Stay safe while holiday shopping

Yvette Urrea Moe

County of San Diego Communications Office

Criminals don't take the holidays off. Instead, they often find more opportunities to victimize people, especially those who are distracted or alone.

With the holiday shopping season underway, the San Diego Sheriff's Department will be patrolling in busy shopping centers. In Encinitas, Vista and San Marcos this will include the Sheriff SkyWatch, a lookout enclosure lifted by crane two stories above ground to give deputies a better vantage point in shopping center parking lots.

Yet, law enforcement officers can't be everywhere, so sheri...