KEEPING REALTORS safe gets new look.

Not much scares David Goldstein.

He was a North Little Rock police officer for 10 years. Before that, he was an Air Force Security Forces officer. In both jobs, he received training in firearms and self-defense and often worked in dangerous, highstress conditions.

Now an executive broker for Crye-Leike in North Little Rock, Goldstein received

a call Tuesday from someone asking him to show a vacant property after dark. That scared him. “I have fear now,” Goldstein said.

The abduction a nd killing of his friend and co-worker, Beverly Carter, has changed how Goldstein thinks about his safety on the job.

He’s one of many in the business who are reviewing safety procedures and considering changes after Carter’s death.

National Association of Realtors President- elect Chris Polychron said the group will ask legislators to add safety training to realty agents’ mandatory annual education courses on real estate management, law and ethics.

Polychron, a Hot Springs resident who will assume the top position in America’s largest trade association next month, said the group will continue to offer regular safety workshops on its website.

The workshops provide tips on dealing with troublesome or potentially dangerous clients, safely running open houses and preventing identity theft, among other topics.

The group is urging its 1.04 million members to use caution and stay aware when meeting potential clients, Polychron said. That means working with a partner and preparing for the worst.

“Take someone with you. Know where your escape routes are and know your vehicle isn’t blocked,” he said. “Unfortunately, selling real estate does involve risk, and many kinds of risk. The worst risk is what happened to Beverly Carter.”

Carter, 50, was reported

“Take someone with you. Know where your escape routes are and know your vehicle isn’t blocked. Unfortunately, selling real estate does involve risk, and many kinds of risk. The worst risk is what happened to Beverly Carter.” National Association of Realtors Presidentelect Chris Polychron

missing late Sept. 25 after going to show a vacant home in rural Scott. She told her husband where she was going. He found her abandoned sport utility vehicle in the driveway of the residence at 14202 Old River Drive.

Authorities arrested Arron Lewis of Jacksonville on a kidnapping charge Monday and found Carter’s body in a shallow grave in Cabot the next morning.

Lewis, 33, was t hen charged with capital murder and robbery. He has pleaded innocent.

The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 47 deaths in the real estate industry subcategory in 2013 based on preliminary data for the year.

The category includes real estate agents and brokers, appraisers, property managers and landlords.

There are about 2 million licensed real estate agents in the country, according to the Association of Real Estate Law Officials.

Twenty- three deaths in the industry last year were from “violence and other injuries by persons or animals,” according to the bureau.

Twelve people in the industry died from “falls, slips and trips,” and six were killed in “transportation incidents” that year.

There were 50 deaths in the industry in 2012, slightly below the average for the past decade. In that time, “violence and other injuries by persons or animals” were he leading cause of death in the real estate subcategory, according to data from the bureau.

Goldstein said that for every death, t here are countless more instances in which real estate agents feel that they’re in danger.

“We hear about scary situations weekly,” he said. “Opening a home to a total stranger by just a cellphone call is not just putting myself at risk, but the homeowner at risk. I don’t know that will be an allowed procedure anymore because I don’t know that individual’s motive for wanting to see the inside of that home.”

The name and phone number of the prospective client Carter had arranged to meet Sept. 25 proved to be fictitious.

Location- sharing app Moby, crime prevention group Safety Awareness Firearms Education and business news group AGBeat published a joint report in 2011 analyzing a year of real estate agent safety incidents.

The report says that most instances occurred in the afternoon, not at night. Most victims were women working alone. Real estate agents were most frequently targeted for robbery, and their attackers typically acted alone.

“The most common guise of getting a Realtor alone is requesting a tour,” the report says. “Many of the attacks were planned out by the attackers, several of whom used fake names.”

Arkansas Realtors Association Chief Executive Officer Miki Bass said the group plans to require clients to turn over their driver’s licenses for photocopies before viewing property with agents.

A task force of Realtors from across the state will meet soon to discuss that and other safety measures, Bass said.

“We’re going to come up with a plan that’s going to eliminate a lot of the danger,” she said. “The buddy system — knowing who you’re out with — that’s going to limit a lot of what’s happened or what happened with Beverly. Beverly did everything right, and that’s why we need to change some things.”

The group, which already provides safety training, is also looking at several personal safety apps for smartphones. Some of the apps use GPS to monitor a salesman’s whereabouts. Others automatically alert law enforcement agencies if an agent hasn’t accessed his phone in a set amount of time.

“The days of reading a number off a sign and calling a person and having them meet you at an empty house immediately — we’re hoping those days are gone,” Bass said.

The National Association of Realtors reported that 5,090,000 homes were sold in 2013. Polychron said a home is usually shown about five times before it sells.

“Not one time did I ever feel unsafe showing a home,” he said. “But I’m one of the lucky ones.

“One incident is too many.”