I use this blog to provide safety, self-defense, and security information, addressing topics such as domestic abuse, teen violence, and violent crime prevention. Support this blog by bookmarking it and subscribing via email.
Posted by Scott on January 30th, 2007 — Posted in News, Teen Violence
Marilyn Henry wrote an informative article about teen violence. She says:
…for the second year the U.S. Senate has designated the week of Feb. 5 as Teen Violence Awareness and Prevention Week.
Teen violence is a significant problem often not recognized by teens, parents, teachers and others who have daily contact with adolescents. According to the American Bar Assn., about one in five female high school students report being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner, and teens have a higher risk of intimate partner abuse than adults.
Fifty-nine percent of all teens report knowing friends or peers who have been victims of dating violence.
Patterns of dating violence often start early, with victims as young as 11 or 12, and carry through into adult relationships. Violent relationships in adolescence have serious consequences for victims, many of whom will continue to be abused in their adult relationships and are at higher risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, risky sexual behaviors, serious injury and suicide.
I did not even know about teen Violence Awareness and Prevention Week until I read the above article. I hope the week raises awareness about this important topic. Because of their inexperience, teenagers lack the knowledge to identify, avoid, and escape abusive relationships. Additionally, the emotional scars of victimization affect teens worse than more mature adults.
Posted by Scott on January 28th, 2007 — Posted in News
Mark Townsend recently reported about legal reforms in the United Kingdom to increase rape convictions. Here’s an excerpt:
A new statutory definition of capacity to consent to sexual intercourse will mean that, if a woman is so drunk she is incapable of consent, a man who sleeps with her may be charged with rape.
The controversial move is strongly opposed by judges, who believe it should be left to a jury to decide whether an alleged victim was in a fit state to agree to intercourse.
Further steps, including an alleged attacker’s previous sexual convictions being discussed before the jury, and hearsay evidence in which the victim told family or friends about an attack – but not police – could also be permitted. Doubling the number of sexual assault referral centres from 15 to 30 by 2008 is another of O’Brien’s proposals.
The government also believes it is necessary to develop measures for dealing with rape victims with mental-health problems, as well as fresh methods of rehabilitating convicted sex offenders to stop them reoffending.
Ministers are also currently examining whether to grant judges the power to remove the right to anonymity of women who make false rape claims. Courts may be able to lift anonymity if there is concern that the woman will fake another assault.
I like to hear about reforms to increase the conviction of truly guilty rapists, and I hope more countries adopt such reforms.
However, I feel weary about increasing the prosecution of so-called date-rape, by expanding the definition of rape. I especially find myself disagreeing with this when the proposed laws seem to falsely suggest that we need date-rape laws to stop men specifically. Statistically, men drink as often as women before having sex. Thus, when using objective criteria (i.e. how drunk the person is) to define alcoholic date-rape, women date-rape men as much as men date-rape women.
I would prefer to see the states resources put towards stopping forcible rape, rather than put to stopping people who simply has consensual sex with a drunk.
People, both men and women, choose whether or not to drink alcohol. If we don’t consider a drunk person’s consent to sex legally valid, then how can we hold drunk drivers responsible for choosing to drive? In the same way we hold a drunk driver responsible for choosing to drive, we can hold a drunk person responsible for choosing to have sex. If someone cannot control themselves when drinking, that person needs to use their sober self-control to choose not to drink or accept the consequences of such as decision.
Posted by Scott on January 24th, 2007 — Posted in Martial Arts, News
Ashlee Crews is 12 years old, with only 95 pounds on her 4-foot-11-inch frame. But she has just thrown a 5-foot-10-inch, 160-pound man to the floor.
She used a technique called “uke-nage,” a karate term which means to escape someone’s hold and throw that person to the ground.
David Crews, Ashlee’s 24-year-old brother, is the man she just overpowered, and he’s happy about it.
Mr. Crews has been studying Isshinryu karate under grandmaster Phil Little for several years, and now his two younger sisters also have begun studying at Phil Little’s School of Karate in Anderson.
“I think everyone regardless of age or sex should study (karate), whether it’s for a month or six months, because the world doesn’t get any safer,” Mr. Crews said, wrapping Ashlee in a bear hug.
Mr. Little, a 10th degree black belt, said the most important part of self-defense is confidence.
“Be more assertive, because the person who is going to prey upon you is looking for weakness,” he said. “Confidence portrays strength.”
If someone attacks you, try to get free and get out of the way, Mr. Little said.
If you have to fight, strike quickly and try to mark the attacker’s facial area and draw blood, so his DNA can be traced.
I wasn’t aware of that tip to try and draw blood for DNA evidence. It’s definitely true. I think the best part of taking martial arts or other self-defense classes isn’t the fighting techniques, but rather the confidence. By learning to appear and actually be confident, assertive, and aware, students of these types of classes learn to avoid getting into dangerous situations which would require the fighting moves.
Posted by Scott on January 17th, 2007 — Posted in News
Greg Gordon and Marisa Taylor recently released an article about the rising violent crime rates in the Untied States. Here’s an excerpt:
Chuck Wexler, who heads a think tank for police departments across the country that has monitored crime trends in cities, said the data over the last 18 months suggest that the crime surge “isn’t a statistical aberration.”
After 14 years of declines in crime, police in some communities began to report double-digit increases. That left the administration vulnerable to criticism because the crime jumps came after the White House instigated $1 billion in cuts in anti-crime funding since 2001 as it shifted its focus to the war on terrorism.
Among the casualties was a Clinton administration program to hire 100,000 police officers.
Other researchers agree that the reasons for the rise in crime are more complicated than money, and they vary from city to city. They point to factors such as increasing gun-, gang- and drug-related violence; growing juvenile crime; a deep hopelessness among poor, young black men; and an upsurge in prison releases after years of record numbers of incarcerations.
Although using federal funds to reduce violent crime makes more sense than using it for oil wars or NASA, I doubt that decreased federal funding causes the rising violent crime rates. Instead, I agree with the “other researchers” that other factors cause the increase in violent crime rates, namely an upsurge in prison releases.
The United States government lets violent criminals out of prison to make room for non-violent druggies. Additionally, criminals and criminal organizations, such as mafias and gangs, make money due to the illegalization of victimless crimes such as drug use and prostitution. Instead of the local pharmacy making money from drugs, gang-members and armed thugs make the money from the multi-billion dollar industry.
Military sexual assault survivors and their advocates say the case of Suzanne Swift typifies the Pentagon’s failure to address the prevalence of sexual assault inside its ranks, as well as the unmet needs of survivors and the impunity enjoyed by assailants.
Swift went AWOL in January to avoid deployment with a battalion in which she underwent repeated incidents of sexual harassment and abuse. Now she is being thrown in the brig while only one of her three alleged transgressors has received so much as a letter of reprimand.
For her decision to evade the Army instead of deploying to Iraq with a unit she considered unsafe, Swift was demoted from specialist to private and given 30 days’ confinement.
In order to avoid a harsher sentence, she agreed to plead guilty and sign a Stipulation of Fact that states only that she was “harassed” and that she “engaged in a sexual relationship with her squad leader.” It mentions nothing about her allegations that the relationship was coerced and took place under threat of punishment.
A study headed by Anne Sadler, coordinator of the post-traumatic stress clinical team at the Veterans Administration hospital in Iowa City, found that Swift’s experience was not uncommon.
That nationwide survey, which included women whose terms of service fell between 1961 and 2003, found that more than three-quarters of the respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment during their military service; a third suffered one or more completed or attempted rapes.
However, only 26 percent of the rape survivors reported it through official channels while in active duty. The most common reasons given were fear that the report would negatively impact the survivor’s career or make things worse. A belief that nothing would be done and fear that they would be blamed by their co-workers were also prominent concerns. A shocking 19 percent thought that “rape [is] an expected part of military service.”
The VA study also found that among respondents who had experienced a rape or attempted rape, in most cases survivors did not report because the designated go-to man was either the rapist himself or a friend of the rapist.
Sexualized violence is reported at much higher rates in the military than in the general civilian population. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 17 percent of civilian women report having survived rape or attempted rape in contrast with 30 percent of women surveyed for the VA study.
While the reasons for elevated sexual violence inside the military are unclear, the VA study found that an overall climate where sexual harassment is condoned and “hostile work environments” were key factors. In addition, the study found, “officers allowing or initiating sexually demeaning comments or gestures towards female soldiers was associated with a three- to four-fold increase in likelihood of rape.”
I find it horrifically disturbing that the military administration and indeed the whole country systemically ignore the victimization of these troops such as Suzanne Swift who dedicate themselves to protecting the rest of us.
One could argue that Swift deserved her official punishment of confinement, in that she broke the law by abandoning her position and going AWOL. However, if the military administration hadn’t systemically ignored and covered up the rampant sexual victimizations taking place against innocent troops such as had happened to Swift beforehand, then Swift would have had no reason to go AWOL. The extremely disgusting failure of the military administration caused the understandable – but criminal – choice of Swift. Considering the exceptional circumstances, I personally would have liked to see the charges against Swift dropped, and let her leave her battalion and/or the army without reprimand, but clearly the military administrators just want to cover their own backs by covering up their tolerance of sexual victimization.
Posted by Scott on December 21st, 2006 — Posted in News
Each holiday season, police departments and media remind people they would make fine targets for criminals.
