About Me
WELCOME
TO ACTION
AGAINST VIOLENCE, a site for men, women, boys and girls who are
ardently interested in facts, articles, ideas and effective safety and survival
techniques and strategies in this age of spiraling violence. Some of you may
already be familiar with me and my work as a PPCT Management Systems Subject
Control (law enforcement, corrections, security, military and probation and
parole officers) and self defense (law enforcement as well as civilians) Instructor
Trainer. Some of you may have even participated in one or more of my PPCT Instructor
Certification Training Seminars. If you work in the Criminal Justice System
somewhere, you may be familiar with or have participated in one or more of my
courses, including but not limited to:
- PPCT Defensive
Tactics (DT) Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Impact Weapon
Systems Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Long Gun
and Handgun Weapon Retention and Disarming Techniques (Instructor). - PPCT Pressure
Point Control Systems. - PPCT Spontaneous
Knife Defense (SKD) Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Ground Avoidance
and Ground Escapes (GAGE) Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Sexual Harassment
Assault and Rape Prevention (SHARP) Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Violent
Patient Management (VPM) Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Disruptive
Student Management (DSM) Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Inmate Control
Instructor Training Seminar. - PPCT Dynamic
Simulations Instructor Training Seminar. - Advanced De-Escalation
Techniques.
If you are not involved
in law enforcement but are a citizen – maybe a teacher, Bouncer, Bounty Hunter,
Entertainment Venue Security Officer, Health Care Professional, a parent concerned
about the safety of his or her child, drug and alcohol residential or outpatient
counselor, employee in a private or public corporation, a girl or woman seeking
safety inside and outside the home, or a senior citizen – you may have
already read one of my many safety and survival articles, or even taken one
or more of the following courses I offer:
- Management of
Workplace Violence I (Recognition skills, avoidance and prevention techniques,
etc.) - Management of
Workplace Violence II: Verbal De-Escalation, Hostage Negotiation Skills and
Emergency Fighting Arts in the Workplace. - Management of
School Violence. - PPCT Disruptive
Student Management (DSM) Instructor Training Seminar. - COMET-KIDS (Combat,
Escape and Evasion Techniques For Kids). - Self Defense
For Teenagers. - Kid Escape: Counter-Abductor,
Sexual Predator and Pedophile Attacks For Small Children. - Sixty and Beyond:
The Fighting Arts and Senior Citizens. - Self Defense
For Women. - PPCT Sexual Harassment
Assault and Rape Prevention (SHARP) Instructor Training Seminar. - Advanced Fighting
Arts For Girls and Women. - Campus Survival
Strategies: The Fighting Arts On and Off Today’s Contemporary College
Campus. - Bouncers, Bounty
Hunters and Beyond: Entertainment-Venue and Retrieval Skills in a Dangerous
and Litigious World. - PPCT Violent
Patient Management (VPM) Instructor Training Seminar.
OK. So,
I train. And, all modesty aside, I train pretty well. But the one thing
I enjoy more than actually teaching is writing about it. Writing
about it and maybe researching, creating and refining the product being a close
second. There are scores of good, maybe even great instructors out there, but
I contend I stand in front because I have this rare thing – this
innate vision, I mean really a gift to really see a need or
a real problem and this relentless commitment to design a program
to address the problem in the form of a training.
I was a
pretty hardnosed parole agent when I “worked the streets”
all over Pennsylvania back in the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s.
And the Job profoundly affected me, I would say. I carried caseloads of convicted
felons who had been released conditionally from any one of the 67 county and/or
14 state prisons throughout Pennsylvania, and, for that matter, from any one
of a legion of institutions throughout the country. Many of the parolees I worked
with were actually fine people. Men and women much like you and me but who had
made seriously flawed decisions under extraordinary circumstances. But then
there also were the bikers, drug dealers, thugs, hit men and others with those
“empty-eyed felony faces.” Losers of Mass Proportions. There were
those also who existed and thrived on the edge of this chaotic world. These
were what I called “The Two Percenters (2P’s),”
a toxic blend of feral beast and near-human who walked our streets with almost
every thought focused on robbing, raping, hurting, and, if need be, killing
citizens. I long ago gave up on trying to figure out the 2P. Realized one day
that, in order to protect the public – the number one goal of state parole
agents – the key thing was to recognize a 2P when I saw one and to be
willing and ready to retrieve (to arrest the bad guy and take him or her back
behind bars) when he or she stepped out of line and/or violated the terms of
parole.
I say all this because this
part of my job shaped me forever. Much of what I do now as the founder and director
of Action
Fighting Arts was influenced by my experience with some of the
miscreants who posed such a danger to citizens when I worked the streets years
ago. Years ago I did what I was able to retrieve and jail the predators who
tried to groom and sexually attack small children. To retrieve demented power
rapists who stalked and beat their poor victims to near-death in so many instances,
and, in some cases, to death. Several times I tracked known sex offenders as
they stalked video arcades and playgrounds. Watched as one talked to a small
towheaded boy and showed him a photo of a beautiful Toy Collie he didn’t
own. They boy was fixated on the picture of the dog the predator claimed was
lost. I watched as the predator put his hand on the child’s shoulder;
but I ended the attempted abduction by swiping the photo out of the boy’s
hand and gently asking him to alert the security officer who was standing nearby.
Since the predator had a Special Condition forbidding him from having any contact
with anyone under 16, I hooked him up and delivered him to the local prison.
Action
Against Violence is my opportunity to continue my campaign against
violence, one I began unwittingly in the early 70’s and purposefully throughout
the rest of my career. Now I offer articles, opinions, the exchange of ideas,
problem-solving tips and remedies, even stories which I believe will even expand
my campaign. I think the time is right for such a Blog
Site. With terrorism a constant threat it is sometimes convenient
to ignore the increase in violence against women, children and the elderly.
It is my hope to provide everyone a safe place to go for personal safety facts
and information on the following issues:
- Threat Recognition
Techniques and Strategies. - Techniques of
Prevention and Avoidance. - Positive Mental
Conditioning: The Psyche of Survival. - Verbal Reductive
Strategies and Defusing Skills. - Self Protective
Strategies in the Home For Women and Children. - Threat Recognition,
Escape and Avoidance Strategies For Small Children (against Abductors and
Predators). - Parents as Safety
Coaches for Children. - Bully-Be-Gone:
Psychological, Verbal and Physical Strategies of Escape, Avoidance and Self
Defense for Children. - 98-Percent –
The Most Crucial Part of Self Defense for Women and Children is Non-Physical. - The Elements
Of Surprise: Maximizing It To Win Every Time. - Winology –
The Key Principles of a Holistic Self Defense and the Fighting Arts. You Don’t
have To be the Strongest and Biggest to Win Every Time. - And much. Much,
much more.