominent private establishments” and that it’s training program would “definitely enable them [private security personnel] to assist police in tackling terror.” CAPSI is now scrambling to help modernize and legitimize the development of the industry.

Smaller companies with less funding are finding out the most useful role they can play in guarding social infrastructure (malls, movie theaters and banks) is to act as a highly trained information sensor for more heavily armed and better trained central police forces or special ops. Instead of chasing big weapons, small outfits are looking for secure, strong radio systems to report crimes or real time terror info. This is what they train on.

In many of the western private military and security companies, employees typically have previous police or military experience, which is almost always a requirement. In India, however, the dynamic has shifted in which young men can circumvent state police or military enlistment and go straight to private companies, which are in turn trained by state forces.

According to one source, India’s private security personnel begin making approximately 4,000 rupees, or $82 per month, meaning that “the typical security guard starting out in India will make approximately $984 in a country with a per capita income of $2,900 a year.” Some private security companies are even training Indians for employment as armed guards in western countries.

For now, India’s private security market is still in a developmental stage. If certain market forces remain intact, India’s private security industry could soon become the state’s first private line of defense against various security threats.


Shobha Shandilya, MD, PLN9 Security Services

DISPPL launches new GSM-based security systems in India

DISPPL, A pioneer in banking security, has launch of a new GSM based Alarm system into the Indian banking security market.

Digitals India Security Products Pvt Ltd., No. 1 integrator in the banking security, has specially designed this system to meet the growing security requirement of the Indian Banks.

The New Guard MC G+ is an eight-zone integrated detection panel which integrates wired/wireless security accessories like magnetic switches, panic switches; night devices like PIR sensors, IR sensors and fire accessories like smoke detectors into a common control panel. This system has several G+ advantages over the conventional systems like GSM connectivity, System health status, CMS, easy arming/disarming. Its sleek design and user-friendly operation will also appeal large segment of business owners and home owners.

The NEW GUARD MC G+ has dual function of GSM/ PSTN Line. It can send health check SMS, call and deliver prerecorded message, integrated to CMS and generate reports. Earlier systems were purely PSTN based and they were prone to wiring damages or stagnant telephone exchanges.

Through new Guard MC G+ the banks can control and monitor large numbers of bank branches through a simple CMS interface. They can not only receive alarm alerts but will also be able to keep track weather the system is night armed, set preset timings, reset alarms, System health and generate reports at the same time. Company also plans to setup CMS stations at all 22 service centers across India in coming years.

"At DISPPL, we are always keen in giving the value- added services to our clients, being associatedwith banking security from 1981. Our nearest authorized service center will receive SMS directly from the bank branch and take prompt action on the same enabling us to serve our clients better" quoted Mr Hitesh Rajwanshi CEO, DISPPL.

The company is also planning to introduce the product in the consumer market. Guard MC G+ is also ideal for home, business and enterprise use. The large enterprises can set up Central monitoring stations and easily bring their multiple offices on a common platform.

The present system owners can also give a G+ edge to their alarm systems by opting for ESD- 03, the GSM based Emergency security Dialer which works on GSM/CDMA SIM card.

DISPPL will be presenting the entire range of GSM based alarm system DI-CQURE +, in the upcoming event IFSEC 2010 at Goregoan exhibition center from 23rd to 25th Nov, 2010.

THINK ABOUT IT....

It's another morning...

... Again I have to go to office !

Ohh, this is me. I shouted having a glance on my snap in today's news

paper. But what the HELL is it doing in the death column?

Strange!

One second... Let me think, last night when I was going to bed I had a

severe pain in my chest, but I don't remember anything after that, I

think I had a sound sleep.

Its morning now, Ohh... It's already 9:00 AM, where is my coffee?  I

will be late for office and my boss will get irritated with me.

Where is everyone.??? I screamed.

"I think there is a crowd outside my room, let me check." I said to myself.

So many people... Not all of them crying.  But why some of them crying.

WHAT IS THIS??? I m laying there on the floor.

"I AM HERE" . I shouted!!! No one was listening.

"LOOK I AM NOT DEAD" . I screamed once again!!! No one is interested in me.

They all were looking me on the bed.

I went back to my bed room.

"Am I dead??" I asked myself.

Where is my wife, my children, my mom-dad, my friends?

I found them in the next room, all of them were crying. still trying

to console each other.

My wife was crying. she was really looking sad.

My little kid was not sure what happened, but he was crying just coz

his mom was sad.

How can I go without telling my kid that I really love him, I really

do care for him.. ?

How can I go without telling my wife that she is really the most

beautiful and most caring wife in this world..?

How can I go without telling my parents that I m just because of u ?

How can I go without telling my friends thanks for being there always

when I need them, and sorry for not being there when they really

needed me..

I can see a person standing in the corner and trying to hide his tears.

Ohh. he was once my best friend, but a small misunderstanding made us

part, and we both have strong  egos to keep us from being friends

again.

I went there.. And offered him my hand, "Dear friend. I just want to

say sorry for everything, we r still best friends, please forgive me."

No response from other side, what the hell?? He is still preserving

his ego, I am saying sorry. even then!!!

I really don't care for such people.

But one sec.. it seems he is not able to see me!!!! He did not see my

extended hand.

My goodness. AM I REALLY DEAD???

I just sat down near ME; I was also feeling like crying.

"OHH ALMIGHTY!!!! PLEASE JUST GIVE ME FEW MORE DAYS.."

I wasn't able to make my wife, my parents; my friends realize that how

much I love them.

My wife entered in the room, she looks beautiful.

"YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL" I shouted.

She didn't hear my words, in fact she never heard these words coz I

never said this to her.

"GOD!!!!" I screamed. a little more time plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..

I cried.

One more chance please. to hug my child, to make my mom smile just

once, to make my dad proud of me for at least one moment, to say sorry

to my friends for everything I have not given to them, and thanks for

still being in my life...

Then I looked up and cried!!!!

I shouted..

"GOD!!!! ONE MORE CHANCE PLEASE!!!!"

"You shouted in your sleep," said my wife as she gently woke me up.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

I was sleeping..

Ohh that was just a dream…

My wife was there. she can hear me.

This is the happiest moment of my life.

I hugged her and whispered.. "U R THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND CARING WIFE

IN THIS UNIVERSE.. I REALLY LOVE U DEAR"

I can't understand the reason of the smile on her face with some tears

in her eyes, still I m happy.. :)

"THANK YOU GOD FOR THIS SECOND? CHANCE."

So, Now it's not late.. Forget your egos, past....., and express your

love to others.... Be friendly..... keep smiling and be happy for

ever.

 "Don't hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep

you away from love”.

--

shobha shandilya

www.pln9.com