Category: Safety

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NWL February 2023 Anti-Fraud Update

NWL - anti-fraud update - grandparent scam

Do you think this is screenshot of: 

  1. A visitor to someone’s home?
  2. A delivery person?
  3. A stranded motorist?
  4. A suspect in a recent grandparents scam?

For the answer (in case you hadn’t guessed it!), click on the link to this news report from February 3rd,  CTV News Ottawa This winter the RCMP, OPP, and the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre (CAFC) launched a special campaign to raise awareness of emergency-grandparents scams involving seniors. Last year, a staggering $9.2 million was lost to these scams according to the CAFC. That’s up from $2.4 million in 2021. 

How does the scam work? How can you protect yourself?  Go to the CAFC website for important safety tips. Grandparents scams on the rise 

And this reminder that scams can hit close to home….

Grandparents Scam’ Hits Ilderton

Feb 22, 2023 | 10:49 AM from Strathroy Today 

“Middlesex OPP were called to a business in Ilderton on February 16th around 1:45 pm for fraud. The  person came to the business to get additional funds after paying an unknown person $8400 as a result of the ‘Grandparents’ scam.

The victim got a phone call from the unknown person claiming to be a law firm out of London. The caller told the victim their grandson was in a collision and arrested and needed bail money. A person came to the victims house to collect the money. The fraudster then told the victim an additional $11,000 was needed to grant bail.” Grandparents Scam Hits Ilderton

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COVID-19 newsletters NWL Safety

May 2021 Newsletter

NWL May Newsletter

Looking for the June 2021 Newsletter? Click Here.

COVID-19 Update

While we all continue to observe pandemic protocols, the month of May has brought some key developments. This includes extending vaccine eligibility for people 18 years and older, as well as the announcement of a 3-step reopening plan by the province of Ontario. The reopening plan involves easing restrictions through June, July and August beginning with a focus on resuming outdoor activities such as golf, tennis and basketball. Access to indoor activities, such as visiting galleries, is addressed in the third phase.

Mental Health Awareness

For the past 70 years, Mental Health Awareness week has been held in Canada during May. This year, it was observed the week of May third to ninth. In 2021, the Canadian Mental Health Association focus was on understanding our emotions. Acknowledging that people may be feeling especially stressed and anxious because of the pandemic, the CMHA website has some important advice on helping maintain our emotional wellbeing. This includes:

  • Becoming more emotionally “literate”.
  • Understanding how emotions physically impact our bodies.
  • Developing coping skills, such as putting our emotions into words. 

For more information, visit the CMHA website.

Road Safety Awareness

May is also Road Safety Awareness month. ”This annual awareness campaign is designed to increase public compliance with safe driving measures in order to save lives and reduce injuries on Canada’s roads. The focus of this campaign continues to be on behaviours that put drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users at risk: impaired driving, distracted driving, aggressive driving, and not wearing a seatbelt,” from a post by London police. 

For more go to : Road Safety Awareness

Systemic Racism Research Survey: London Police Services wants to hear from you.

“To this end, the LPS is conducting research, led by Dr. Hina Kalyal, Policy Analyst for LPS to determine to what extent systemic racism exists in our organization, and identify potential solutions Our Systemic Racism Research Survey is seeking those who have either personally interacted with a member of the LPS (civilian or uniformed) in the past, or who have directly and personally observed interactions between a member of the LPS and the public, to provide their feedback and experiences.”

Learn more here: London Police

The Write Stuff

Two London police officers have come up with a product to help write in the dark. It’s a notebook holder embedded with lights. The Nite Write is designed to help police officers take notes in low light or darkness without affecting their night vision. 

Check it out at Nite Write.

That’s it for this month! Until then, take care, and be sure to keep an eye out as we will be posting a summary of our Fraud Awareness 101 very soon!

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COVID-19 Safety

Tips for a Safe & Spooky Halloween!

NWL - Trick or Treat

Like most of 2020, Halloween is undoubtedly going to look a lot different from previous years. But different doesn’t have to mean worse—it just means we have to get a little bit more creative in trying to celebrate our more ghoulish tendencies.

