Police Scotland – Livestock Worrying Campaign

The following video is now available for viewing and sharing with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. It contains important safety advice for all dog owners and outlines the distress caused to sheep and consequences of allowing uncontrolled dogs near sheep/ livestock.

Remember:

• Be a responsible dog owner
• Keep your dog under control and on a lead if walking in the countryside, rural locations or near the edge of town and near sheep or livestock
• Be aware of the distress and serious injury a dog can cause sheep. A dog’s natural instinct is to chase.
• Livestock worrying is a crime and will be dealt with by the Police. Farmers also have a legal right to shoot dogs engaged in livestock worrying.
• If you witness or have any information on a livestock / sheep worrying incident please call Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if you prefer to remain anonymous.

 Video is available on link below:

Resilience Advice – Ready Scotland

This week, the Scottish Government is running its annual campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of fostering resilience as individuals, families, communities and businesses.

Nobody likes to think about the worst case scenario. As the nights begin to draw in, planning for what you might do in the event of severe weather or a cyber-security breach might not be top of your agenda.  But thinking ahead a little now, and knowing where to find support, can make a huge difference.  

Resilience is not about strength, or about resisting problems altogether – it’s about bouncing back, about recovering well, and assisting others in doing so too.  In order to do that, it pays to keep informed, take sensible precautions, and think about how you can help others in the community around you.  

The best way to do that is to get ready in advance, and there is plenty of help and guidance available on ReadyScotland.org to get you started.

You can also follow along on social media this week by searching for the hashtag #readyscotland

Community and Home Resilience

Do you have an emergency plan?  Use this simple tool to create and print your own https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandplan #readyscotland

Does your home have an emergency kit?  Take a few minutes and check off the items here https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandkit #readyscotland

Interested in getting your community ready for emergencies?  Check out the guide on https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandcommunityplan #readyscotland

Everyone can help in an emergency – fill out this family-friendly plan with your children https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandfamilyworkbook #readyscotland

If it's cold outside, you need to be warm inside - check these tips for keeping safe and warm https://tinyurl.com/safe-warm #readyscotland

Unsure how to protect your pipes in cold weather?  Scottish Water’s handy guide may help https://tinyurl.com/protectyourpipes #readyscotland

Why not take five minutes this week to make sure your home is ready for the unexpected?  https://www.readyscotland.org/areyou-ready/  #readyscotland

07.11.17

Cyber Resilience – Get Safe Online Week

Phishing is a scam where criminals typically send emails to thousands of people pretending to come from banks, credit card companies, online shops and auction sites as well as other trusted organisations.

Don’t be tricked into going to a fraudulent site through a phishing email – it may look exactly like the real thing but is actually a fake, designed to trick victims into entering personal information.

Signs you are being phished:

• The sender’s email address may be different from the trusted organisation’s website address.
• The email may be sent from a completely different address or a free webmail address.
• The email may not use your proper name, but a non-specific greeting such as “Dear customer.”
• A sense of urgency; for example the threat that unless you act immediately your account may be closed.
• A prominent website link. These can be forged or seem very similar to the proper address, but even a single character’s difference means a different website.
• A request for personal information such as username, password or bank details.
• You weren't expecting to get an email from the organisation that appears to have sent it.
• The entire text of the email may be contained within an image rather than the usual text format. The image contains an embedded link to a bogus site.

Use email safely:

• Do not open emails which you suspect as being scams.
• Do not forward emails which you suspect as being scams.
• Do not open attachments from unknown sources.
• If in doubt, contact the person or organisation the email claims to have been sent by ... better safe than sorry.
• Do not readily click on links in emails from unknown sources. Instead, roll your mouse pointer over the link to reveal its true destination, displayed in the bottom left corner of your screen. Beware if this is different from what is displayed in the text of the link from the email.
• Do not respond to emails from unknown sources.
• Do not make purchases or charity donations in response to spam email.
• Don’t click on ‘remove’ or reply to unwanted email.
• Check junk mail folders regularly in case a legitimate email gets through by mistake.
• When sending emails to multiple recipients, list their addresses in the 'BCC' (blind copy) box instead of in the 'To' box. In this way, no recipient will see the names of the others, and if their addresses fall into the wrong hands there will be less chance of you or anybody else receiving phishing or spam emails.
• Similarly, delete all addresses of previous parties in the email string, before forwarding or replying.
• If you are suspicious of an email, you can check if it is on a list of known spam and scam emails that some internet security vendors such as McAfee and Symantec feature on their websites.
• Most Microsoft and other email clients come with spam filtering as standard. Ensure yours is switched on.
• Most spam and junk filters can be set to allow email to be received from trusted sources, and blocked from untrusted sources.
• When choosing a webmail account such as gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail, make sure you select one that includes spam filtering and that it remains switched on.

 23.10.17

Bogus callers try to get into your home or obtain personal details by pretending to be someone they’re not, including council staff, charity collectors, meter readers and police officers. In reality, they are criminals trying to steal money and valuables.

Rogue traders usually cold-call, claiming to be workers offering to sell services, make repairs or carry out work on your house, garden or driveway. In reality they charge inflated prices for shoddy or unnecessary work.

We DO NOT recommend dealing with cold-callers for property maintenance and home repairs.

You can find out more information here -http://www.scotland.police.uk/…/doorstep-crime-and-bogus-ca…

 

Police Scotland Home security advice...

We're reminding householders not to let the improved weather blind them to the importance of home security...

- As you spend time outdoors in the warm weather, doors and windows are often left wide open, providing a ready invitation to passing opportunist thieves who could sneak in and out in a matter of seconds taking valuable property with them. Keep windows and doors locked.

- Don't keep any keys or valuables within arm’s reach of the front or back door - keep them out of sight.

- For visibility at night, consider sensor-operated lighting which is convenient and an effective deterrent.

- If your shed/garage has windows, consider fitting a curtain, or similar, to obscure the view of the shed contents.

- Mark all the electrical equipment with an ultraviolet marker pen or register at imobilise.comwww.immobilise.com

- If you have an alarm - make sure and use it. Also, consider an intruder alarm for your shed or outbuilding.

- Never leave your shed/garage unlocked. Are the locks secure?

20.05.15

 

 

 

TOP TIPS

 

• Use significantly different passwords for each service you have

 

• Change passwords every 90 days for all services

 

• Ensure your passwords are a minimum of 8 characters, using lower-case letters, uppercase letters, numbers and special characters in a scrambled sequence

 

• The password chosen must not include any usernames or easy to guess phrases e.g. “password”

 

• Having difficulty remembering lots of different passwords? Try a password manager

 

• Use multi-Factor authentication to give further security to your online accounts

 

www.ecrimescotland.org.uk

reproduced by kind permmission of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre

26.01.15

• Do not leave your bicycle in isolated places.
• Always lock your bicycle when you leave it. Failure to do so will most likely invalidate any insurance cover.
• Where possible, lock your bicycle to something solid like a lamp post or railings.
• If your wheels are easily removed, remove the front wheel and lock it to the frame and back wheel.
• Take a photograph and a description of your bike.
• Do not leave your bike lying about!

• Keeping a record of the serial number, chassis and model numbers of machines.
• Use metal engravers to mark tools and equipment with your postcode followed by the first two letters of your farm's name.
• Consider physical crime prevention measures for all machinery and vehicles.
• There are a number of products on the market which would deter persons from stealing such vehicles, ie Data tag, Quadloc, Smartwater, etc.
• Always keep tools and small pieces of machinery locked away. Do not leave them lying about.