There's always email... if I talked to my mother every day, one (or both) of us would rapidly go nuts - email I can handle! It's also a lot easier to fit into a variable schedule.
"Personal Safety" Seminar
- Thread starter Laurentkd
- Start date
There's always email... if I talked to my mother every day, one (or both) of us would rapidly go nuts - email I can handle! It's also a lot easier to fit into a variable schedule.
Email is just as good. I call mom once a week. Outside of that it gets tough.
ArmorOfGod
Senior Master
This is a very good post. Also, he mentioned cell phones. You could tell the students that even a cell phone that hasn't been paid on will still dial 911. So, if you have an old cell phone put away in a drawer, charge it up and it becomes a 911 phone.
Also, you can buy one of those $15 track phones at Wal-Mart and it will dial 911 even without buying any airtime for it.
AoG
The only problem dialing 911 on a cell phone is that it connects you to CECOMS and NOT the PD in the city you are in..You will have to provide that information to their operator...So it's a good idea that if you leave your normal stomping grounds to know WHERE you are..
I was just informed that CECOMS is only up here in Ohio in Cuyahoga County...Maybe the cells in other cities will dial up the local boys..It be good information to have BEFORE an emergency occurs
Since I had to learn about this because I had to learn enough to dispatch when the real dispatchers were off...
Dial 911 on a cell phone, and your call will generally be routed to the appropriate Public Safety Call Center for the cell phone tower that picked up the call. In some cases, newer systems MAY route it to the jurisdiction that the cell phone's GPS says it's in -- but I wouldn't rely on that. Generally, it's the tower. Now -- if you have a regionall PSCC that dispatches fire/EMS & police for several agencies, you're probably fine unless you happen to be close to the border. But if you're in an area where multiple jurisdictions have their own PSCCs -- it's kind of a crapshoot. You'll get a PSCC... but it may not be the right one for where you're standing. Where I live, for example, I'm actually within the margin of error for 3 separate jurisdictions, each with their own PSCCs that dispatch everything. Or, where I work, the calls go to the county's PSCC because they dispatch all the fire & rescue in the county... Call takers sort out the police calls, and hopefully transfer to the proper agency. They don't always have the best understanding of the borders, though... The newest versions of Enhanced-911 are improving this, because they're giving more accurate location information based on reverse phone lookups, GPS information and other sources of information about where a call is coming from. Note also that Voice Over Internet Protocol type calls are an even bigger nightmare for 911 calls... I seem to recall that their ads even warn that it's not reliable for calling 911 or something to similar effect.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying don't call 911. In an emergency, it's lots easier to remember -- though you need to be aware that 911 is NOT universal; there are still places without 911 service. (I don't know what a cell phone 911 call would do in a case like that.) It's also sometimes faster if you know the local police number to dial them directly, especially for non-emergency calls.
When you call 911, always give your location. They'll ask you for it anyway, but give it out quickly. They ask because all that reverse lookup stuff... it can be wrong! (There's a block in our town that comes up on the wrong side of town according to the computers... And the techs can't convince the computers otherwise, apparently.) State the nature of the problem and stay on the line and answer the call taker's questions. ("I'm at Big Money University; I'm in front of the student union at 121 College Street, and some guy just hit my friend and ran off.") Street addresses are great -- and landmarks can help in case you get the address wrong.
Never be afraid to call about suspicious people. We'd much rather find out that Mr. Jones is just out watering the plants than respond tomorrow to a rape or assault or worse.
OP
OP
Laurentkd
Master Black Belt
Ok everyone, so my seminar went really well!
It was for senior girls in high school while the underclassmen were taking standardized tests. So the girls could basically sleep in for 2 hours or come to my seminar. I ended up with 40 girls (out of probably 150), which I thought was a good turn out. The teacher who organized it had a couple of the girls read little paragraphs stating some general things, like statistics about rapes on campus, etc (I have copies of it I can post here in the future for anyone interested). Then I went all to talk about safety tips when alone, when at a party, and when on a date. We briefly talked about what to do if you are assaulted (it's not your fault, don't shower, tell someone so he can't do it to anyone else, etc).
Then we talked about what to do if you are feeling threatened or actually IN a threatening situation. As I said before, we weren't supposed to get up and practice physical moves, so instead I got them all yelling no, and then I would have someone put me in a compromised situation (someone grab my hair, someone grab me around the neck, etc) and I said to them, "ok instead of freaking out that I am in this situation, what weapons do I still have to use, and where can I use them." I thought getting them to say "oh! Even though someone grabs me around the waist I can still kick and bite and strike with my head" etc. My purpose wasn't to teach them actual techniques (as we couldn't practice them) but instead impress upon them that you can fight back no matter what and you SHOULD fight fight fight!! We also went on to talk about not going to second locations, not waiting for a "better" time to fight back etc.
This is just a brief overview of what was covered. Like I said, I'll post or email exactly what I did for anyone who is interested. One thing that I was especially happy about was that I talked about what to do if you were assaulted first, and THEN talking about what to do to prevent it. As I was covering the "what to do after" part all the girls got really quiet and weren't really making eye contact; I could tell they were uncomfortable. So I am really glad I didn't END with that stuff, and instead followed it with the exciting stuff and ended it on a real high note.
I was really happy with how it all turned out. All the girls were interested and really got involved. What was especially great was that I had everyone talking and discussing, asking them what they thought was a good idea or what they had heard before, rather than just me lecturing, which makes it much more fun to teach and much more fun for them.
I was really nervous going in to talk to high school girls, not knowing if they would really value it like I thought they should. I was afraid they would be bored with it or not want to really participate, but I was pleasantly surprised! A lot of them afterwords told me how much they enjoyed it, how they hoped I would come back again, and even asked me how they could get more training.
Overall, it was a great experience! If you have the opportunity to do something like this yourself take advantage of it! I just really hope that they remember the tips I gave them, and who knows, it might just save someone's life someday!
It was for senior girls in high school while the underclassmen were taking standardized tests. So the girls could basically sleep in for 2 hours or come to my seminar. I ended up with 40 girls (out of probably 150), which I thought was a good turn out. The teacher who organized it had a couple of the girls read little paragraphs stating some general things, like statistics about rapes on campus, etc (I have copies of it I can post here in the future for anyone interested). Then I went all to talk about safety tips when alone, when at a party, and when on a date. We briefly talked about what to do if you are assaulted (it's not your fault, don't shower, tell someone so he can't do it to anyone else, etc).
Then we talked about what to do if you are feeling threatened or actually IN a threatening situation. As I said before, we weren't supposed to get up and practice physical moves, so instead I got them all yelling no, and then I would have someone put me in a compromised situation (someone grab my hair, someone grab me around the neck, etc) and I said to them, "ok instead of freaking out that I am in this situation, what weapons do I still have to use, and where can I use them." I thought getting them to say "oh! Even though someone grabs me around the waist I can still kick and bite and strike with my head" etc. My purpose wasn't to teach them actual techniques (as we couldn't practice them) but instead impress upon them that you can fight back no matter what and you SHOULD fight fight fight!! We also went on to talk about not going to second locations, not waiting for a "better" time to fight back etc.
This is just a brief overview of what was covered. Like I said, I'll post or email exactly what I did for anyone who is interested. One thing that I was especially happy about was that I talked about what to do if you were assaulted first, and THEN talking about what to do to prevent it. As I was covering the "what to do after" part all the girls got really quiet and weren't really making eye contact; I could tell they were uncomfortable. So I am really glad I didn't END with that stuff, and instead followed it with the exciting stuff and ended it on a real high note.
I was really happy with how it all turned out. All the girls were interested and really got involved. What was especially great was that I had everyone talking and discussing, asking them what they thought was a good idea or what they had heard before, rather than just me lecturing, which makes it much more fun to teach and much more fun for them.
I was really nervous going in to talk to high school girls, not knowing if they would really value it like I thought they should. I was afraid they would be bored with it or not want to really participate, but I was pleasantly surprised! A lot of them afterwords told me how much they enjoyed it, how they hoped I would come back again, and even asked me how they could get more training.
Overall, it was a great experience! If you have the opportunity to do something like this yourself take advantage of it! I just really hope that they remember the tips I gave them, and who knows, it might just save someone's life someday!
Yeah - what Drac said!
