Here’s the 411 on 911--and Other Road Survival Tips

Your car is stalled on a dark street and someone suspicious approaches. Let’s say he’s got a gun--and you don’t. Ah, but you aren’t totally defenseless. You’ve got a cellular telephone. What do you do?

How many of you got it wrong by saying, “Call 911”?

This week I got a chance to hear two crime prevention officers from the Tustin Police Department talk about women’s safety issues to 115 members of the Tustin Area Woman’s Club. The tips are good for just about anybody, said Officer Stacy Margolin, “but in many cases it is women, especially elderly women, who feel most vulnerable to the threat of crime.”

I won’t tease you into reading to the end of this column for the right answer. Margolin recommends in the above stranded motorist situation that you call 411.

That’s because 911 from a cellular telephone gets you a regional law enforcement center, not the police department of the city you are in. (Your cell phone doesn’t know what city you are in.) The 411 operator, Margolin said, can connect you faster where you need to go. The exception is on the freeway. Then 911 can get you more quickly to the California Highway Patrol, whose jurisdiction cuts across city boundaries.

If most of us were to follow the advice given by Margolin and her colleague, Officer George Vallevieni, we’d have to make a few changes in our personal habits.

For example, Vallevieni asked how many of the 115 women carried either Mace or pepper spray. Only three hands went up. (By contrast, when asked how many carried cellular telephones, the majority raised their hands.)

The crime prevention officers strongly recommended that all women carry pepper spray or Mace in small, 2 1/2-ounce bottles, the kind that can fit on a key chain.

And keep it in your hand while out alone at night, Margolin said: “It doesn’t do any good if you face an emergency and you’ve got to fish through your purse to find your pepper spray.”

Does pepper spray work? You bet, Vallevieni said: “The first thing on an assailant’s mind is self-preservation. One shot of that and all he wants to do is stick his head in a bucket of water.”

“How about a karate stick?” one woman asked. She happened to have one with her. The problem with the stick, Margolin said, is that you have to get too close to the assailant to use it--the pepper spray allows you to remain a small distance away.

A few other lifestyle changes they recommend:

* Always keep your automobile ignition key separate from your other keys. An auto thief with your house keys is double trouble.

A surprise to me was how many women at the meeting complained about being ripped off by valet parking attendants. Officer Margolin said there have been numerous cases of valet parking attendants checking a car owner’s address on the car’s registration, then passing the information and house key along to a friend. You get ripped off while you’re at the theater for three hours. You come out, pick up your car from the valet with your house key back in place, and go home to a ransacked house. You never suspect the valet, because you know that he or she has never left the grounds of the theater.

* Make sure the restaurant or whatever venue that is your destination actually has valet parking. I know how stupid this may sound, but Margolin said there are plenty of examples right here in Orange County of people turning their car over to someone falsely claiming to be the valet.

* Always carry an envelope in your car filled with spare change and the phone numbers of three close friends. Then if you are stranded and a friendly-appearing motorist offers to help, you can crack the window of your locked car just enough to hand over the envelope and ask the motorist to call someone. According to the two officers, you never, ever simply open up your car to someone who wants to help. If all else fails, raise the hood of your car and put on your flashing lights. Someone will get the right help to you.

* Lock your car doors at all times while driving. The officers report that a great many purse snatchings take place when a motorist is stopped at a red light. Her purse is on the seat next to her, and the thief simply opens the passenger door, grabs the purse and runs.

The Tustin club members and I learned a lot of things we didn’t know. The officers stressed, for example, that more vehicular accidents are caused by people using cellular telephones while they drive than by drunk drivers.

Someone asked about stun guns, and the audience roared when Vallevieni said some police departments had to stop issuing stun guns to officers because “they kept shooting each other in the behind with the things.”

Two final thoughts:

From Vallevieni: “Most crimes out on the street are crimes of opportunity. How many of you have left your car running in the driveway while you run back into the house for something you forgot? Some knucklehead walking along wasn’t going to steal your car, but you gave him the opportunity.”

From Margolin: “People always think they are bothering us if they call the police department. We want your call. If there is someone suspicious around your house--it doesn’t have to be a life-threatening emergency--call our business line. We want to know.”

Wrap-Up: Tustin is one of numerous police departments nationwide that operates an interesting program called Operation CAT (Combat Auto Theft). It’s for people, such as the elderly, who know they’ll never take their cars out at night.

You simply pick up a CAT decal from the police department and display it in your car window. If the police see a car with such a decal operating on the streets between 1 and 5 a.m., they already have your permission to stop the driver to see if the vehicle is stolen. The crime prevention officers say it has proven to be an effective tool in reducing auto thefts. They encourage you to check into it ([714] 573-3287) if you know you won’t be on the road during those hours.

Just don’t loan your car to, say, your son-in-law, without telling him about the decal.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail tojerry.hicks@latimes.com