Women’s Safety Tips and Strategies for Protection

Staying safe in public spaces can be complex, especially for women. But no one has to be defenseless. Everyone can take steps to be more alert and more prepared. No matter the size or strength of your attacker, there are techniques to give yourself time to escape. These women’s safety tips can help you avoid looking like a good target in the first place, and help you escape the situation if you are targeted. And you don’t have to be a woman to use them. See Women’s Safety Tips with Jessa Russell for a complete transcript of the Easy Prey podcast episode. Lieutenant Jessa Russell is the Community Relations Officer for the Highland Park Department of Public Safety in Highland Park, Texas. When she was hired thirteen years ago, the chief asked her where she wanted to go in her career. Highland Park’s Department of Public Safety was a small department, and there wasn’t a lot of room for movement. But Jessa loved coaching and teaching; she said that she might want to be a Field Training Officer someday, but not in leadership. She worked her way up through the ranks anyway. And when the opportunity to do public information and community relations came up, she jumped at a new challenge. It’s very different from responding to emergencies. Now she’s on the back end, trying to teach, raise awareness, and prevent emergencies from happening where possible. Every agency has slightly different norms in terms of what kinds of problems they usually see. Some have problems with domestic violence, or with assault. In Highland Park, the biggest problems they deal with are people getting drunk and people stealing, especially with a particular kind of theft called “jugging.” When it comes to alcohol, the top thing to pay attention to is the emotion you or the other person is feeling before you or they start to drink. For most people, alcohol just escalates those emotions. When you see that escalation happening in somebody else, you can also try de-escalation tactics. Suggest that you both slow down, or that you’re ready to leave. If they’re not having it, sometimes that person isn’t your responsibility. Or maybe you need to call someone else to deal with the situation before violence breaks out. Jugging may have other names in other places, but in Texas it’s a particular type of theft. It happens when someone goes to a bank and takes out a large amount of cash. The thief is watching at the bank and they see this. When the person leaves, they watch where in their vehicle the target put the money and then follow them to their next stop. The target then returns to their car after their next stop to find their car window smashed and their cash gone. Any time you’re going to the bank, but especially if you’re getting a large sum of money … pay attention when you’re leaving, pay attention when you’re there. One of the best ways to combat jugging is just awareness. Awareness is a great thing, not just for women’s safety, but for everyone’s safety. At the bank, is somebody watching you? Did they exit around the same time as you? In your car, do you notice another car making the same turns as you? You can also make strange turns to get more confirmation. If you’re going north and then suddenly turn around and head south, someone still following you after that is very suspicious. If you’re being followed, call 911. Drive to your local police station if there’s one nearby. You can also drive to a fire station if that’s closer. The firefighters may not come out with guns to save you, but sometimes being in a public place scares these thieves off. Don’t get out of your car. If they stop behind you and you decide you want to keep moving, stay on the line with 911 and let them know where you’re going. In jugging especially, the criminals aren’t looking to be violent. They don’t want to commit assault or hurt you, they just want to do a quick smash-and-grab to get your cash. Often being aware that they are there is enough to scare them off. And this applies in other situations, as well. With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other big shopping holidays, thieves may watch for people coming out of shopping centers with a bunch of bags, especially with expensive or high-end shopping centers. Again, it’s about paying attention. Is someone walking behind you as you go to your car? Do they keep walking after you stop, and if they do, does it look like they’re going towards a different car or just wandering? Awareness any time you’re carrying a lot of money or goods is a skill that can protect women’s safety, and also protect anyone from being robbed. Jessa is an officer and has seen her share of nasty things. But she still has the outlook that the world is a good place. She never wants to lose that optimism. But at the same time, you need to have skepticism. The world is a good place, but there are bad people in it. Being aware of your situation can help you spot those bad people before they hurt you. You need to have a little bit of skepticism … the world is a good place, but there are bad people in it. Restaurants and bars are other places where awareness