A safety seminar was held last Friday (10/12/07). Lisa VanValkinburgh shares what she learned:

On Friday, October 12, 2007, I attended a personal safety workshop which was set up by Ron Christopher of our Public Safety department. Police Instructors, Barbara Wopperer & Mark Tataro from the Erie County Central Police Services Training Academy gave the presentation. We learned what to do to be safe and we were encouraged to share this information about personal safety to others.

We learned the 3 D’s of safety: Detect, Deter and Defense.
First we detect the danger that is presenting itself. Next we deter the danger by keeping a safe distance from it, perhaps by putting a barrier between you and the attacker, such as a car, table, chair, etc. We tell the attacker in a loud shout to stay away. This also involves thinking defensively when parking your car, by backing it into a spot so that you can see the threat and it is easier to run someone down this way and/or get away. Finally the defense mode involves physical activity to protect yourself from the attacker, with kicks, hits, punches or other moves to stop the attack.

We also learned the OODA loop, which is understanding what the attacker is thinking. They have the following thought process going on:
Observe the victim
Orienting myself to the victim
Deciding what to do to the victim
Action upon the victim

Anything you can do to distract the attacker from their OODA thought process will delay an attack and/or make them less of a threat. Your main goal is to be in the safety zone, and a swift kick or hit can take the attacker out of their OODA loop.

In the case of a sexual assault and rape, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:
1. Do I fight back or not?
2. Do I have the capabilities to kick/hit?
3. Do I have the aerobic capabilities to run?

Statistics show that 74% of people involved in a violent crime fought back.
In sexual assaults, 86% of the victims fought back.
You are less likely to be sexually assaulted if you resist.
If you are taken to another location, you have a much slimmer chance of survival than if you keep the attacker in the original location.
Thinking that fighting back will make them madder at you is a myth–they are already mad.

We also learned some basic punches and kicks and practiced them with the instructors.