Expert gives Marion business owners safety tips

Main Street Marion board member Jason Hulon, a downtown Marion business owner, arranged for a safety and gun expert to visit with merchants. After a recent business owner was robbed and pistol-whipped, many members of the Main Street Marion association wanted to make sure they were doing all they can to be as safe as possible. The merchant has recovered from physical ailments, she has said, but continues to recover from the mental abuse the robbery caused her.

ChuckFunderburke, a Marion County resident who has previous law enforcement experience and works in retail “loss recovery” or “asset protection,“ is SLED and NRA certified to teach concealed weapon training, offers lessons in self defense and has a long list of personal and business safety tips.

Funderburke has spoken to Marion Watch, a group of citizens in the city of Marion interested in seeing criminal activity curbed and was the speaker this past Tuesday. Citing how he keeps his home, family and property protected, Funderburke encouraged business owners to do a walk around their properties to see what potential hazards they could find. He then advised them to mitigate the potential for theft by taking as many preventive and cautionary measures as possible.

Funderburke said he believes crime is on the rise, and the bad economic times is not the only cause of that. “There are different types of origins for crimes. The average person that steals has the money to buys what was stolen,“ he said. “Motives vary, though most will blame the hard economic times.“

Quoting statistics taken from his Internet research, Funderburke said that there is some type of theft every five seconds in the United States. “There is always someone seeking to reliever you of your inventory,“ he quipped.

“I came from the old school. If it’s not yours, leave it alone,“ but many do not subscribe to that way of thinking, he said.

“Prevention is key. Your mind is your best weapon,“ Fuderburke said. “Every home needs to have a professionally installed dead bolt lock on each entry,“ he advised, saying that chains on doors provide a false sense of security. “There are people who steal for a living,“ he said, adding that thievery is a crime of stealth and that most people want to get away as quickly as possible with no confrontation.
Funderburke believes everyone should have an alarm system of some type, even if its barking dogs. “Being predicatable is a liablility,“ the safety expert said, advising that most places are cased before they are robbed.

Peep holes in doors, motion lights, bright exterior lighting and having a designated safe room are other measures business and home owners can take to better protect their property, he said. If it takes a their longer than 60 seconds to break and enter, he said, most likely the their will go elsewhere.

“If you have French doors, replace them,“ he continued. “... cut shrubbery so someone cannot be concealed ... and don’t leave a spare key outside.“ Funderburke said he is a big fan of closed circuit television, and that there are inexpensive models that do a great job of allowing folks to be recorded and seen.

Some steal for the excitement of it, some because of peer pressure, some because of drugs and alcohol, he explained. And while you cannot profile people, you can profile people’s behaviors, he said.
“Watch people ... Don’t give them a chance to be alone with your property,“ he said, adding that police are an after-the-fact safety device.

Choosing to have a fire arm is not for everyone, Funderburke said, and it pays to know the laws if you choose to protect yourself with a firearm. “Minimize your hazards ... take away their opportunity to do you harm,“ he said.