Safety Tips
Sensei Delva R. Mandrell

OFFICE:

1. For many of us, the office seems like a second home. But like a house, it may not always be secure. Take precautions when you're working late.
2. Know your company's security procedure.
3. Keep emergency numbers by the phone.
4. Lock your door if possible.
5. Don't go into the rest room if no one else is around, use the buddy system.
6. Avoid using the elevator or stairwell with strangers.

HOME:

1. Lock doors and windows with heavy bolts. Secure sliding glass doors. Insert dowel or broomstick length wise into the bottom track of the sliding glass door. Make sure the dowel or broomstick fits snugly so that it can not be popped out. There are anti-lift plates that you can purchase. The Anti-lift plate prevents sliding glass doors from being lifted out of their tracks. Make sure outside doors including those between the House and Garage, are solid metal or wood (at least 1 3/4 inch thick). Install three-inch screws in the hinges of outside doors to make them harder to kick in.
2. If you loose your keys or move into a new home, install new locks.
3. List first initial and last name on mailbox or door, and in phone book.
4. Hang curtains or blinds on every window.
5. Leave lights on if you are going to return home after dark.
6. Beware of places strangers might hide; under stairs, in doorways and bushes. Trim shrubbery that hide doors or windows.
7. Get to know a neighbor you can trust in an emergency.
8. Use a peephole in door.
9. Ask service men for identification.
10. Vary your routine a little each day.
11. Have key ready and detour if someone is following, so they won't find out where you live.
12. Never let anyone know you are home alone.
13. Make sure yards, porches, and entrances are well lit.
14. Avoid fences that are hard to see through, they enable burglars to work in secrecy.
15. Don't hide house keys in mailboxes, planters, or under door mats. Instead, give a duplicate to a neighbor or friend.
16. Buy a dog. A 1992 Special Report poll of 191 burglars, found that criminals were more likely to be deterred by barking animals either inside or outside a house or near by, than any other crime prevention tactic.
17. If someone says he is in trouble, offer to phone for him but don't let him inside. keep him locked out and watch him from your window or have another family member watch while you call.
18. When you leave a message on your answering machine have a male friend or neighbor man talk in the background, or borrow a dog to bark in the background so you don't appear to be alone.

WALKING:

1. Walk at a steady pace.
2. Look like you know where you are going even if you are lost.
3. Don't pass through groups of strangers.
4. Don't walk alone if you are depressed or exhausted.
5. Scream if you are in danger. Yell "Fire"!!!
6. Keep arms free and be ready to drop bundles and run.
7. If you are waiting for a ride, stand balanced, keep hands free.
8. Plan your route. Avoid dark places.
9. Keep away from doorways, alleys, and unlit parking lots.
10. If you are followed, go to theaters, restaurants. stores, etc.
11. Carry and use a whistle if needed.
12. Don't accept rides from strangers, Walk facing traffic.
13. If someone asks directions, don't get too close to the car when talking.
14. If someone tries to pick you up, turn and walk the other direction, he will have to turn his car around.
15. Wearing a fanny pack makes it harder to steal your purse.

DRIVING:

1. Lock car and keep windows up high.
2. Check back seat and floor before getting in your   car.
3. Keep your car in good working order.
4. Keep the gas tank at least half full.
5. Park in well lighted areas.
6. When you return, check rear seat and floor and have keys ready.
7. NEVER pick up hitchhikers.
8. Drive on a flat tire until you reach a well lighted and traveled area.
9. If car breaks down, put hood up, put flashers on, tie a white cloth on antenna and lock your door.
10. If someone stops to help, don't get out of car, roll the window down
11. slightly and ask person to call police or tow service.
12. If someone needs your help, don't stop. Call police at the next phone and let him help.
13. Don't go home if you are being followed. Drive to the nearest fire
14. station, gas station, or business and honk your horn.
15. Get description or license plate number of car following you.
16. Don't take lonely short cut roads
17. Never leave your house keys with car keys at service stations.
18. Fill car with gas in daytime.

IF YOU ARE ATTACKED:

1. Try and stay calm and think rationally.
2. IF one strategy doesn't work, try another.
3. Turn attacker off with bizarre behavior such as, throwing up or acting crazy.
4. After a rape, calling the police quickly gives a greater chance of catching the attacker.
5. Don't shower, bathe, douche,or destroy any of the clothing you were wearing for evidence for court use later.
6. Go to hospital emergency room. Make sure you are evaluated for risks of pregnancy and Sexually transmitted diseases.
7. Contact a crisis center.
8. Write a description of attacker.
9. Don't underestimate your abilities, most women have more strength than they think.

WEAPONS:

1. If you are not trained to handle it, DO NOT CARRY IT!
2. Guns and knives can easily be used against you.
3. Natural weapons are best; umbrellas, plastic lemon filled with ammonia.
4. Most rapists expect you to be passive. Throw him off guard, scream, bite punch, scratch, run.
5. Don't try to defeat him, just get away.

FACTS:

1. Half of all rapes happen in the victim's home.
2. Over 70% of all rapes are planned.
3. The rapist's desire is chiefly "CONTROL", not sex.
4. 75% of all reported rapes, women know their attackers.
5. Victims do not cause rape. It can happen to anyone.
6. Rapists tend to prey on women who look frightened, easily intimidated, or day dreaming.
7. Women are taught to be polite and might be reluctant to yell in case they've misread a situation. "You've got to learn to trust your instincts. The faster you react to a situation the better your chance of getting away.
8. Hang up on obscene phone calls, don't react to them.
9. 1 out of 8 American women state they have been raped.
10. Think ahead, visualize how you may react in various situations. Planning and acting out different responses can help you avoid freezing in a crisis.

CHILDREN:

1. Teach them to not open doors to strangers or let them use the phone.
2. Make them aware of everything above.
3. Encourage them to talk to you about problems with strangers, friends, relatives.
4. Show them a safe way to and from school.
5. Teenage baby sitters should not work for people unknown to them. If the people they do babysit for act suspicious then they should call the police.
6. Teenage baby sitters should call their parents and tell them they are on their way home.

JU-JUTSU:

1. What is Self Defense? Self defense is a set of safety strategies and physical techniques that can help you prevent, escape, resist, and survive a violent attack.
2. What a good Ju-Jutsu class covers is critical thinking, assertiveness, and easy to remember physical skill. It also addresses acquaintance and date rape. Instruction in Ju-Jutsu techniques are reasonably priced per month.
3. Ju-Jutsu is the best self protection to maim or kill the attacker. It requires much practice. Ju-Jutsu will not work in all cases, an example would be if an attacker has a gun to your head. At the very least, Ju-Jutsu will increase your odds of survival.

Home - Instructors - Student Resources - Contact Information - Links

This page, and all contents Copyright ©  1999-2009 by the 
Heiwashin Dojo, Baton Rouge, LA