Like many of you we’re embracing the lower mid-day temps and cool, comfortable evenings that a Texas Fall brings. This month we have many events and topics to touch on: the One Safe Place Vaccine Clinic, Bullying Prevention Month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, National Crime Prevention Month, Red Ribbon Week, and our featured story on the “Devious Lick” TikTok challenge. Here’s to cooler weather and a Happy Halloween! |
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One Safe Place Vaccine Clinic |
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This month One Safe Place will be hosting its first vaccine clinic in partnership with Texas Health Resources (THR)! This vaccine clinic is open to the public and THR will provide a shot to anyone who is in the eligible age range for a Pfizer vaccine (12yrs of age and older).
The clinic will take place at One Safe Place (1100 Hemphill St., Fort Worth, TX 76104) from Monday, October 25th to Wednesday, October 27th from 10:00am - 5:00pm each day. Appointments can be made by calling 1-855-318-7696. While pre-registering is recommended, it is NOT necessary. They will be providing the Pfizer vaccine ONLY.
As a program of One Safe Place, we are excited to promote this event to the community that we work in. We ask that you please put the word out about this clinic to those in your community in whatever way that you can. You can click the image below to download your own copy of the flyer.
This will be vaccine clinic 1 of 2! Our next clinic will take place on the week of Nov. 15th, a reminder will be included in that month’s Crime Stoppers newsletter. Please feel free to submit any general questions about this clinic to Julian Rangel (jrangel@onesafplace.org). Thank you!
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National Bullying Prevention Month |
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October is National Bullying Prevention Month! This month focuses on educating communities on their roles in bullying prevention. An emphasis is placed on the concept that bullying is NOT a “rite of passage” that makes kids “tougher”.1 Rather, bullying is a traumatic experience that can have long-lasting impacts on all ages of youth.1
Bullying is the most common form of youth violence. Trends have shown that 1 in 5 (20%) students are bullied each year.2 In addition, about 15% of students are electronically bullied (i.e., cyberbullying).2
A leading way to take a stand against bullying is by encouraging community members, especially youth, to be positive bystanders. This involves taking action that aids the victim rather than ignoring the situation. Below are simple positive bystander strategies3:
- If it is safe to do so, tell the bully directly to stop (Direct).
- Enlist the help of others to tell the bully to stop.
- Approach the victim directly and ask them what you can do to help.
- Redirect the attention of the bullying away from the victim (Distract).
- Tell a higher authority figure about what is going on so that they can help (Delegate).
Friends for Life is a program of Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County that is equipped to take anonymous tips on bullying and cyberbullying. If you know someone who is being bullied or cyberbullied, we encourage you to send in an anonymous tip by calling 817-469-8477, going to our website, or using our “CCS FFL” mobile app. As an assurance, the anonymity of tips are protected by state law. This includes David’s Law, which requires an anonymous reporting system that students can utilize when they witness bullying/cyberbullying.
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Ways to Promote National Bullying Prevention Month:
- Like, comment, and share our social media posts.
- Post about National Bullying Prevention Month on your social media accounts (Feel free to use the graphic above!).
- Don’t be afraid to talk with school personnel about ways you can help with bullying prevention.
- Encourage students to be a positive bystander when they encounter bullying.
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Visit our website to learn more about Bullying and Cyberbullying and appropriate resources.
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Quick Resources:
- Call 1-800-989-6884
- Text 512-872-5777
- Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
- Deaf & Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889
- Hotline: 1-866-488-7386
- Text START to 678678
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National Domestic Violence
Awareness Month
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October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM)! DVAM emphasizes domestic violence education, sharing domestic violence resources, and ensuring that community members understand that domestic violence is a community issue not just an individual issue.
Overall, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have experienced some form of intimate partner violence.4 When we look at high school students, 8% have experienced physical dating violence and 7% have experienced sexual dating violence.2 The LGBTQ population accounts for about 4.5% of the US population yet has domestic violence rates as high as 50%.5,6
Friends for Life is a student-focused program of Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County that is equipped to take anonymous tips on domestic and family violence. If you know someone who is in a domestic/family violence situation, we encourage you to send in an anonymous tip by calling 817-469-8477, going to our website, or using our “CCS FFL” mobile app. As an assurance, the anonymity of tips are protected by state law.