Retailers prepare for billions in shoplifting losses.
The National Crime Prevention Council issues a pamphlet warning that crooks love the holidays because the season makes “an opportune time for crime.”
Do we really have more to fear during the holidays? And, if so, what can we do to protect ourselves?
The Times talked to police, security experts and academics for answers.
Does crime really leap?
Local police didn’t agree on a spike in general holiday season crime, but officials said a few specific crimes jump each year.
“One of your biggest things is thefts from vehicles,” said Assistant Chief Hollis Dorrough of the South Holland Police Department.
And more pockets are picked and purses snatched during the holidays, police agreed. Women make popular targets, Lansing Police Chief Daniel McDevitt said.
“Not that there aren’t some (thieves) that can do it, but it’s a … lot harder to get a wallet out of a man’s pants,” he said.
You might think burglaries would increase during the holidays, when homes are filled with new merchandise. But only one police official reported an increase in burglaries during the holidays. Burglaries shoot up in Gary during the holidays, said Lt. Roger Smith, a 23-year veteran of the department.
Myth’ of holiday crime
Neither residents nor retailers face dramatic jumps in old-fashioned, hands-on crime, said Chris McGoey, a security consultant for retailers nationwide. Stores are busier and malls are more stressful, but stores and parking lots are full of potential witnesses, he said.
Neither McGoey nor Purdue University Calumet criminologist Richard Van Orman could pinpoint any national crime statistics on the topic, but Van Orman agreed that crime as a whole doesn’t increase during the holidays.
Other than the depressing uptick in suicides — killing oneself is illegal — crime actually may decrease during the holidays, Van Orman said.
The National Retail Federation estimated stores lost $37.4 billion to crime in 2005. The federation said retailers expect to lose $3.5 billion on fraudulent returns alone this holiday season.
The biggest problems don’t come from shoplifters, McGoey said, but from employees and criminals committing fraud.
I caught a few minutes of the TV news the other day and from the over-reporting of holiday crime viewers may get a mistaken picture. While property crime probably increases during the holiday season, the news appears to over-emphasize it. The article above seems to give a more accurate picture. Regardless, during the holiday season especially, people and stores want to protect themselves. Keep yourself safe, carry as little money as possible, and don’t leave merchandise or cash unattended.
Posted by Scott on December 6th, 2006 — Posted in News
An off-duty St. Louis city police officer is being questioned after investigators say he shot his sister during an argument around 2:00 a.m. Wednesday on Vera Cruz in Affton.
St. Louis County Police say the woman was grazed in the head and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Investigators add the off-duty officer acted in self-defense.
Although we have to wait for all the facts to get out before making a judgment, I find it very suspicious for a fully-trained off-duty police officer to need to shoot his sister in an argument in “self-defense.” Why couldn’t he just leave before the argument? Even if his sister had attacked him, was shooting her really necessary? Couldn’t he have diffused the situation before it came to that, anyway?
Posted by Scott on December 2nd, 2006 — Posted in News
“There is a serious problem with store-bought accessories,” points out Guy Dar, an expert in self-defense who teaches a hand-to-hand combat technique. In most cases, notes Dar, you do not have enough time to pull out the stun gun or tear gas canister, and thus it is much better to first try reacting with your hands or with articles that are readily available in any case. Dar believes the most effective self-defense items are ordinary items that you usually carry in your purse anyway. In this category he includes such easily accessible articles as keys, pencils, rings, even the purse itself.
The advantage of these items is twofold. First, you do not have to prepare them in advance or dig them out from the bottom of your purse. Second, they can take your assailant by surprise: They look innocent and, besides, he is probably assuming that you are a weak and completely defenseless woman.
“A woman who is attacked is not interested in fighting her assailant to overcome him,” explains Dar. “The only thing she wants to do is to stun him for a few seconds so that she can run away or call for help.”
In Dar’s view, the first principle in self-defense should be prevention: Spend a few more seconds surveying the area before you emerge from your car, take a closer look at the dark stairwell before you ascend it, and look to your left and your right before entering an elevator.
Another way of protecting yourself, says Dar, is to think ahead: “Women who are afraid of being attacked – and that is the situation we are facing today – should conduct a few mental exercises, in which they say to themselves what they plan to do if the worst happens, and they are attacked.” According to Dar, that way of thinking can prepare you for such an emergency and can promote a more effective response in a real-life crisis.
This article points out an important point about self-defense: it doesn’t matter what weapons or tools a woman has on her; they’re useless without education. Education on self-defense, prevention, and avoidance teaches the student how to defend themselves, which the student needs to successfully defend themselves.
Do you remember February 1993 when a young 3 yr old was taken from Liverpool, United Kingdom, by two 10-year-old boys.
