Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
lunch in the office on occasion or traveling at different times. Another
practice that we also recommend is to vary your routine even as you enter
the lobby of your apartment building and take the elevator to your floor.
Make it hard for someone watching you to figure out what floor you live
on. It is a simple matter for someone in the lobby watching you enter the
elevator to figure out your floor by watching the floor indicator. We
strongly recommend that you follow the same procedure for the final por-
tion of your trip home, namely the ride in the elevator, as you do for the
trip between your place of work and your residence. By this we mean vary
your route home even within your building. Don't always take the eleva-
tor directly to your floor. Ride it one or two floors above or below on a
regular basis and take the stairs the rest of the way. Not only will this pro-
vide you with a bit of extra exercise, it also will throw off anyone attempt-
ing to determine where you live by watching the elevator lights or even
by taking the elevator up with you. When David used to follow suspects
into an elevator in an attempt to learn where they were going, he would
walk in and press the button for the highest floor. Thus he was guaran-
teed to learn where the subjects of the surveillance would get off. Listen
to the little bell inside your head. If you don't like the looks of someone
riding the elevator with you, don't get off at your floor. If the little bell is
really ringing at the prospect of getting into an elevator alone with a sus-
picious character, then do not go in at all.
By the way, elevator assaults are also common with muggers and sexual
predators. A favorite trick of the New York City hoodlum is to wait for a
potential mugging victim to enter the lobby and get into the elevator. If
you've ever ridden an elevator in New York, you will realize that they were
not built for speed. As the doors close, the attacker sprints up the stairs
to the second floor and presses the button, causing the elevator to stop at
that floor. Then the attacker performs what is known in New York as the
bum's rush, charging in and attacking, often brutally, in order to rob the
victim of his or her wallet, purse, or jewelry. There are not many options
in this situation. Many times victims realize that they are in for it. They
felt that something was wrong as they entered the elevator but did so
anyway. They may helplessly watch the attacker run for the stairwell as the
doors close, effectively sending them into harm's way. What can be done?
Think for a moment what you would do. It isn't a bad exercise to learn to
get your self-thinking in a defensive mode. You are in the elevator and,
as it closes, you realize that this is exactly the scenario we just described.
You know that you are trapped in the elevator and that on the second
