Trevor Laffan: If a stranger called for a glass of water, what would you do?

There was a story doing the rounds on social media during the recent spell of hot weather.

It concerned a young lad who was out walking in the countryside with his mates when he began to feel ill. Suspecting it was dehydration from the heat, he called to a house to ask for a drink of water.

The story goes that the person who answered the door took one look at him and promptly closed the door again, leaving him high and dry.

The young lad walked away and related the story to his mother when he got home and she posted it online.

I don’t know anything about the occupant of the house, whether they were male or female, young or old, but they were on the receiving end of some criticism for not giving the lad a drink.

Some said the householder did the right thing by closing the door, while others took a more critical view.

Refusing a simple request for a drop of water might seem odd, but it’s understandable given the times we live in.

People who grew up in an era like I did will remember when front doors were regularly left open. Not just unlocked but actually left wide open. I know ours was open all day. My mother opened it first thing in the morning and left it that way for the day unless the weather turned nasty. Most of the neighbours did the same.

Even when the door was closed, the key was left in it. It wasn’t unusual for neighbours to announce themselves at the door and just walk in.

My mother was like that even in her later years, despite numerous warnings from me. I used to advise her not to leave the key in the door, but she never listened.

It only hit home for her when a member of An Garda Síochána was passing by one day and spotted it.

In fairness to the guy, he knocked on the door and had a chat with her. Whatever he said sank in because from that day on, the key was never visible again. Obviously, some gardaí had more influence over her than others...

Anyway, during my own time in that organisation, I offered similar crime prevention advice to many householders over the years.

For elderly people and those living on their own, I advised them to never open the door to strangers and not to leave the key in the front door. Older people are very trusting and make easy targets for criminals.

Many of these characters use distraction tactics to gain access to people’s property. Typically, they might ask for a drink of water or ask to heat a baby’s bottle for a hungry child. Or they might ask to use the phone or pretend their mobile battery has died, and they need to contact a family member to come and collect them.

It might even be something as simple as looking to retrieve a ball that has gone into the back garden. Whatever the reason, there is only one purpose in mind. That’s to distract the person at the door and to get them to let their guard down.

As soon as the householder goes to get the water or milk, another person enters the house and goes rifling through property looking for something valuable. As soon as the front door is left unattended, an accomplice is in like a shot.

They are very good at what they do and they have no scruples.

Sometimes, the householder isn’t even aware at the time that something is missing and may not realise someone has been in the house until some point later on.

An experience like that can have a serious effect on elderly and vulnerable people and can often leave them feeling helpless and insecure.

An Garda Síochána are advising the public to be vigilant when cold callers call to a home offering a service such as repair work, maintenance or goods for sale.

While there are legitimate salespeople calling to homes offering legitimate services, some individuals aim to take advantage of vulnerable people.

The culprits will often call on the pretext of being professional trades persons, e.g. roofers, guttering experts, painters, etc, and convince the victim that repairs need to be carried out or that they have worked on a neighbouring house.

The culprits will then usually go to the roof, attic, or a hard-to-reach area of the house identified and give the impression that they are carrying out works, e.g. by hammering, drilling, painting, etc.

On completing the ‘work’, invariably in a short period, they then demand payment by cash, often using threatening and intimidating tactics.

The culprits may even commence ‘work’ without permission and then demand payment, and may even go as far as offering to drive the victim to the bank to collect money.

So, to go back to our original story, it is indeed a sad state of affairs that we have come so far from those carefree days when we didn’t have to worry about home security.

Toys could be left out in the open all night and still be in the same place the following morning. We didn’t have to treat callers with suspicion back then either, but we are where we are and we must deal with it.

Because of that, there will be instances when a genuine caller will be refused a glass of water or some other form of assistance, and that’s unfortunate.

But as far as the householders are concerned, I would prefer them to err on the side of caution and not open their door to strangers, and especially to people offering their services.

So, the best advice is not to open the door to people you don’t know.