How To Protect Yourself and Family Members From Kidnapping

12th February, 2024

How To Protect Yourself and Family Members from Kidnapping

1. Introduction

Kidnapping is an inhuman crime and has become a household word due to its prevalence in some regions of the world with greater frequency in West African Sub-region. The commonality of this crime inadvertently eliminates the need for its definition. However, for the purpose of fostering good understanding among the diverse demographic spectrum of the world who may be interested in this subject, brief description is necessary.
Kidnapping can be described as the criminal act of taking someone or group of persons hostage by one person or group of persons for the purposes of obtaining ransom, torture, rituals, or plea bargain. Victims and and their families suffer physical, emotional, psychological, economic and social harm. There have been numerous instances where victims outrightly lost their lives. As a heinous act that brings no value to the victim and his family, it is imperative that all important information necessary for the protection of the public from falling victims must be made available. Finding effective solutions to any challenge requires adequate knowledge of the root cause.

2. Factors Responsible for Kidnapping

In accordance with Isaac Newton’s third law of motion which states that; for every action, there is equal and opposite reaction: there are factors responsible for kidnapping. However, these do not in any way justify this crime. These include:

Unemployment: The growing statistics of unemployment is key among other issues responsible for this problem. Annually, tertiary institutions all over the world produce thousands of graduates. Available job opportunities are not commensurate with the number of these young graduates. This creates enormous struggle and competition for the few job openings with many left unemployed. This group of unemployed graduates continues to increase annually, creating huge pressure on the available scarce resources. Due to the varying degrees of perseverance among humans, the low-persevering unemployed individuals easily take to crime as an alternative means of livelihood. They may resort to kidnapping or other forms of criminality to make ends meet.
Poor Economic Situation: The economic situation in different regions of the world has been regressive with untold hardship on the masses. With close link to poor leadership, ineffective policies and local/international political tussles; this contributes significantly to the proliferation of this social malady. Policies capable of stimulating manufacturing, commerce and stable foreign exchange are hardly formulated hence creating and deepening hardship as is currently the situation in some parts of the world, post-COVID-19. Today, kidnapping is the prime crime in Nigeria, affecting every aspect of human existence; investment, commerce, education, peace, leadership, social interaction and cost of living.
Skewed Value System: This is all about what constitutes human value in a given society. If physical wealth or money is what determines the value/worth of an individual in a society, then more individuals in that clime will strive to get rich or acquire wealth by all means to achieve fame and remain relevant. This is a very wrong value system responsible for the downward trend of integrity, morality, statesmanship, patriotism, and diligence in today’s societies; fuelling crimes such as armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom.
Organised societies place so much value on integrity, intellectual prowess and innovativeness as the basis/criteria for recognition, honour and respect for individuals. When these are sacrificed on the platform of wealth/material possessions, it simply stirs the society to scramble for money/wealth by all means, legitimate and vice versa.
Political Thuggery: In different regions of the world, politicians hire idle and gullible youths as thugs for violence and ballot box snatching when they perceive failures at the polls. Usually, this category of young men and women are unemployed. They are motivated to perpetuate violence and crime by the amount of money offered to them which is more than what they have ever handled in their lifetime. When the money is squandered without any investment made with it, the desire to make such an amount of money again creeps in; giving rise to the thought and idea of kidnapping.

3. Vulnerable Practices To Avoid

As an act perpetuated by humans against humans, it is not carried out without thorough planning. The planning is all about information gathering. Kidnappers spend time and resources to gather detailed information about their targets. This might take several days, if not weeks to gather such facts as target’s movement routes, timing, hang-outs, friends, spending habit, car, address, place of work, family members and social media details. They use these information to profile their target before striking. In this regard, the most important way to protect yourself and your family is adequate personal information management. Let us look at them discretely.

Movement Route: The most frequent movement routine is work or business-related. An employee, businessman or trader undertakes this routine several times per week. When a definite route is used, it becomes very easy for a kidnapper to track his target, especially low-activity road. It is easier for the Kidnapper to strike his victim when the route or some segments of the pathway are lonely. To avoid being a victim under this circumstance, ensure that you and your family do not use a lonely pathway for movement. If the road or a particular segment of the road is lonely, endeavor to move during the peak period of mass movement.
Movement Time: Routine late-hour movement represents a high exposure to kidnapping. It is more dangerous when a security flashpoint exists along a given route. If this is the situation with you and your family, it is very important that you alternate your routes to avoid the predictability of your movement. Varying your route is very crucial when your major pathway/route is not a busy one.
Social Media Content: While this plays the crucial role of connecting with friends, families and the world, it also compromises safety when sensitive personal information is not properly managed and gets into the custody of kidnappers. They extract relevant/sensitive information about individuals from their social media pages/handles for use against them.
The common act of showcasing achievements or one’s real-time location constitutes a security risk. Public knowledge of someone’s financial/social worth attracts all forms of attention, good or bad; likewise, when your active location is publicly known.
Information Sharing/Discussions: A lot of people became victims of this crime due to their unguided disclosure of personal information during discussions. Unassuming as they might be, they freely inform their friends/close relations about their proposed movements, investments, career progressions, growth in income, and other activities that portray improved well-being to their listeners. Subject to the mindsets of the listeners, such information may be used against them.
Minimize The Use of Domestic Servants: Numerous incidences of kidnap have been linked to information compromise by domestic servants. Discussions related to finances, movement, and business prospects involving your family should not be discussed in the presence of your domestic servants.
Financial records such as cheque booklets, statement of account and sales proceeds as contained in sales booklets should be

