NEVER BE ABDUCTED- Part III
In the first two Never Be Abducted postings, I appealed to parents to become their child’s Safety Coaches and instill their child with the mentality and attitude to prevent and/or successfully resist deadly (sexual) predators and kidnappers. Given the profile of the predator (“If you want to know what the animal will do today, learn what the animal did yesterday and the day before—“), which I went into in the first posting, an equation consisting of the right Mental Conditioning and Attitude, a cluster of Escape and Evasion Tactics combined with the abductor’s tendency to break off an attack when faced with any signs of awareness, aggression, “craziness,” and/or “instantaneous countermeasure that will either delay the abductor in the initial crime scene or draw attention to his intent” will prevent or overcome over 98% of abduction attempts.
Bold statement? Empty boast? Hardly.
It is crucial to know – as your child’s Safety Coach – that the Chicken Hawk (cowardly abductor) relies on several behavioral staples in the child he picks as his prey:
- Silence.
- Timidity.
- Fear (he or she will often abide by the command “Never tell your parents about this or I will hurt you and I will kill them!” and he or she will therefore – if he or she survives – keep the abduction and/or actions of the predator confidential).
- Confidentiality.
- Immobility (the attack will shock the child and he or she will freeze in place, allowing the predator to scoop him or her up and quickly abduct that child..
- Invisibility (No public awareness of the abduction taking place).
BUT WHAT IF MY CHILD IS GRABBED?
Preparation, Prevention, Practice and Parental Coaching (the 4 P’s of Counter-Abduction Techniques, or C.A.T.) discourages all but about two to three percent of these miscreants. That still leaves too many predators and too many children who come together in situations where the child is isolated and alone and the Bad Guy perceives he has all the time in the world. What now to do? Here are a few tactical suggestions to teach your child:
- Always be aware of your environment and adults in the area. Aware of escape routes, people and places toward which you can run, and aware of barricades that can buy you time.
- Be aware of and use “weapons” in the environment. Sticks, stones, other objects.
- Teach Your Child To Always Keep Moving. Peruse past postings where I discussed games you can play with your child to teach him/her how to move. The abductor wants your child to freeze like a deer in the headlights. Teach your child to always move diagonally, never straight back! Your child will be harder to catch this way.
- Always move with your eyes on the adult. When your child turns and runs it triggers the Predator-Prey Principle and your child is easier to catch.
- Teach your child to Drop and Roll away from the larger, less agile adult. Always try to buy time. If knocked to the ground, the child should know how to Crabwalk away and, once again, if cornered, use his or her feet to prevent the adult from bending over and scooping him/her up.
- Teach your child that when the abductor does catch him/her, that his face will be close enough for him/her to Gouge the eyes, head butt the nose, and/or drive his or her fingers or ridge hand hard into the throat.
- Teach your child to understand how to use whatever objects he/she has in possession as an Improvised Weapon. Many kids have survived by using Cell Phones, DVD cases, books, magazines, keys, flashlights, water bottles, wallets, back packs, fistfuls of change and other objects to ward off bullies and predators. There will be more on this in the next blog, but, briefly, let me say this about wielding improvised weapons:
IMPROVISED “SNEAK” ATTACKS:
Almost anything in your child’s possession can be effectively used as a weapon if the proper element of surprise is used. The great Sensei Michael Pace advocates the S.N.E.A.K Principle:
Surprise. Hold the “weapon” in such a way that the predator never would expect that the child is going to use it to attack. In other words, a cell phone is just a cell phone until it is driven into the Bad Guy’s throat.
Non-Aggressive. Until the instant the cell phone is used, it is being held in a low profile, normal way.
Explode the improvised weapon into the vulnerable target with everything in your child’s power. A cell phone exploded into an adult’s Adam’s Apple, for instance, only requires about 5 pounds of direct force to knock the pervert out of business (if held and used the right way, of course).
Aggressive. Give your child permission to be aggressive. By this I mean to never stop hitting the potential abductor until your child is able to escape the scene.
Knock-Out. Knock the Bad Guy Out so he cannot pursue you.
In the next post I will finish the Never Be Abducted series with what you can teach your child to do if ever he or she is abducted. How to escape from the car before he can take your child to the deadly, isolated and pre-selected (final) secondary crime scene.
Hammer