Preventive Information Campaign for Safer Shopping, Parking, and Travel to Take Place During the Advent Season Again This Year
This year, as part of the preventive project "Safer Ostrava," the traditional activity titled "Safer Shopping, Parking, and Travel" has been prepared once more. The event is coordinated by the City of Ostrava, with participation from the Municipal Police, the Czech Police, the Fire Rescue Service, and the Ostrava Public Transport Company.
Graphic poster for a Christmas safety campaign. Source:
Police prevention officers will be present in selected shopping centers in Ostrava, on the Christmas tram, as well as at Christmas markets.
"Up until Christmas, we will be enhancing patrol activities in areas with a high concentration of people. Our aim is to increase the sense of safety among citizens during the Advent season. Our prevention officers will provide shoppers in selected shopping centers with simple yet often valuable advice on how to better protect their personal belongings and avoid attracting the attention of thieves," stated Miroslav Plaček, Director of the Ostrava Municipal Police.
The campaign "Safer Shopping, Parking, and Travel" will kick off on Saturday, November 30th, at the Globus shopping center and will continue every Advent weekend in seven other designated shopping malls in Ostrava.
"Through increased oversight by our officers in the field and informative activities we strive each year to contribute to the reduction of potential unlawful behavior, allowing people to enjoy peaceful and pleasant holidays. It is crucial for individuals not to overlook their belongings amidst the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations and to adhere to safety principles, thereby preventing potential crisis situations through responsible behavior. Consequently, we intentionally remind people of these guidelines through various various awareness-raising activities within the preventive project "Safer Ostrava", added Jan Dohnal, the Mayor of the city.
On Friday, December 6th, at 4:20 PM, and subsequently on the following Advent Fridays at 4:50 PM, citizens will also have the opportunity to meet with prevention officers from the Ostrava Municipal Police and the Czech Police on the stage located in the city center during the Christmas festival. The officers will amiably remind visitors to the Christmas markets how to avoid becoming easy targets for thieves and how to effectively protect their property, not only while shopping for Christmas.
Every Advent Friday, from 9:30 AM to 5 PM at Jiráskovo Square, the prevention officers will host creative workshops for children. In these workshops, children will have the chance to create small gifts and Christmas-themed cards focused on safety.
Information on how to secure one’s property, especially during the Advent period, will also be provided to passengers via flyers in vehicles operated by the Ostrava Public Transport Company. In the special Christmas tram, passengers will also have the opportunity to meet police prevention officers, scheduled for Thursdays, December 4th and 11th, from 10 AM to 12 PM and from 3 PM to 5 PM. The police prevention officers will provide many valuable tips on safety, especially during the pre-Christmas shopping period.
During the Advent season, shoppers in stores will encounter not only a wide variety of goods and numerous advantageous discounts but may also come across pickpockets. For shoppers, such encounters can lead to increased stress and a host of worries related to the theft of cash, credit cards, identification documents, keys to their homes or vehicles.
The reasons why people often lose their belongings during the Advent shopping season are still the same. Bags left in shopping carts, wallets in back pockets, valuable items clustered together in handbags, open backpacks, mobile phones held loosely, and PIN numbers written on slips of paper—all of these greatly facilitate the thieves' work.
Furthermore, items left in vehicles parked near shopping centers and Christmas markets are not safe during the peak shopping season. Reduced attention from individuals storing their purchases in cars or securing children in their seats, or those leaving valuable or personal items in parked vehicles, also plays a significant role in these crimes.
So, what advice do prevention officers offer citizens for safe shopping and parking?
"The golden rule is to keep documents, money, mobile phones, and payment cards stored separately in different internal pockets of the clothing you are wearing. You can protect your mobile phone by attaching it to a lanyard around your neck or wrist. On parking lots, it is essential to keep the car locked as securely as possible and to store all items from the vehicle cabin in the trunk," adds Michaela Michnová, Head of the Prevention Department.