Crime Stoppers is able to take tips on domestic violence offenders, but victims of domestic violence should make their initial report to their local police department. We are not a crisis line and if you or someone you know is experiencing a domestic violence emergency please call 911 or One Safe Place at 817-916-4323.
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Strangulation and Domestic Violence
At One Safe Place, we have made it a long-term goal to educate our community about strangulation. Strangulation, or “choking” as it is known colloquially, is identified as the abusive partner putting their hand around the victim’s neck, putting them in a “sleeper hold”, and/or using anything else to strangle them (e.g., scarf, necklace, belt, etc.).8 Strangulation is the ultimate form of power & control; a perpetrator has complete control over the victim’s next breath.7
Many survivors of domestic violence are unaware of the serious health effects of strangulation.8 One of the scariest parts about strangulation is that it may cause no to few symptoms at first, but the victim can potentially die weeks later due to brain damage from internal injuries, particularly carotid artery dissection.8 It is important that the survivor understands the seriousness of this event and seeks medical attention as quickly and safely as possible so that they can be appropriately evaluated by a medical professional.8
Strangulation is a strong predictor for future lethal violence.8 Particularly, a victim of domestic violence who has been strangled is 750% more likely to be killed by their abuser. If you or someone you know has been strangled or experienced any other form of abuse, then please reach out to One Safe Place by calling 817-916-4323.
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Ways to promote DVAM:
- Like, comment, and share the graphic that’s posted on our social media pages.
- Post about DVAM on your social media. (Feel free to use the graphic above!)
- Use #DVAM2021 on your social media posts.
- Talk to those around you about what you can do to help end domestic violence!
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Visit our website for more resources on family violence.
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Visit the One Safe Place website and Facebook page.
- Join us at one of the One Safe Place DV Awareness Month events. Click here to download the flyer.
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Quick Resources:
- 1100 Hemphill St., Fort Worth, TX
- For Help: 817-916-4323
- Call 1-800-989-6884
- Text 512-872-5777
- Text “LoveIs” to 22522
- Call 1-866-331-9474
- Chat online
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National Crime Prevention Month |
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October is National Crime Prevention Month! Spearheaded by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and established in 1984 through a presidential proclamation, this month is all about ensuring that we each do our part to help spread the word about crime prevention and personal safety.10
This year the NCPC has put its focus towards education and awareness of counterfeit products and the harm they can cause. Below are the 5 tips they have laid out to help you detect fake products10:
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Tip #1: A super low price on a product that normally costs more is a red flag that it's a counterfeit.
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Tip #2: Sloppy lines, spelling mistakes, unwrapped items, stretched logos, peeling stickers, serial numbers with the wrong number of digits, or other mistakes on a product's packaging may indicate it's fake.
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Tip #3: If a product’s tag or packaging states that the product comes from a country other than the one where the manufacturer says the product is made you might be detecting a fake from overseas.
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Tip #4: If the website you're shopping on shows only a stock image instead of a photo of the actual product, it might be a fake.
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Tip #5: If it seems unusual that a sale is final or there is no warranty offered on a product where there should be, avoid it.
This year’s Crime Prevention Month Themes from the NCPC are as follows:
- Week 1, September 27: Crime Prevention Month Kick-off!
- Week 2, October 3: Home Safety Week
- Week 3, October 10: Anti-Counterfeiting Week
- Week 4, October 18: Public Health and Safety Week
- Week 5, October 25: Community and Law Enforcement Relations Week
Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County takes tips on wanted fugitives and unsolved crimes involving narcotics, homicides, robberies, burglaries, theft, financial crimes, sexual assault, assault, arson, and much more.
Submit anonymous tips by calling 817-469-8477, going to ww.469tips.com, or using our P3 Tips mobile app.
