So Car­ni­val is here once again and we're all ready for the road. One of the ma­jor is­sues with Car­ni­val is se­cu­ri­ty. Even with ex­tra po­lice on the road, the crowd can get very thick in a mat­ter of sec­onds.The se­cu­ri­ty is­sues of Car­ni­val do not on­ly sur­round pet­ty theft, but al­so vi­o­lence, ac­ci­dents and even death.

Here are some im­por­tant safe­ty tips to help keep you safe this Car­ni­val:

When at­tend­ing par­ties and oth­er ac­tiv­i­ties you are re­mind­ed that you should:

�2 Wear min­i­mal jew­el­ry

�2 Trav­el in groups to and from ac­tiv­i­ties.

�2 Not car­ry around or dis­play large amounts of cash.

�2 Not have wal­lets and change purs­es vis­i­ble.

�2 Not ac­cept drinks from strangers or leave drinks un­at­tend­ed.

�2 Pre­arrange trans­port arrange­ments and des­ig­nate an al­co­hol free dri­ver.

Par­ents and guardians are re­mind­ed that their chil­dren should:

�2 All wear iden­ti­fi­ca­tion cards bear­ing their name, name of par­ent/guardian, ad­dress and tele­phone num­ber.

�2 Not be left un­su­per­vised at home.

�2 Not be left in the charge of strangers.

�2 Not use pub­lic con­ve­niences un­less an adult ac­com­pa­nies them.

�2 Not ac­cept food or drink from strangers.

Hold­ers of li­censed firearms are re­mind­ed that they should:

�2 En­sure that their firearm is prop­er­ly se­cured at home.

�2 Not dis­play firearms in pub­lic.

�2 Not draw their firearm un­less they are in a life-threat­en­ing sit­u­a­tion.

�2 Re­mem­ber that their firearm is a lethal weapon and they should not be­come in­tox­i­cat­ed when car­ry­ing it.

When dri­ving to fetes and oth­er ac­tiv­i­ties you are re­mind­ed that you should:

�2 En­sure that your ve­hi­cle is prop­er­ly se­cured.

�2 Use paid car parks when­ev­er pos­si­ble.

�2 Not over­crowd ve­hi­cles.

�2 Not drink and dri­ve.

�2 Lock doors when ve­hi­cle is in mo­tion.

�2 No­ti­fy the po­lice when­ev­er you ob­serve any strange ac­tiv­i­ties around ve­hi­cles.

�2 Obey traf­fic signs

�2 Not leave your ve­hi­cle un­at­tend­ed with en­gine run­ning.

�2 Not leave valu­able items ex­posed in your ve­hi­cle.

�2 Be cau­tious of per­sons loi­ter­ing near traf­fic lights.

�2 Have your keys in hand when you ap­proach your ve­hi­cle.

�2 Be vig­i­lant at all times when re­turn­ing home es­pe­cial­ly at night and if you are trav­el­ling alone.

Vis­i­tors to T&T are re­mind­ed that they should:

�2 Car­ry some form of iden­ti­fi­ca­tion on their per­son when at­tend­ing ac­tiv­i­ties.

�2 Take pub­lic trans­porta­tion with "H" be­ing the first let­ter on the num­ber plate.

�2 Ver­i­fy the cost of trans­porta­tion be­fore board­ing hired ve­hi­cles.

�2 Avoid dark and lone­ly ar­eas, ie, walk­ing through the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah at night.

�2 Not ac­cept lifts from strangers.

�2 Not car­ry around or dis­play large amounts of cash.

�2 Se­cure wal­lets and purs­es es­pe­cial­ly in crowd­ed ar­eas.

�2 Find a po­lice of­fi­cer if they need as­sis­tance.

(In­for­ma­tion cour­tesy the

Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice)