9 Safety tips for your wife and daughters: Focus on situational awareness

No-one wants to be a victim.

photo credit: Paul Green - unsplash

No-one wants to feel helpless. Everyone wants to feel safe and confident.  Some of the tips on this list are common sense - or at least should be. Remember, the best defense is to be aware of your surroundings. This probably means: put your phone (or other electronic distraction device) in your pocket, keep your head up and keep looking around yourself. This is situational awareness. The basic concept is to look around, assess for anything “out of the ordinary” and strategize an escape or plan of action. Often times noise, resistance and running away can be enough to avert a dangerous situation.

 1. Tip from martial arts: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, DO SO!

 2. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you....  chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.  The driver won't see you, but everybody else will.  This has saved lives. If the truck has a release, only open the truck enough to signal other vehicles and not alert your abductor to your signals.

 4. Commonly women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc). DON'T DO THIS! A predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head to abduct you. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.

 5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:

• A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, in the back seat and underneath the car.

• B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door.  Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

• C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

 6.  ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs! (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot and most elevators have security cameras).

 7. Women tend to be sympathetic: STOP IT!! It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked for help into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his victim.

 8. There are reports of a women hearing a crying baby on her porch the night before last (or it could be any type of distress noise), and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded, and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear a baby crying outside their doors, when they're home alone at night.

 9.  Never pick up a hitchhiker who is a stranger to you, even if it is a kid. Someone might be hiding and waiting to jump into your car when you stop. Dangerous people come in all ages!


This list is not a comprehensive self defense list, it is a list to spur you into thinking and being aware of the world around you. I recommend that if you are interested in learning more self defense, check your local area for reputable classes or groups for training and support. Always be aware of your surroundings and be cautious.

What are your best safety tips?   

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