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Every year, the Red Ribbon Campaign promotes RRW as a way to amplify their message and mission: “to encourage children, families and communities to live healthy, happy, and drug-free lives.” 11
This year’s theme is “Drug Free Looks Like Me.” The theme was created by Marin Wurst, a 7th grade student from Solon Middle School in Solon, Ohio. The Red Ribbon Campaign chose her theme as the winner because it best describes how all of us must do our individual parts to keep our communities safe, healthy, and drug free.
You can join the Red Ribbon Campaign by taking part in Red Ribbon Week activities happening at your schools and communities!
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Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County's
Featured Story of the Month
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Devious Lick TikTok Challenge
The "Devious Lick" challenge originated on TikTok. An individual will attempt to "successfully" steal an item from the school that would usually be something hard and/or ridiculous to steal. This includes items like soap dispensers, "Caution Wet Floor" signs, toilet paper holders, road signs, keyboards, computer monitors, and anything deemed significant enough for the challenge. There is no material reward for this behavior other than the possibility of personal/social media clout and popularity.
As many of our school staff/faculty readers may know, this challenge started popping up around our communities' schools a few weeks ago. There were bathrooms destroyed, classrooms vandalized, and other various items stolen off school property. Through the Campus Crime Stoppers program we began receiving tips related to this challenge on September 13th. From September 13th to September 29th we have received almost 100 anonymous tips from all over the county related to the Devious Lick TikTok challenge. From September 14th to September 20th we have received 20 anonymous tips that provided good information that led to disciplinary action or arrests for students who participated in the Devious Lick TikTok challenge.
Soon after this challenge started making headlines across the country, TikTok made a public statement that they would be banning all content on their platform that is related to the Devious Lick challenge. Fortunately, this seems to have had a positive effect on reducing the popularity of the challenge. While the tip volume has slowed down since September 13th, Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County is still receiving a few tips related to this challenge.
We hope that this situation has highlighted how the Campus Crime Stoppers program can benefit the schools in our community. Our anonymous hotline was equipped to handle the fallout from this TikTok challenge and we hope that our school partners can put their trust in us the next time a social media challenge may cause trouble on their campuses. For example, some reports of a new TikTok challenge for the month of October called "Smack a Staff Member" have been popping up. This challenge aims to encourage students to smack a staff member, particularly on their backside, and run away. We want to make it clear the Crime Stoppers is prepared to address and take anonymous tips on any current or future TikTok/social media challenge. At Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County, we are dedicated to help prevent, reduce, and hold accountable those who commit any form of crime or violence.
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Training, Contact Info, Print Material, and Engagement Site |
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Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County is committed to providing you with appropriate resources, training, and information. Please feel free to contact our team with any questions, requests, or concerns. Below are a few things that your school, department, or organization can do to begin utilizing our various resources. |
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If you have new contact information for the 2021-2022 school year, please complete the Campus Crime Stoppers/Friends for Life Contact Information Form by clicking here.
Print materials can be requested when filling out the contact information form, however, if more are needed a request can be made by emailing Julian at jrangel@onesafeplace.org. Items can be picked up at One Safe Place by appointment or delivered to your location as staffing allows.
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Our various resources on this Google site can be utilized throughout the school year to engage your campus and help realize the full potential of the Campus Crime Stoppers and Friends for Life programs.
The Awareness & Engagement Google Site includes our NEW & IMPROVED Campus Crime Stoppers Operational Manual that provides a general guide on how Crime Stoppers operates, answers many of your general questions, and gives you various ways that you can increase awareness and engagement across your campus and/or district!
Important Links (Click to visit):
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Follow Us!
Please feel free to follow us on all of our social media!
If your organization, school, or agency has social media pages please have them follow us and we will be sure to follow back!!
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If you know of any other individuals, teams, or organizations that would like to be a part of this newsletter please do not hesitate to have them contact either Rachel or Julian so that they can be added to the email list.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns regarding Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County and our various programs please feel free to reach out to us at any time and we will respond in a timely manner.
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Best regards,
Rachel Gilbert
Director, Special Programs
&
Julian Rangel
Engagement and Outreach Specialist
1100 Hemphill Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76104
817-469-8477 | 469tips.com | "CCS FFL" & "P3Tips" mobile apps
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