How to avoid being kidnapped.

In this article we discuss how to avoid being kidnapped.

Without doubt, prevention is much better than the cure, and there are lots of things that an individual can do to keep themselves safe not only from kidnappers, but from other criminals too. In this chapter we explore defensive strategies that you can implement, whether at home, or when travelling to high-risk locations.

How to avoid being kidnapped – At home.

It is not just wealthy people, their children, or their dogs that get kidnapped. It happens to plenty of normal people too.

You have a better idea now of what the criminals are looking for when they start hunting for their next victim. You can use that to put in place reasonable control measures, or mitigations to bring the risk of kidnap down to a reasonable level.

The good news is that many of the things that you already do to prevent petty crime or home robberies are also excellent at deterring kidnappers.

Take a moment to think of your neighbourhood. How does your homes security compare to your neighbours?

That is not to say by any means that you are trying to persuade the criminals to go after your neighbours, but if they are going to choose, you would rather it wasn’t you.

‘If a hyena is looking to eat a porcupine, they are going to choose the one with the least quills!’

The chart in below is a simple list of home security measures that are good for defending against both criminality and kidnappers looking to make an easy move. Naturally, you won’t have all of them, and some of them won’t be appropriate for every environment.

Think of all those things as a little bit like a shopping list. For the criminal, every single one of them makes you a less attractive target. They are going to choose the person with no cameras, no alarms, no awareness etc. If on reflection that is you, then perhaps you need to do a little bit of a security upgrade!

Finally, the more visible displays of wealth that you have, the more security mitigations you are going to need to persuade the criminal that the effort just isn’t worth it.

Case Study: The Heineken CEO.

In 1983 Freddy Heineken, the CEO of brewing giant Heineken International was kidnapped along with his driver. The kidnappers had put the CEO under surveillance for weeks and had actually attempted to kidnap him several times previously while on the morning commute between his home and his office. That meant his security mitigations must have been working.

Eventually the kidnappers changed their plan and waited at the office for the CEO to arrive by car. After successfully abducting the CEO and the driver, they were held for three weeks. A record-breaking ransom of the equivalent of 81 million US dollars in todays’ money was paid. The kidnappers fled without releasing the hostages, but they were luckily found after a tipoff. Within a couple of years all of the kidnappers had been arrested and jailed.

Look out for the next article on How to avoid being kidnapped on business travel.

The above article is an excerpt of How To Deliver A Ransom, by Rob Phayre.

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