can help women’s safety, but is also good practice for everyone. Women often put their purse on the back of their chair where it can easily be grabbed. But especially in a busy place, thieves don’t need to steal the whole purse. They could just reach in and grab your wallet, and you might not notice until you go to pay – or even longer if someone else is paying. In restaurants, Jessa always puts her purse between her legs. That way she also knows she won’t walk off without it since she will feel it when she gets up. And when going to the restroom, if she doesn’t take her purse with her, she tells the people she’s with where it is and asks them to watch out for it. Awareness is important even when walking around, especially for women’s safety but also for everyone. Jessa doesn’t run, work out, or even walk around with headphones in. At most, she wears only one earbud. Be aware of the people around you, too. Has a particular person walked past you a few times? And is that weird? It may be less weird if you’re in a mall where someone might be going to different stores than if you’re walking around your neighborhood. Everyone has an innate sense for when something is dangerous. Pay attention to it. Especially for women’s safety, it’s important not to brush off that intuition because you want to be nice. Trust your gut when something seems off. Everyone has Spidey senses, and especially for women, pay attention to those Spidey senses. Many people are particularly concerned about women’s safety in parking structures. If you can park by lights, Jessa recommends always doing that. And the closer you are to your destination, the better. Many places now have security officers who can help you. If it’s late at night or off hours, you may be able to request an officer walk you to your car. Requesting an escort every time can actually make you feel more paranoid. But if something happened that made you not feel right, you can take advantage of those safety opportunities. One common piece of advice is to have your keys in your hand as you walk to your car. That’s a good idea, but only if you know what to do and are prepared to act. The element of surprise can be harmful. When police officers train, they are told to approach every building search knowing they are going to find someone. That gets them in a mindset so when they do find someone, they’re not startled. If you’re walking to your car prepared for someone to jump out at you and it happens, you’re less likely to scream and cower and more likely to yell, hit them, and get away. But if you’re carrying your keys and you’re not prepared, chances are good you’ll scream and drop your keys. Then you have to take the time to pick up your keys before you can escape. One of the community programs that Jessa teaches is a course called Rape Aggression Defense, or RAD. The program started in Louisiana and is taught all over the country. Many police departments offer it, typically for free. It’s a twelve-hour course, and Jessa’s department usually does it over four days. The first day is the classroom portion. It focuses on situational awareness and tips for women’s safety. It also includes common-sense steps like not putting a house key under your mat and leaving exterior lights on if you know you’re going to come home late. The next few days are hands-on. Participants learn how to punch, block, and kick. Women’s safety doesn’t require women to become MMA fighters. The goal is to help them realize that they have power. While knowing how to punch can be helpful, often their best weapon is their voice. They also learn how to yell. Not scream, but yell loudly and assertively. Some women are taught to be so submissive that they don’t realize they have power. Another thing RAD teaches is the goal of getting away. Many of the striking and hitting techniques aren’t meant to cause injury so much as cause a distraction. Stomp on an attacker’s foot, head-butt them with the back of your head, punch them in the sternum, or grab and twist at their groin, and it will generally cause just enough pain that they loosen their grip and you can escape. It’s not common for attackers to randomly choose victims. But if they do, they choose someone they think looks weak, distracted, or otherwise like an easy victim. And they have a plan already mapped out in their head. They’re going to grab you like this, and then do that, and so on. So when they act, they’re expecting things to go a certain way. If you shout “Stay back!” in an assertive voice and hit them in the nose or the sternum, they’re not ready for it. Attackers don’t pick targets they think will fight back, so they’re not expecting you to do it. They have to take a moment to adjust the plan that they had in their head. Often that takes less than a second. But if you are prepared, that moment where they have to think about what to do next can give you an opportunity to pull free if they grabbed you and run. The assertive voice part is especially important in getting help. Most people’s instinct when startled or scared is to scream. But many women have high-pitched screams, and especially if you’re in an area where children