Media and self-defense

Women's self-defense
Illustration - from Flickr.com

Meg Stone has a precise and very true observation in jamaicaplaingazette.com about how the media seems to ignore - or at least appears to underplay - a very important fact about women and self-defense actions.

Stone has the same experience as yours truly - it is proven countless of times, and beyond a shadow of a doubt how women are capable of defending themselves in situations where the attacker is male and very likely much stronger. In fact there are several thousands (and growing) cases being documented: Women Can.

By failing to focus on the facts of the matter, it may be that men as well as women may think that your only viable option is to get help from the authorities/police, a male companion, or begin carrying a gun for protection. Now, there is probably nothing wrong with being able to trust in outside help, as long as you don't take away the individual's trust in herself and her own abilities before anything else!

A sad but rather obvious fact is that you will often times be alone, and that you will need to stand your own ground. Any help will many times come in after the fact - or in addition to your own self-defense maneuvers.

A closer reading of the article reveals that this woman successfully defended herself by using her voice and shining a flashlight in the would-be assailant's face. In response to her actions, the assailant fled, but not before she got a physical description, which she gave to the police. Most importantly, this woman's bravery and fast thinking kept her from sustaining serious injuries. Unfortunately, this woman's successful self-protective actions are nowhere to be found in the Gazette's headline or the opening paragraph of the article.

In the above article, the author makes a reference to the National Crime Victimization Survey. It's undoubtedly a good idea to read it and make up your own mind.

In any case, the author makes a very good point in my opinion, and you should definitely give it a read. I'm also curious as to what your perspective is on this issue. Feel free to post below, re-tweet or post to Facebook!

Males being drugged

As we have reported earlier, not only women are being given "date rape drugs". After all, the point of drugging someone can be rape, robbery, abduction - or any combination hereof.

On March 14 Earthtimes.org had a story about a 45-year-old Swiss man - a former Hollywood bodyguard and karate champion - who was found dead inside a Hong Kong love hotel in the Wan Chai nightclub district.

The article also mentioned other high profile cases which involved expatriates found dead after evenings out in the notorious nightclub district.

One of these cases involved a senior Finnish policeman who died of a heart attack at a Hong Kong hotel in 2003 after being administered with the "date rape" drug Rohypnol (flunitrazepam).

A sagging thing

Just came across this newsbrief from November 2005 and thought I'd share it with you guys. After all this is something I have hoped to witness a long time. In fact I think I'd be willing to pay quite handsomely just to experience it once.
What? Someone falling flat on his face as a result of the most stupid dress code ever: sagging - that's what.
This is the dumbest way to dress, bar none - and I've probably witnessed them all and worn some pretty daft outfits myself :-)

Story:
In Ferndale, Michigan, a then 30-year-old man stole several DVDs from a store and then attempted to take off on a bicycle.

When officers soon after found him in an alley, he tried to get away by foot. The only problem was that that his baggy jeans kind of got in the way.

His sagging pants dropped and tripped him. Police said the thief kicked off his pants and shoes and jumped a fence into a backyard, where he was apprehended.

Hornblower

Numbers given by Meridian police in Mississippi, shows there have been three carjackings or carjacking attempts during a recent period of six and a half weeks and a total of four in 2007.

However, police blotters, which are provided to the media on a daily basis, show a total of six this year.

In a recent, unsuccessful, carjacking attempt, the female driver began blowing her horn, which made the suspect run away. Making noise is often the best defense, police claims.

"Most of these individuals don't want to be apprehended, don't want to be caught or identified, and they will usually run away or whatever," the spokesman said.

'Flasher wrestling', assault

A 17-year-old son of a former police officer wrestled a "flasher" to the ground after the man allegedly exposed himself to his female friend. The karate black belt has now been arrested on suspicion of assault dailymail.co.uk reports.

Police initially arrested the man on suspicion of indecent exposure and took him in for questioning. He was released the next day without charge, and made a counter claim of assault.

The man is understood to have complained about scratches and bruises he suffered after being held on the ground.

Eye-opening gadget

California -- The swift arrest of a San Jose man in the abduction of a 12-year-old girl this week was aided by an eye-opening gadget that can scan the license plates of a street full of cars and instantly alert police to which vehicles have been reported stolen, sfgate.com reports.

It was a breakthrough moment for license plate recognition, a technology that is spreading to law enforcement around the Bay Area - and is prompting privacy concerns.

A San Jose police officer was on routine patrol Monday, hours after the girl had been rammed with a stolen car and pulled inside while she was walking with her sister in the Willow Glen neighborhood. Police said her attacker had tried to sexually assault her before she fought back and escaped barefoot.

Danger

Interfering in a fight or a heated argument between a couple (man/woman) has proven to involve a great deal of danger - the case below is a typical one.
Great care should always be taken if you decide to get directly involved.
Your best course of action is probably to call police, get help from others, stay back and say loud and clear to the offender that police have been called.

From Salem, Oregon salem-news.com reports about a man who attacked a veterinarian outside an animal clinic Sunday night.