While health authorities haven’t officially nixed trick-or-treating during the pandemic, they have urged people to exercise good judgement by taking proper precautions. Recent media reports include comments by Mayor Ed Holder and Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Chris Mackie, which highlight considerations in planning for Halloween. Recently, Ontario has rolled back some rules on social gatherings, and has even reverted three major areas in the province to modified stage 2 restrictions. You can read a CTV article here for more local details.

More than anything, people want to be able to let their kids have some fun again. A chance to allow—if even for just one night—their imaginations to run a little wild and forget about the virus that has upended any sense of normalcy. And even though doctors are advising against the typical door-to-door hunt for goodies, adapting past traditions to fit the times isn’t as difficult as one might think.

Keeping it Safe

As we move into the colder days of fall with the second wave in full swing, it’s important not to let our guard down. Take a look at these simple suggestions and find out how to minimize your risk of exposure while reveling in the spirit of the season:

  1. Consider individually wrapped goody bags arranged outside on a table for kids to grab as they pass by.
  1. Use tape or other markers to indicate where trick-or-treaters should stand in case a line-up appears at your doorstep. For more festive flair, use cobwebs, gravestones or skeleton bones placed at six-foot intervals as helpful reminders.
  1.  For trick-or-treaters, carry hand sanitizer and sanitize regularly throughout the night. 
  1. Keep gatherings small. Ontario’s current guidelines stipulate limits of 10 people indoors, and 25 people outdoors.
  1. Continue to wear medical grade or cloth face masks. Halloween masks are not suitable replacements for protection against the virus. If wearing a Halloween mask it is still recommended you wear a face mask underneath.

Still Concerned? Consider Going Virtual

If families are thinking about alternatives to traditional door to door  trick-or-treating, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control has some suggestions. These include:

  • Having a virtual Halloween costume contest.
  • Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with
  • Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home

For more ideas for virtual Halloween activities, visit the CDC’s website.

If you found this article and our resources helpful, consider joining NWL Plus for members-only updates, savings on home and auto insurance from Allstate, and discounts from local retailers. You can also make one time, tax-deductible donations – since 2001 Neighbourhood Watch London has been a registered charity focused on community safety and improvement.

– The NWL Team

p.s. Always follow the guidelines of your local public health authority, and if something doesn’t feel safe, then don’t be afraid to skip handing out candy or trick or treating this year. Wishing you all a safe and fun Halloween!

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Safety

Understanding Cyberbullying

Bullying picture

Bullying is the imbalance of power between two people. This imbalance of power occurs when someone intentionally and repeatedly says or does hurtful things to someone else. You might remember our blog from September called How to Prevent Bullying that touched on how to identify bullying and how you can report and prevent bullying.

Continue reading “Understanding Cyberbullying”
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Safety

Safety Tips for Leaving Your House During the Holidays

Christmas village

Many students are currently finishing exams and preparing to head home for the holidays. During the holiday season, robberies, burglaries, and thefts tend to increase.

Continue reading “Safety Tips for Leaving Your House During the Holidays”
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Safety

Managing Snow This Winter

Someone shovelling

Did you know that shovelling snow can actually be dangerous? Statistically, it’s more dangerous for people aged 55 and up.1 But why?

Continue reading “Managing Snow This Winter”
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Safety

Preparing for the Seasonal Flu

Sick woman photo

As flu season is in full swing, we thought we might cover some of the ways that you might prevent the flu if you haven’t already caught it. This blog article is going to discuss 8 ways in which you might stay safe from the flu.

Continue reading “Preparing for the Seasonal Flu”
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Safety

Black Friday Shopping

Black Friday

Most people are already familiar with the notoriety of Black Friday. For those that aren’t, Black Friday is the day after American Thanksgiving that kicks off the holiday shopping season.

Continue reading “Black Friday Shopping”
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Safety

Barriers to Substance Use Recovery

This week is National Addictions Awareness Week and in that spirit, we will be discussing common addiction issues that some Londoner’s face and how this affects our community and what we can do to alleviate the issue.

Continue reading “Barriers to Substance Use Recovery”

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Safety

How to Prevent Crime

Cyber image
Cybersecurity - Weak Password Concept

While the month of November is Fire Prevention Month, Crime Prevention WEEK is this week! November 5th – November 11th! In that spirit, we are bringing to you a blog article that talks about some of the most common crimes in London, Ontario and what you can do to prevent them.

