City Personal Safety Handbook

Author: Nan Du Nan Kan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: These days, we hope to do something for the safety of people who travel through the city every day, and that's how this personal safety manual came about. The idea was inspired by several tragedies that recently occurred in Guangzhou. Deng Zheyu, 23, and Zhu Fengmei, 27, were dragged (and knocked down) to death by snatch thieves, and a 3-year-old girl named Xiao Xiangmei was thrown to her death from an overpass by a stranger. In the police's criminal records, these cases may not be considered particularly severe, but for the victims and their families, they are undoubtedly the greatest nightmare in their lives.
When discussing the implementation of this idea, we became even more aware that no matter how good or bad a city's security situation is, or what time it is, everyone needs meticulous safety reminders. Because for anyone, fragile life can only withstand such a blow once. Therefore, we don't want to discuss whether a city's security is good or bad, nor do we want to compare which city is safer. What we want to say is that at any time, in any city, you should have a personal safety manual.
We know that globally, in the short term, crime rates in many cities are declining, but in the long term, despite more police in cities, crime rates are rising. Preventing criminals is almost an impossible task, so the focus has shifted to preventing victimization—how to minimize personal harm when facing danger. Letting the police fight crime is just one aspect of the issue; mobilizing personal safety protection is becoming increasingly important.
What we want to emphasize is that preventing and combating crime has never been just the police's responsibility; the government and citizens still have a lot of systematic work to do. Compiling a safety manual is just a small part of this system, but it is a very important one. In small and large cities in Western developed countries, various safety manuals are placed in public places and provided for free in large quantities, easily accessible to everyone. In China, the police and other public departments have done a lot of similar work, but it is far from enough. At least we can't easily get them anytime, anywhere, and even paying money cannot get them from newsstands. The work we do serves as a supplement or reminder.
The blueprint we used is the "Practical Guide to Crime Prevention" by the Home Office Public Relations Department of the UK in 1994. It is a warm and delicate safety manual, thoughtful and logically rigorous. However, it only provides ideas and does not cover all our specific situations. The manual you are reading now comes from the field research of our journalists, with strong support from local police and other public departments, and with great help from experts, scholars, and local media. As the saying goes, true safety always comes when everyone lends a hand.
By the way, at the topic selection meeting, when I read some clauses from that British personal safety manual from 12 years ago, the editors all said, "We don't need to mention this, it's too extravagant." For example, one section requires men to behave properly in public places, not to follow women when crossing the street, not to stare at them all the time, etc., to avoid making them feel threatened. Here, there is a difference between a public safety manual and a gentleman cultivation program. Is it combined in their place? It seems that the road ahead is still very long. May we all stay safe.