4. Practices That Minimize Incidences of Kidnapping

The act of kidnapping is premised on the magnitude of personal information available to the public. These sensitive information may get into the wrong hands (criminal-minded individuals) through information mismanagement/compromise by individuals themselves or some information custodian institutions such as banks, business partners and travel agencies etc.
With the knowledge of the fundamental requirement of kidnappers, prevention is all about strict caution in personal information management. Achieving this is possible through the following:

Avoid Late Hour Movement: Late hour/night movement through insecure routes should be avoided. A route is considered insecure, especially at odd hours of the night when it is very lonely, without the presence of security personnel or surveillance technologies. It is also insecure if in the event of emergency, timely support or rescue is nearly impossible. It is advisable that pathways with such characteristics be avoided at odd hours.
Avoid Lonely Routes: A road with sparse human and vehicular traffic is considered lonely. Under such conditions, an individual can become a victim of miscreants and kidnappers. One is often tempted to use such a route when the distance is shorter compared to a regular pathway. However, the prospects and constraints should be weighed before making your choice, especially with the current high volatility in security worldwide. It is advisable to travel longer but safer.
Choose What You Share on Social Media: There should be control over publishing information that portrays affluence on social media platforms. Material possessions and ostentatious items of high financial value; should, if possible not be publicized on social media. Also, avoid sharing information about your real-time location. Criminals can easily bugle your apartment when they know your whereabouts. In like manner, kidnappers can ambush you and your loved ones with such information.
Be Discrete and Smart During Discussions: Be mindful of the kind of information you divulge in a public discussion which may involve your friends, colleagues, business partners or the general public. Information depicting affluence or high income profile in business should as much as possible not be publicized.
Destination Inquiry: Before embarking on a far-distance journey, especially a location not visited in recent time: it is appropriate to make inquiries about the security situation of such a location. This can be done through numerous channels including phone calls to acquaintances who are either resident in the location or whose relations reside there. This will help in making informed decisions about the journey such as: whether to proceed, security measures to take, when and how to travel.
Assessment of Security Situation of Hangout Locations: Most of these locations are open settings usually with vegetation cover or flower hedges. Criminal invasion or attacks including kidnapping may be carried out with minimal resistance. However, with a well-articulated security structure in place such as armed security personnel both in strategic and hidden locations, such attacks will be under effective control. Pay attention or make effort to find out the security arrangement of any location considered for unwinding at the end of the day, indoor or outdoor.
Sitting location is also crucial. Do not sit at the entrance neither close to the perimeter fence of such locations. Attacks are easily carried out in such locations. Rather, consider the middle locations or the extreme axis opposite the main entrance for a strategic and advantageous view of activities in and out of the facility.
Periodic Low Profile Appearance: Dress down or use low-value items when visiting locations with high security risks. Ostentatious possessions such as high-end cars, wristwatches, jewelry and others attract unsafe attention in such locations. Visiting such locations should be in low disguise, capable of concealing one’s net worth. Avoid being too conspicuous.
Controlled Access: In organized residential quarters/estates or individual residences, controlled access is today more important than ever. This is all about verifying the identity of a visitor at the main entrance (gate) through verbal contact/communication with the proposed host. Access will be granted when approval is given by the prospective host. This is currently a critical security strategy since kidnappers invade residences to kidnap their unsuspecting targets. For the effectiveness of this measure, more than one security personnel are required at the entrance.
Use of Smart Security Gadgets: While the aforementioned measures focused mainly on personal information management, a smart physical approach is necessary to prevent the incidence at home. In this regard, the use of smart wifi cameras comes in handy. With this; active and real-time surveillance of home environment, internal and external (perimeter fence) becomes more effective. It puts home surveillance right into the hand of home owner by enabling the use of mobile phones and other personal digital devices for home monitoring. For home security, this is the best in efficiency, cost and result with the unique and strategic ability to identify real-time threats. Configured push notifications alert property owner of movement in and across specific zones in a monitored environment.
To maintain 24/7 surveillance without power interruption, the use of solar or inverter-powered cameras is recommended.
To achieve optimal result, adequate attention must be given to installation locations, height and reliable power supply. However, detailed information on maximizing the efficiency of wifi cameras will be made available in our subsequent posts.