NYPD Advises Women Not to Wear Skirts....

New York City realizing that there sexual assault problem has gone through the roof has gone and done the unfathomable. Tell women not to wear shorts, skirts, or dresses. Whats next chastity belts?


"He pointed at my outfit and said, 'Don't you think your shorts are a little short?'" she told the Journal. "He pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin."
The officer also told them that "you're exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting," according to Lauren. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the officers "are simply pointing out that as part of the pattern involving one or more men that the assailant(s) have targeted women wearing skirts."

(source: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Brooklyn-Sex-Attacks-Skirts-Women-NYPD-130863828.html). 

While there is a correlation with the police understanding that the predators are attacking women who wear certain clothing the problem is that they're falling into a trap of believing that the victim somehow precipitated the crime, or asked for the crime to happen. Which is in fact totally incorrect and inappropriate - the police in turn should be seeking to inform the citizenry of the problem, provide or advocate deterrents to the population (gasp "legalize concealed weapons permits"), and increase patrols within the area to be proactive against the crime of rape. 

Information Security

What you say-what you do- gives clues and hints to potential assailants; don't leave unnecessary information available to rapists and attackers. Or identity thieves. 

Ever hear a so called expert on self-protection say things like "if they grab your purse, give it to them, its replaceable"? Well if you give them your purse guess what they now have? Pictures of you, your address, emergency contact numbers, pictures of your kids or other loved ones, maybe where you work, where you hang out, what gym you go to, and on and on. Do you really want them to know all of this about you? What happens if that mugger becomes a stalker?

Think about it... all your vital documents are in your purse, its essentially your lifeline. Maybe the purse snatcher is trying to develop a better understanding of who you are because they are 'love at first sight' potential stalker. An exercise that you and a lady friend can do together is to trade purses and see how much information they can figure out on each other. From here now begin to trim down that which is extraneous and not necessary or prepare to fight for your purse and wallet because it is your informational lifeline. In the military this is known as PERSEC Personal Security and its important that you practice it. 

Awhile back I bought a jogging stroller on an internet auction site. It wasn't available for delivery so I had to go and pick it up. The woman who owned it said I could pick it up any time and "that she keeps late hours and lives alone" (mentally I was shouting don't reveal this kind of information to a stranger!). This is clearly a violation of PERSEC.

Also, think about what you throw out in the trash, could someone who went through your trash develop a considerable dossier on you (what kind of mail you get, credit card statements, magazines you read, places  you shop, etc.). Anything with my name, bank account, personal information, or financial info either gets shredded or burned.  Other things to keep in mind are your cellphone; if this gets stolen and it has relationship references in their then someone can easily use the information to find you. For instance your cellphone says Mom & Dad on the number. They now have the number and if its a land line its not hard to do a reverse phone number look up and get the vital info on your folks. Now they could call them up and pretend to be a long lost friend looking to get back in touch with you. Yikes! What about the GPS in your car; is it programmed to take you to your home? Same thing; this violates PERSEC! Program home to be the local police station or some other innocuous location that you know how to get to your home. 

The topic of PERSEC is huge in the way of FORCE PROTECTION; or how we protect our loved ones. Though in the simplest forms its basically keeping pertinent details of your life, location, and circumstances away from people who don't need to know. 

In all regards... Stay Safe!

Summer 2011 Hiatus

I haven't posted in awhile. Things on our end have been fairly busy with the birth of our son, Hunter Olen we've been fairly busy, and unfortunately I have been remiss to write. Plus several other side projects. New articles are forthcoming and in the works. We will be hosting classes (Fight Like A Girl I & II, Child Awareness Rapid Escape) in the Fall both at Akron and Canton venues.

Spring Update

Spring is here (at least thats what I keep telling myself). :-) 


I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog in such a long time. I have been particular busy on the guy side of things (which is Life Force Protection, LLC). We are taking a lot of the material that we have developed and putting it into a template for non-profit work. With the hopes of pushing it out for everyone's benefit. 

With that said, here's whats new with Fight Like A Girl - Akron: 

1. We have had considerable interest in the Child Awareness Rapid Escape course. We ran a community event at Akron Children's in February and we had a phenomenal turnout of 68 children - yikes! I was sore after that class. Because of the demand for this course we are changing our fee structure to be more inclusive: CARE Classes will be valued at $150 for up to 30 children. This makes for a great way to offer this material to scout troops, church groups, social clubs, and large families!
2. We have combined the techniques from DAW (Defense Against Weapons) and GOG (Girls on Guard) to bring you a much more developed format that is congruent with the realities of street self defense (gross motor based, easy to remember, and use). 
3. Lastly, I've gotten feedback from people who have been to my classes and have told me that what I said about freezing when you are attacked is true. How can you offset this? remember to start talking to your attacker, get your hands up (even if you are down); talking and motion engage your brain to snap out of the Survival Stress Reaction and then commit to a course of action and do not stop! I know this because it has happened to me as well. Practice, builds muscle memory. Come to more of our classes, teach your friends; get a training partner. 

Our next class is listed below. 

Stay Safe!