Imagine a World Where Everyone Feels Safe

It’s nice to feel safe. Safety is a feeling we can all appreciate, but one that you likely take for granted—until something makes you question it.

A break-in, robbery, or assault can shake your sense of security and leave you feeling uncertain, anxious, or worse. It’s a situation many of us will never experience, yet far too many of us do.

Safety is more than just feeling secure; it ties into every aspect of your personal and professional life. It affects your mental health, behavior, relationships, physical health, and job performance.

In fact, safety is so important that psychologist Abraham Maslow listed it as one of two basic requirements in his famous Hierarchy of Needs.

According to the theory, if your physiological needs—food, water, shelter, and clothing—and safety needs—financial wellbeing, health, and protection from harm—are not being met, you can’t move up through the levels to self-actualization and reach your full potential.

Although some academics contest the details of Maslow’s theory, the basic tenet is instinctually clear. People who can’t meet their most basic needs cannot move forward. They are stuck.

Unsafe at home

Home is supposed to be your sanctuary. It should be the place you feel safest of all. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Safety at home allows you to start each day recharged and end each day relaxing and decompress‌ing. It’s crucial to your overall wellbeing.

This is especially true for children and young adults. Their sense of safety (or lack thereof) directly influences how they interact with the world around them. Young people who feel secure have the confidence to take risks, try new things, explore, play, and engage with others. That’s how we learn. Safety is the foundation on which a child blossoms into a resilient, thoughtful, purpose-driven adult.

But those who feel unsafe? They play less, explore less, take fewer risks, and have difficulty with relationships. They’re stuck at the bottom of Maslow’s hypothetical pyramid.

There’s also growing evidence that as the number of risk factors a child is exposed to increases, so does the likelihood that they will engage in delinquent behavior. This behavior can have a lasting impact on the child extending into adulthood. It can even affect their children. Unsurprisingly, many risk factors tie directly to a lack of safety in the home. These include being a victim of a crime, witnessing violence, ‌criminal elements in the child’s surroundings, family conflicts, and so on.

Imagine if every child could grow up feeling absolutely safe at home.

Unsafe at work

We spend about one-third of our adult lives at work. The workplace is not immune to safety concerns. You may be worried about unhealthy working conditions, work-life balance, toxic corporate culture, or something as specific as walking to your car in an unlit parking lot‌.

Over the past two years, the pandemic has left many feeling unsafe at work: afraid of getting the virus, afraid of spreading it, or afraid of losing personal freedoms. In fact, more than 4 million Americans aren’t even looking for work because of COVID-related fears. It’s now one of the top reasons employees quit during The Great Resignation. The pandemic has left none of us untouched.

So, is focusing on safety a worthwhile investment for business owners and employers? Absolutely.

A pledge to foster and maintain a safe workplace has other benefits beyond the obvious ones. One study by Lockheed Martin found the development of a “safety culture” led to a 24% increase in employee productivity and a 20% reduction in costs. Employees who feel safe, secure, and cared for are happier, more engaged, more invested, and more productive.

Imagine if we all felt unconditionally safe in our place of work.

Unsafe in the world

Violent crime and property crime have always been among the most impactful threats to our sense of safety. That remains true to this day.

We’ve experienced an increase in criminal incidents during the pandemic. It may have to do with health measures like the zero-bail policy in parts of California, or perhaps it’s because of the massive uptick in uncertainty that comes with lockdowns, layoffs, and unemployment. Regardless of the underlying cause, police and security forces are feeling the strain. One detective even compared the current crime situation in Los Angeles to the movie The PurgeA.

It’s no wonder why. The murder rate in the United States increased by 30% between 2019 and 2020. That’s the biggest year-over-year increase in at least 115 years.

Likewise, some property crime rates also grew throughout 2021, including larceny, burglary, arson, and motor vehicle theft. There was an average 7% increase for Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco compared to 2020. In fact, package theft is so common that many law enforcement agencies don’t even try to measure it anymore, let alone stop it. And while losing an Amazon package may not threaten your life, it definitely affects your sense of safety.

At a time when we all could use a greater sense of security, it’s being chipped away on all sides.

Imagine a world where we all felt safe navigating the world around us.

The world we should imagine

Your home, your family, your business, your employees. Imagine a world where every one of them felt safe. Imagine a day in which everyone you interacted with felt confident in themselves and their own safety.

Picture how different every moment of every day would be, from superficial things like fewer honking horns on the freeway and less yelling at the supermarket, to profound changes like prolific random acts of kindness and unconditional support for people suffering from mental illness.

We may never eradicate poverty, abuse, assault, break-ins, and robbery. However, that shouldn’t stop us from trying. Because put simply and bluntly, that’s the world I want to live in. That’s a world worth fighting to create and secure for each of us and for our children.

I started the Deep Sentinel video surveillance company because I believe in that vision. We built a product that can stop many of the crimes that plague our homes, businesses, cities, and neighborhoods. And we bust tail each and every day because we see it really working. By predicting crimes before they happen and intervening early, we see criminals stop in their tracks. We see crime rates go down.

Most importantly, we see people who feel safer in their homes and in their businesses. People who sleep better at night and who can resume their climb up Maslow’s hierarchy toward self-actualization.

Whether you join us as a customer (and raving fan!) of Deep Sentinel and our live video camera surveillance, I hope you join us in re-imagining our future as a world where everyone feels safer.