Police say the veterinarian saw a man and woman arguing outside of the clinic, and she tried to break it up.

The man then attacked the vet, knocking her to the ground, and tried to strangle her police said. Both the man and woman fled the scene on foot.

I wonder...

Inrich.com reports about a 31-year-old former Sheriff's deputy and US Marine.

While out on bond, he broke into his wife's house October 30, 2006 and assaulted her at gunpoint while their infant daughter was there.

Authorities say the man, armed and wearing a mask, attempted to subdue his wife with duct tape. She fought back and broke free, at which point the gun fired and the man was struck in the right bicep.

Maybe, just maybe, this should indicate that being a man - and even having more than average training and preparation - proves no guarantee that a woman can not outsmart or outfight you...
If you need another 3500 examples (now soon 4000), you can read more about it here.

Huge Coldplay fan

Karaoke is a torture instrument the devil himself could be proud of. Consequently, I really can relate to the rage against the "singer" in this story, even though the actions are way over board.

Story:
Washington -- A woman attacked a karaoke singer belting out Coldplay on Thursday night, telling him he "sucked" before she pushed and punched him to get him to stop singing, bar staff said. The man was singing "Yellow" when it happened.

"It took three or four of us to hold her down," a bartender said.

When she was escorted outside, the 21-year-old woman "went crazy," the bartender said, throwing punches at him and others, including an off-duty police officer.

Patrol officers and detectives then arrived at the neighborhood bar and blocked off the street, which inflamed the woman's rage even more, a police report said. Before police could handcuff the woman, she headbutted the off-duty officer at least twice.

Source

What a dork!

How's this for "service"? Guess nothing really can surprise me anymore.

Story:
Florida -- A woman walked into a Cape Coral gas station around 1:45 a.m. Thursday and told the clerk she had been kidnapped and asked him to call police.

The clerk, an employee of BP, refused. "He told her if she wanted to call 911, she would have to do so herself and handed her the phone," a police officer reported. "She refused to call, stating her boyfriend was watching her. She told the clerk that she and her boyfriend were fighting."

The clerk still refused, but the woman was able to convince her 23-year-old boyfriend, of Pickerington, Ohio, to make a stop at another gas station nearby.

The clerk at that station, Mobil on the Run, agreed to call police.

Source

Violence, alcohol

UK -- Violent crime is on the rise across Scotland, according to new figures which reveal that hundreds more attacks were carried out last year. Binge-drinking and growing inequality has been blamed for the spike in violence, which saw 13,994 crimes - including murder, serious assault and robbery - recorded in 2006-7, 2.4 per cent more than the previous year's tally of 13,664.

Six of the country's eight police forces witnessed a rise in non-sexual crimes of violence, with Northern Constabulary seeing a one-third increase in reported attacks, from 481 to 640. Four other forces - Tayside, Central, Grampian and Lothian and Borders - saw violent crime increase by between 6 and 15 per cent, while Strathclyde witnessed a smaller increase of 0.5 per cent, from 8,439 to 8,481. Only Fife and Dumfries and Galloway saw a drop in the figures.

The rise ends a three-year decline in recorded violent crimes, sparking fears that Scotland could be witnessing the beginning of a new upward trend. Northern Constabulary said the increase was "partly due to the misuse of alcohol".

"This is a big problem not just in our area but across the country. We're seeing it linked to a vast number of assaults. It's clearly a big contributory factor," said a spokesman.

Doctors are reporting a small but steady increase in the number of assault victims attending accident and emergency departments - which some believe is a more accurate reflection of violence levels - and say alcohol abuse is an increasingly prevalent factor.

Source

He merely had a knife

Quite naturally, this woman is devastated about her son being killed.
But what do this guy expect running towards a police officer holding a gun? Do they actually think it is possible to "aim for the legs", or shoot the weapon out of the hands of the person?
And then there's this phrase: "He merely had a knife." Yeah, some folks have this funny idea that a knife is just a harmless tool. Not.
This lady probably watch too much action movies, and/or need someone to blame.

Story:
A woman says a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy who fatally shot her son was out of line.

The 27-year-old man, was gunned down after he stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her roommate and then ran towards the deputy, holding carving knives.

"There are worse people on the streets," the 47-year-old mother said. "This was too much violence. He wasn't armed with a gun. He merely had a knife.''

Actually, he had two knives - and used them to repeatedly stab two people.

Source

'On food'

On foot, or on food - who cares as long as your on (to) something :-)

Maybe be cops were chasing donuts?

Story:
Colorado -- "A few miles away the suspect allegedly tried to car-jack another victim, but that victim fought back, called cops - and minutes later the man was arrested after a short food-chase."

Source

Strong "belief"

"Believing she was about to become the victim of a crime, (...)"?
I would dare suggest she was spot on, and wisely enough acted accordingly.

Story:
A man and woman, both 29, dragged a motorist from her driver's seat in a carjacking attempt at a Hermosa Beach gas station, but fled when the victim struggled free and screamed, police said Friday.

