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ter·ror (trr) n. "Violence committed or threatened by a group to intimidate or coerce a population, as for military or political purposes."

The threat of terrorism has become very real. And the fear of terrorist acts has become even greater than the fear of crime.

While it are foreign nationals that come to mind when we think about terrorism, the majority of terrorist acts committed on American soil are committed by Americans.

Can people and businesses afford to take steps to minimize becoming a terrorist target?

They can by maintaining safe homes, safe communities.

The same principles that are applied to preventing crime can be applied to preventing terrorist acts. The need for crime prevention has never been greater.

Following are some basic things we can do:

• Teach community members to take steps to secure their family, their residence, their business, their personal property
• Teach community members to always be alert and aware of their surroundings
• Encourage the reporting of suspicious activity through appropriate channels
• Create an anonymous tip line such as Crime Stoppers or Silent Observer
• Activate neighborhood watch or block group programs
• Create a liaison between neighborhood groups and your law enforcement agency
• Develop a system to disseminate information in the neighborhood
• Create immediate awareness of potential dangers
• Counteract false information and rumors that may be spreading

Prevention is the key ingredient to avoiding or minimizing disasters and tragedies. While it is difficult to show what specific disasters or tragedies never occurred or were minimized because of prevention, its impact can easily be measured through the reduction in crime, fire, and accident rates over the years.