A Personal Safety & Self Defense

Presentation

 Presented by the
UAA Police
 A Personal Safety & Self Defense
Presentation

 Who is responsible for your personal safe?

YOU ARE!
When it comes to your Personal Safety
there are Four issues to consider.

 AWARENESS
 REDUCTION
 RECOGNITION
 AVOIDANCE

These are 90% of Self Defense Education!

 The Victimization Triangle

Victims Assailant
CRIME

Opportunity

Remove the Foundation of Opportunity

Awareness : Lessen Your
Chances of Being a Victim!

 Be aware of your surroundings and situations

that might be dangerous.
 Know how to avoid these situations.
 Know what choices to make if you find
yourself in a potential situation.
Awareness:
Maintaining Self-Control

 Remember if you
allow alcohol and
other drugs to
impair your
judgment, you make
yourself vulnerable
to anything.
Reduction/Avoidance
Strategies: When You go out

 Make sure you have a say in where you go

and who will be with you.
 Have other transportation and/or money
available if you choose to leave a date.
 Stay in group situations.
 Let other people know your plans.
 Carry your cell phone and make sure the
battery is charged.
Reduction/Avoidance
Strategies Tips for the Home:

 Keep entrances well lit.

 Check ID of service people before letting
them inside. When in doubt call the company
to verify.
 Install peepholes and deadbolts on doors.
 Never give the impression you are alone.
 Keep bushes and shrubs trimmed.
 Be aware of potential hiding places.
Reduction/ Avoidance Strategies
for the Home, Continued:

 If you come home and

see open doors or
windows, signs of
forced entry, don’t go
inside. Go to a phone
or safe place and call
police for help.
Reduction Avoidance
Strategies in Your Car:

 Keep your car in good working order. Make

sure you have gas and fill up during the day.
 Always have your keys out and be ready to
get in your car.
 Look around & under your car while walking
to it. If something looks suspicious walk past.
 Lock your doors immediately after entering
and keep your doors locked at all times.
Reduction Avoidance
Strategies In Your Car Cont. :

 Park in well lighted public areas when possible.

Always lock your car.
 Don’t get out of your car if something looks odd,
drive away.
 Look in your car when getting inside, that means in
the back seat and cargo area.
 If you are attacked in a parking lot roll under a car, it
makes it hard to get you and call police on your cell.
 Don’t help strangers who break down, call for help.
Reduction/ Avoidance
Strategies In Your Car Cont.:

 If you get a flat drive carefully to the nearest well lit

and well traveled area before you stop.

 If you are in an accident stay in your car until police

arrive if you don’t feel safe about getting out.

 If you are being followed don’t go home. Drive to

the nearest police or fire station and honk your
horn. Or drive to a gas station or store.
Reduction / Avoidance
Strategies while out on foot:

 Always be aware of your surroundings.

 Be aware of the people and animals around you.
 Walk close to the curb. Avoid doorways, bushes and
alleys.
 Don’t walk alone at night, avoid areas with few
people or areas not well lit.
 On campus call UPD for a safety escort.
Reduction / Avoidance
Strategies While on Foot, Cont. :

 Be careful of people who stop to ask

directions. Keep your distance when
answering so you can run or just tell them
you don’t know and keep walking.
 If you feel like you are being followed walk to
a well populated area.
 If you are in trouble attract attention any way
you can. Yell for help or blow a whistle, don’t
scream.
Recognition / Avoidance Strategies for
anywhere & everyday :

 Two Important Rules to remember!

 Always, Trust your instincts. If you feel
uneasy in a situation do something about it,
don’t worry about appearing foolish or overly
cautious.
 Believe in yourself. Have the strength to be
independent. Don’t allow your self to be
intimidated.
Avoidance Strategies
Safety Tips:

 Trust your instincts. If a

situation, a person or a
group of people make you
feel uneasy walk away.
 Take your cell phone.
 Know the numbers?
 Know where the emergency
phones are on campus if
you don’t have a phone.
Avoidance Strategies for Sexual
Assault:

 Remember, Everyone has the right to say

“no” to unwanted sexual contact.
 No one has the right to force or coerce sex
from another.
 Communicate Clearly
 Maintain Self-Control
Avoidance Strategies for Sexual
Assault :Communicating Clearly

 Be Assertive
 Don’t expect your date to know what your
thinking, tell them.
 Mean what you say and say what you mean
– firmly. No means No.
 Miscommunication can make you vulnerable
to rape; don’t send mixed signals.
Legal Definition of Sexual Assault
(AS 11.41.410)

 An offender engages in sexual penetration

without consent of that person;
 Attempts to engage in sexual penetration
without consent and causes injury;
 Or with a person the offender knows is
mentally incapable, incapacitated, or
unaware the act is being committed.
Rape Myths & Realities: (STAR)

 Rape is a “crime of passion”.  Rape is a act of power, control,

anger, & hostility. Sex is used
to express these feelings.

 Most rapists are strangers.  The majority of rapes – 80% -

are committed by person
known & trusted by the victim.

 Most rapes are interracial.  Nationally, 90% involve a rapist

and victim of the same race.
Rape Myths & Realities Cont.:

 Rape only happens in dark  Rapes occur anytime and place,

alleys or secluded places. often in familiar surroundings.

 Only young attractive women  Anyone can be raped. Rapists

are raped. seek out the vulnerable. Children,
elderly and the disabled are
especially at risk.

