I just finished reading two major newspapers this morning while waiting on a plane, and you'll be glad to know that crime is down. In fact, it is invisible. Usually on Mondays the newspaper is full of what happened on the weekend. There are scores of robberies, assaults, murders, and so on. But not in two major cities. Apparently they don't have any crime, or they slip it in the want ads.

I called a friend of mine who lives in one of the cities, and asked him if crime was down. He thought I was crazy. In his city the murder rate went over the previous year in October. And it's still climbing, along with all the other statistics. The city is trying very hard to lure big business to the area. (Convention business)

This business is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly billions, over the next five years. Hence crime is down, or invisible. But crime isn't invisible to the people who live there. They are scared to death of what goes on in their cities, and as a result they stay in the suburbs at night and on the weekend. So the city needs to attract outsiders to drive the business machine.

Seems to me that it would be a lot easier to clean it self up and get homegrown money than to have to bring in conventioneers by the planeload. While the home folks are smart enough not to venture to the city and face its criminal element, newcommers are left to fend for themselves.

I like to get firsthand views of the places I'm going to visit, and I always travel with my tools. Just because you are leaving where you are most comfortable doesn't mean you should abandon the precautions you usually take. In fact, you should probably double up. I make sure that I have all my tools at the ready before I even hail a cab in a new place.

You can't carry a stun gun or pepper spray through an airport checkpoint, but you can send it on in your checked luggage. That way you can get it quickly when it comes off the belt. That way you're ready to rock and roll right away.

Don't believe what you read , or don't read in the newspapers. Stay alert, and carry at all times.

If you're prepared, you'll never be surprised,

Michael Gravette