The holidays are coming up quickly, it gets darker earlier and the crowds are larger at all times of day. Even though so many of us seem to shop predominantly online there still seems to be an influx of people at every store from now until January. This got me thinking the other day as I was trying to choose a parking spot close to the store but also close enough to the cart return that I wouldn’t have to walk too far away from my vehicle, that we could all use some reminders of ways to stay safe with our families as we are out shopping.
As a woman I think I have always been more aware of the dangers of being out alone in the evening.
[pinterest count=”horizontal”]
I remember once as a teenager working at a grocery store and doing the closing duties outside in the parking lot and having a strange man follow me. As a teen I didn’t grasp how scary that really is. I just thought it was creepy and a little funny that after that incident the store no longer allowed the females to do any outside closing duties alone at night. Now as a mom, not only am I having to worry about myself but I have two small children to wrangle while trying to be alert for any sort of danger. It doesn’t help that recently it seems there have been all sorts of stories going around on Facebook of people seeing or experiencing men following them and their children around local stores. Recently I saw one such story stating it happened in my town of Portland, Texas.
After seeing this story, I wanted answers, I wanted to know how much of what I read was true and what our local Police Department was doing about it. I reached out to the Portland Chief of Police, Mark Cory, to see if he would sit down with me and answer some questions that I could share with our readers and give us some of his tips for moms staying safe especially during the holidays.
I started by asking him how he felt about these stories on Social Media and their effect that they have on women in particular, he did not hide his displeasure with the way these stories spread without being checked to make sure the information being given is correct. He had researched the story I shared with him and assured me that no one at the store security had been alerted to any suspicious looking people in the store on that particular day, nor did anyone call the police and make a claim or ask for an officer to come out. He also let me know that one of his requirements of his officers is that they stop at our large local stores at least once an hour, park their vehicle in the front and walk the store. This has helped to decrease the amount of shoplifting that we see but also it gives the officers the opportunity to make sure there is no suspicious persons hanging around outside of the store for any length of time. I don’t know about you but for me this really puts my mind at ease that if law enforcement is visiting our local stores that many times a day they are going to know the staff well and be able to spot someone that means our community harm, shortly after my meeting with Mr. Cory I went to the store and saw an officer do exactly what was described to me, I saw him park right up front and walk the ENTIRE store.
Once Mr. Cory put my mind at ease that our local police department is already doing so much to actively be out in the community and assure our safety, I asked him if he had any tips, he wanted to share with our moms about staying safe when they are out alone with or without their kids.
These are the top 3 things he wanted to share:
- BE ALERT!!!!!!!!! Put the phone down and really look around your surroundings. If you are stopping at a gas stating take a moment to look inside the store and around the outside to make sure there is nothing happening inside that might be a dangerous situation.
- LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS!!!!! If you get a gut feeling that something is off, listen to it. We get those feelings for a reason. He would rather you call the police or make contact with a security officer than to ignore that feeling and end up in a dangerous situation. He also made it quite clear that he is never bothered by someone calling to report a suspicious situation or person, that is the police departments job and he is happy to check out anything that makes you feel uneasy.
- THINK ABOUT A CONCEALED HANDGUN LICENSE! He acknowledged that not everyone is going to like this bit of advice but that he feels very strongly that moms and woman should take the steps to get a concealed handgun license and use that right while they are out alone, or driving long distances. If that is something that you are interested in you can get more info here, I’m sure there are others but this is the one I found when doing some research. If you know of a place please share that with us below in the comments.
At the end of our meeting Mr. Cory let me know to share with you that if you ever have a concern about something that you read or 
something that you see please contact him and he will be happy to make sure to get all of your questions and concerns answered. For Portland, TX you can call the non-emergency line for the police 24/7 at 361-777-4444. If you would like to contact Mr. Cory directly you can email him, or call and asked to be transferred to him. I’d like to take a moment and thank Mr. Cory and the Portland PD for welcoming me and answering all of my questions!