aren’t uncommon, others may assume it’s just kids playing. But if you say something like, “Stay back!” or “Get away from me!” in a loud, assertive voice, other people will know there’s a problem. It gets attention and can bring help. One of the things Jessa teaches in RAD classes is that you’re not a terrible person if you’re attacked and you don’t fight back. If you’re afraid for your life, it’s okay to do whatever you have to do to get home alive. That’s women’s safety, too. Even if you didn’t fight back in the moment, you still have the option to take charge afterwards. Try to remember what you saw, what you smelled, any distinguishing features like tattoos or missing teeth. Clawing at an attacker is a common reaction; if you get any skin under your fingernails, see if the police will match it with DNA. There’s no guarantees, since it won’t come up if they’re not already in the system, but it’s something to change. At that moment you’re the victim, but you don’t have to be the victim forever. Always remember that it’s not your fault. Some people think rape only happens when the victim is asking for it, and that’s completely wrong. In all her years as a police officer, Jessa can’t think of one time where it was the victim’s fault. The offender is always the one in the wrong. Even if you feel like it was your fault, they still committed a crime. Once you get home, you can start to rebuild and get back to being a confident person. If you can give details to the investigator, they can work on putting your attacker in jail. And with any crime, whether you were assaulted or you were hurt in a drunk driving accident, every police department has a victim liason who can help. Generally it’s free, but some require you to cooperate in the investigation. There are also nonprofits not associated with the police who can help as well. A more long-term way to support women’s safety is to identify perpetrators so they can be caught and prosecuted. Bystanders and witnesses can also help with this. Even if the criminal is running away, you can observe them to give more information to police. It’s actually harder than it seems to see and remember what a perpetrator looks like. It takes focus, and often training. Many times people focus on the clothing. But a lot of criminals wear multiple layers of clothing that they can then take off and be wearing something different. If you’re going to focus on what they’re wearing, notice the shoes. Criminals very rarely change their shoes while running away. Information about their shoes, especially any logos or distinctive features, is often more helpful than information about their clothes. It’s always best to look for features that won’t change in the next few hours. Things like hair color and length, facial hair, and distinctive tattoos can be changed, but not quickly. Were they slender, average, heavy, or muscular? Did they have any distinguishing features or movements like scars or limps? How tall were they? You may not know their exact height, but even a ballpark – tall, short, average, a few inches taller than you, etc. – is good information. If there’s a car involved, try to remember at least the first few numbers of the license plate. Many people don’t want to say it because they don’t want to be perceived as racist, but race or skin tone are helpful too. It’s just another physical feature that won’t be changing quickly. The goal is to get a description that’s as accurate and unique as possible. The better description law enforcement gets, the better they will be able to identify the criminal when they see them. It seems very obvious, but Jessa always reminds people to protect themselves, whether you’re concerned with women’s safety or just safety in general. Lock your doors. Lock your cars. Take valuable stuff out of your car, or at least put it where it can’t be seen. Lock the gate to your backyard. Don’t leave your keyless ignition fob in your car, even if you lock the vehicle. Police officers can’t be everywhere at once, so the more steps you can take to protect yourself, the safer you’ll be. The more that you can protect yourself, the better off you’re going to be. Jessa isn’t trying to make people think the world is worse than they thought. She believes the world is overall a good place. But there are bad people in the world who are willing to harm you if they get the chance. You need to be prepared so you don’t give them that chance. One of the common questions she gets is if people should get a gun for women’s safety. And it really depends on you. If you are not proficient with a gun, completely comfortable carrying it, don’t know when you’re legally allowed to use it, and aren’t emotionally willing to pull the trigger if you need, it’s a liability. When someone is not confident and willing to use a gun, often attackers end up taking it. Most people are better off learning hands-on self-defense. You don’t have to be a jiu jitsu master to defend yourself. But knowing basic techniques will make you much safer. Learn more about Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) and find a program near you on their website, rad-systems.com .