Jamie Bulger walked away from his mother for only a second and Jon Venables took his hand and led him out of the mall with his friend Robert Thompson.
They took Jamie on a walk for over 2 and a half miles,
Along the way stopping every now and again to torture the poor little boy who was crying constantly for his mummy.
Finally they stopped at a railway track where they brutally kicked him,threw stones at him, rubbed paint in his eyes and pushed batteries up his anus. It was actually worse than this.
What these two boys did was so horrendous that Jamie’s mother was forbidden to identify his body.
They then left his beaten small body on the tracks so a train could run him over to hide the mess they had created. These two boys, even being boys, understood what they did was wrong, hence trying to make it look like an accident.
This week Lady Justice Butler-Sloss has awarded the two boys anonymity for the rest of their lives when they leave custody with new identities.
They will also leave early this year only serving just over half of their sentence. They are being relocated to Australia to live out the rest of their lives.
They disgustingly and violently took Jamie’s life away – in return they each get a new life.
If you feel strongly that this is a grave miscarriage of justice, copy entire message with your comments, petition your friends and family to sign, and foward to cust.ser.cs@gtnet.gov.uk and attention it to Lady Justice Butler-Sloss.
A cop goes to a fast-food drive-through and mistakenly thinks the female teenage cashier short-changes him. After the manager checks the drawer and finds that the cop’s 20 is non-existent, the cop hollers at the girl and arrests her. When the girl hollers back and asks to wait for her mama, the cop gets mad and sprays the teenage girl with Mace, sending her to the hospital. Isn’t this bully cop the kind of person we want to protect girls from?
Granted, the girl hollers back and doesn’t sound like the smartest in the world. However, she’s just a teenage girl working for minimum wage at a fast-food restaurant. The stupid & violent cop is a full grown man armed with a gun and Mace, who is paid much higher, with tax-dollars! Nonetheless, the girl could have dealt with this cop-bully in a wiser way, as to avoid problems. (In the same way, someone who taunts a rabid dog could deal with the dog better.)
While the girl was sent to the hospital, the violent cop got “cleared of all wrong-doing.”
Luckily, the girl was awarded $60,000 for damages in a lawsuit. Unfortunately, it’s the taxpayers who have to pay for the damages that the violent cop caused during his mistaken rage. The cop got off scot-free.
So, in total, the victims in this situation are the taxpayers and the teenage girl. The victimizer, which is the angry cop, got off scot-free. As far as I know, he didn’t even have to go to anger-management or anything. So I ask again, isn’t this bully cop the kind of person we want to protect girls (and everyone, including taxpayers) from?
Posted by Scott on November 10th, 2006 — Posted in News
Four teens were arrested in a situation police say was “out of control” last week when employees of a Marathon gas station were attacked with knives and an American flag pole. Violence broke out amid a group of people gathered at a bus stop in front of the gas station on Gratiot south of Metro Parkway Oct. 23, leaving two victims injured.
The arrested parties are all students at Clintondale Continuing Education Center, a vocational training school for residents in the tri-county area who have not received a high school diploma. The suspects live in Detroit and come to the school via the SMART bus system. While police said incidents involving students of the school have never reached the magnitude they did last week, safety has become a concern of both the school’s administration and the Police Department.
“Overall, the program is a huge success,” said Superintendent George Sassin of the education center, “but, unfortunately, you get a few students who chose not to follow the rules and guidelines of our school district.”
The four Detroit teens arrested are 17 and 19 years old, three of whom are being charged with ethnic intimidation. All of them are facing some form of assault charge.
It’s a shame that these few kids are ruining the reputation of the school and creating a fearful atmosphere both in the school and the community.
The victim suffered a 2-inch gash on his lip as a result. Another employee was punched and had a cut on his cheek. Also, it seems, the arrested girls were threatening to cut the throat of some of the employees. Luckily, nobody was killed, and witnesses confirmed the incidence so that the offenders have been arrested.
I think it would have been wiser for the employees to stay in the store and cal either the owner of the shop or law enforcement.
I hope the citizens in the tri-county area don’t hold this against the school. I hope the increased security at the school keeps the other students safe.
Posted by Scott on November 3rd, 2006 — Posted in News
When freshman letters and sciences major Dan Sharkey purchased a taser online for $50, he wasn’t gearing up to work mall security or go on patrol with the local police force – he was preparing to walk home on the streets of College Park.
With the university ranked second on the FBI’s list of most violent campuses and 15 on-campus robberies already reported this year, students like Sharkey are arming themselves against attacks with alarms, pepper spray or self-defense tactics.
While it is a shame that these students deal with so much danger on their campus, they follow the wise principle: if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. We cannot depend on the government or schools for safety. We have to take our defense into our own hands.