 Many rapist are already in

 Rape is an impulsive, consenting sexual relationships
uncontrollable act of sexual when they commit an assault.
gratification & most rapes are Rapes are often planned in
spontaneous. advance.
Statistics -

 In 2007, there were 248, 300 victims of rape, attempted rape,

or sexual assault. (Rape Abuse & Incest National Network
(RAINN website).
 In 2003 39% of all rapes/sexual assaults were reported to law
enforcement agencies, a 16 percent drop from 2002.
 In 2003, 89% of rapes and sexual assault victims were female
and 11% male.
 Forty-four percent (44%) of all reported forcible rape offense
were cleared by law enforcement.
 Almost two-thirds of all rapes are committed by someone who
is known to the victim. 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated
by a non-stranger — 38% of perpetrators were a friend or
acquaintance of the victim, 28% were an intimate and 7% were
another relative (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2005)
Stats for Alaska:

 Alaska is the # 1 state in the country for Rape and has been for
23 out of the last 30 years (FBI Uniform Crime Report.)
 Alaska’s reported rate of rape per capita is 2.6 times the
national average (FBI Uniform Crime Report).
 Anchorage has the ninth (9) highest sexual assault rate of any
city in the United States, and Fairbanks is ranked first (1st) (FBI
Uniform Crime Report).
 Native American and Alaska Native women are 2 – 2.5 times
more likely to be sexually assaulted than women of all other
ethnicities in the U.S. (Amnesty International Report 2007)
Avoiding Date Rape Drugs

 Never leave your drink  Call someone on the

unattended. Never! phone for help.
 Don’t accept a drink  Call 911 for help, never
from someone you leave alone. Remember
wouldn’t trust with your
life. the purpose of these
drugs is to incapacitate
 If you feel sick or dizzy
while out go to you.
someone you trust and  Alcohol increases the
tell them. effect.
Drug Information
 There are three common
types (Rohypnol, GHB,
Ketamine). There are other
types as well.
 They are easy to administer
(Stir into a drink and
dissolve).
 Victims feel the effects and
leave alone making them
vulnerable to attack.
 If the victim comes to while
being assaulted the drugs
make them totally helpless
and unable to do anything.
 Victims of this type of
assault often doubt the
event happened because of
impaired memory.
Rohypnol

 Street names: “roofies”, ‘R-2”, “Rib”, “Rope”

 Form: tasteless, colorless, odorless pill

 How used: dissolved in someone’s drink

 Effects: drowsiness, dizziness, respiratory distress,

temporary amnesia, confusion, excitability,
unconsiousness, & possibly death.
Ketamine

 Street names:
“K”, “special K”, “cat valium”, and “vitamin K”.
 Form: colorless, odorless liquid or white or off-white
powder
 How used: mixed with beverages or added to
smokable materials such as marijuana or tobacco
 Effects: Depression, delirium, amnesia, impaired
motor function, high blood pressure, and potentially
fatal respiratory problems.
GHB

 Street names: “liquid ecstasy”, “liquid g”

 Form: odorless liquid with salty taste

 How used: poured in someone’s drink

 Effects: same as Rohypnol plus… shaking,

headaches, seizures, coma, temporary paralysis, &
possibly death
Recognition:
If Your Attacked

 Keep your head. Stay calm think rationally

about your options.
 It may be more advisable to submit than to
resist. This is especially true when
confronted with a weapon.
 Stay observant and alert so that you can help
describe your attacker to police.
Recognition:
If Your Attacked, Cont.

 Should you Resist? Only YOU can decide.

 Keep accessing the situation as it occurs. If
one thing doesn’t work try something else.
 Options include: non-resistance, negotiating,
stalling for time, distracting the attacker and
running to a safe place, verbal assertiveness,
physical resistance, and defensive weapons.
Recognition:
If Your Attacked, Cont.

 If you are being forced to get into a vehicle, your life

is in danger, so resist at all costs.
 Attract attention, cause a disturbance or try to
disable your attacker.
 Do NOT get into the car. Yell, gouge their eyes, kick
and/or knee them in the groin, stomp on their foot,
use your elbows.
 FIGHT like you never have before. This is the fight of
YOUR life.
Classes / Training / Products for
self-defense:

 There are several classes you can take.

 There are also several products you can buy,
but remember if you purchase an item you
need to be properly trained on how to use it
and when you can use it legally.
UPD offers R.A.D. classes

 The Rape Aggression Defense Basic

Personal Defense System is a national
program of realistic self-defense tactics and
techniques taught for women only.
 All courses are taught by nationally certified
R.A.D. Instructors
R.A.D.’s Basic Self Defense Class

 The goal of R.A.D. is to provide realistic self-defense

options to women, regardless of their level of
physical conditioning.
 Students at all levels of ability, age, experience, and
strength will be provided with techniques and
information that can be effectively used from the first
day of class.
 R.A.D. is not a martial arts program, nor does it
require students to be athletes in training to succeed.
UPD’s R.A.D. classes:
Just a reminder
for when you need Help!!!

 Call 911
 Call UPD on campus at
786-1120.
 Use an Emergency
Phone.
For Help: STAR

 Local help for victims of  STAR

Sexual Assault is
provided by Standing
Together Against Rape.
 They are located in
Anchorage and
available 24/7.
1057 Fireweed Lane,
Suite 230
Anchorage, AK 99503
star@staralaska.org
(907) 276-7279
Questions and Comments