Police officers quickly arrested the pair, who are also suspected of another attempted carjacking Thursday, when they pretended to be panhandlers, Hermosa Beach police said.

The first victim called police about 5:35 a.m. Thursday after racing away from a gas station. The driver told police she had just finished fueling her car and was leaving for work when the female suspect approached her and asked for change. At the same time, her accomplice and another man stood at the front and back of her car.

"Believing she was about to become the victim of a crime, she locked her doors, screamed and drove away from the location," a police said. The suspects ran and the woman called police.

Source

A "toy"?

You may have heard about the British woman who was shot and killed by police recently. She was waving a "toy" gun around ...

Story:
They're so realistic, the U.S. military uses them for simulation training, but they're all the rage during adolescent play.

Toy guns that are marketed to "make you feel like you're 'packing' the real thing," airsoft guns are also fast becoming a problem - actually mistaken for the real thing - and have many fearing big problems could follow these small-pellet shooting guns.

Airsoft guns are BB-style toy guns that use plastic pellets actually much larger - so less likely to break skin upon impact - than regular BBs. They're sold, over the Internet and in retail stores in some states, in many models, including pistols and rifles, that look just like the real thing.

An alarming concern is when the toy guns are mistaken for the real thing in dangerous situations.

Last month, a Framingham teenager fleeing police tossed an airsoft gun on the ground during chase, and police thought it was an actual weapon. No one was injured. Earlier this month, police nearly shot a teenage boy in California when they found him and two others playing with the toy guns on an elementary school playground, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Source

Full moon fever

Maybe there is something to it after all?
And perhaps we should all be alert when a full moon falls on a payday?

Story:
UK -- Police in Brighton are to put on extra patrols on nights when there is a full moon to combat an increase in violence.

It follows research by the Sussex force which concluded there was a rise in violent incidents when the moon was full - and also on paydays.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: "Research carried out by us has shown a correlation between violent incidents and full moons. From my experience, over 19 years of being a police officer, undoubtedly on full moons, we do seem to get people with, sort of, stranger behaviour - more fractious, argumentative."

Past research into the phenomenon includes a study by Professor Michal Zimecki, of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who argued that a full moon could affect criminal activity and health.

In 1998, a three-month psychological study of 1,200 inmates at Armley jail in Leeds discovered a rise in violent incidents during the days either side of a full moon.

Source

Police recommend self-defense

UK -- Police recommend self-defence lessons after pupils admit to feeling fearful of being attacked.

Self-defence lessons should be offered to young girls who live in daily fear of being beaten up, according to police, following a survey of 12 and 13-year-olds in North Wales.

The results, published last week in the report Young People as Victims of Crime, show that girls worry more about becoming victims than boys.

Police claim that young girls' stress is largely unfounded, with pupils more likely to be threatened than attacked.

Source

The nose-hold

Are you telling me this "biting various parts" woman is having an anger management problem? And another thing - what's so unusual about the nose-hold? Or is this a perhaps a secret Maori warrior variation that I don't know about?

Story:
New Zealand -- A New Plymouth police constable was forced to apply a nose-hold on an offender to try to stop her from biting her. The unusual hold was clamped on a woman in February after police were called to a disturbance.

When the female officer and her partner arrived, they found the woman arguing with her son. She then turned on the constables, spitting in their faces, jumping on them and trying to bite various parts of their body.

Despite being pepper-sprayed, the 34-year-old unemployed New Plymouth woman punched the male officer three times in the head. The female officer tried to restrain her, but the woman clamped her jaws down on her arm, piercing her uniform and skin.

After the constables finally managed to restrain her with a nose-hold they needed medical treatment for cuts and severe bruising.

In court, the woman admitted injuring with intent and assaulting police. Her defence counsel said his client was undergoing counselling for several issues, including anger management.

Source

Shout!

New York -- A man yanked a 9-year-old girl off the street in Melville Thursday evening, drove her a quarter of a mile, then released her, Suffolk County police said.

Police said they weren’t sure why the man released the girl, but they surmised it was because the child was screaming loudly.

Her mother had taught the girl to make noise if she was in harm's way, and police said they believe this may have saved her.

Source

Homeless

Unusual? Just because attacks on prostitutes and homeless people don't get reported to authorities, doesn't make them unusual.

Story:
California -- A homeless woman fought off a would-be rapist in Mountain View this week, an attack police described as unusual.

The attack happened about 3:30 a.m. Monday. The woman, sleeping in bushes, began to scream for help when a man tried to pull off her sleeping bag.

The assailant began strangling the woman and sexually assaulted her before fleeing. Her screams alerted someone in the neighborhood, who in turn called police.

Some formerly homeless local residents say sexual assaults on homeless women are pervasive but simply never reported to the police.

"For women out there, there's always people coming on to them, all the time," said an outreach worker.

A former homeless woman in Palo Alto, said women living on the streets frequently have to fight off unwanted advances. Men approached her regularly, she said.

Reportedly, the most dangerous time is the first week of each month, when some predators spend welfare and Social Security checks on drugs and alcohol.

Source