Continue reading “How to Prevent Crime”
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Safety

The Dangers of Daylight Saving Time

Hourglass to represent daylight saving time

The concept of Daylight Saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin.  It was inspired when he woke up one day at 6am and saw light coming in through his window. He considered that if he had slept until noon, like he and the rest of Paris normally would, he would have slept through 6 hours of daylight and in turn been awake for 6 hours through the night by candle light. The latter was much more expensive so, in the spirit of economy, he thought up the novel idea of daylight saving and how it could save Parisians a great deal of money!

Continue reading “The Dangers of Daylight Saving Time”
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Safety

The 4 Ways that Your Office is Unsafe

Picture of a sign that reads, "Goggles must be worn."

October is Ontario’s Healthy Workplace Month and this week, October 22nd-27th is Workplace Safety Week. In that spirit, we will be discussing common workplace safety issues and ways that you can prevent them, whether you are an employee or an employer.

Continue reading “The 4 Ways that Your Office is Unsafe”
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Safety

5 Ways to Have a Safe Halloween

Girl trick or treating

Halloween is an exciting time for children as they get to dress up as some of their heroes and run around their neighbourhood with some of their friends and family collecting treats to satisfy their sweet tooth. However, with all the excitement compounded with excess sugar intake, it is easy for an accident to happen. As we mentioned in our previous blog about Halloween Costume Safety, children on Halloween night are twice as likely be struck by a car than on any other night.1 Halloween can actually be a dangerous night, so take all the precautions that you can so that no one gets hurt and so that everyone has fun.

Continue reading “5 Ways to Have a Safe Halloween”
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Safety

How to Make Halloween Costumes Safer

Face Paint halloween costume

Since 1980, there have been 16 cases in which children under the age of 15 years have suffered burn injuries. One of those injuries resulted in death.1 However, many agree that the biggest risk to injury for children on Halloween is motor vehicle accidents. On Halloween children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car as on any other night of the year.2 It is for these reasons that children’s Halloween costumes need to be made safer to prevent fire injuries and vehicle accidents. Below, you will find tips on how to make your children’s Halloween costumes safer.

Continue reading “How to Make Halloween Costumes Safer”
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Safety

6 Ways to Have a Great Thanksgiving

Fall corn

The holidays, for some, are the most wonderful times of the year. For others, the holidays can be a stressful time. Getting families together and putting on big meals is a stressful enough task but if you add on boredom or high emotions then things can get explosive. Here are six ways to navigate holiday landmines!

Continue reading “6 Ways to Have a Great Thanksgiving”
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Safety

5 Apps to Help You with School and Life

Lady touching iPhone screen

Staying organized during the school year can be difficult. Often, you are so busy that you’re quickly overwhelmed and important things can be forgotten. Schools try to help us with this by offering planners and other learning tools. What people easily forget is that most of us have valuable learning tools right in our pockets…

Our phones!

We are going to tell you about 5 apps that will make your life so much easier and help you stay organized during the school year.

Continue reading “5 Apps to Help You with School and Life”
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Safety

How to Prevent Bullying

A bunch of pegs bullying one peg

“How many of you have ever felt personally victimized by Regina George?”

Many of you will recognize this quote from Mean Girls.

Continue reading “How to Prevent Bullying”
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Safety

How College/University Students Can Make the School Year Fun

University College students fun

Students have begun their yearly pilgrimage to London with the intention of attending the Fall/Winter college or university session. Some students are new to London, and some students are experiencing life away from home for the first time. In order to help our new community members stay safe as they navigate this exciting time, we decided to compile some tips for staying safe and introduce them to some helpful resources!

Continue reading “How College/University Students Can Make the School Year Fun”
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Safety

How to Stay Safe with Children Going Back to School

Back To School

It’s that time of the year when the aroma of pumpkin spice fills crisp autumn air. It’s also the time that kids start to return to school! As elementary school, secondary school, and universities/colleges begin their terms, we at Neighbourhood Watch London will be focusing on Back to School Safety.

Continue reading “How to Stay Safe with Children Going Back to School”