Protect yourself

Personal safety is a matter of alertness and awareness. These measures may help keep you out of harm’s way.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The following tips may help save you from falling victim to a mugger, kidnapper or murderer. Be it at home or abroad, caution is the key to being safe and secure.
1. A tip from tae-kwon-do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! 2. If a thief demands that you hand over your wallet and/or purse, do not hand it to him. Instead, toss it away from yourself. Chances are, he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. When he does, run like mad in the other direction.
3. If you are ever bundled into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.
4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating out, working, etc., and just sit there (updating their checkbook, making a list, etc.) Don’t do that. A predator may be watching you, and that is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head and tell you where to go. As soon as you get into your car, lock the door and drive away.
5. If someone is in your car and has a gun to your head, do not drive off. Instead, gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your air bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat, he will get the worst of the impact. As soon as the car crashes, bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.
6. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot or parking garage: a.) Be aware: Look around you, look into your car, at the floor of the passenger side and in the back seat b.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the woman is attempting to get into her car.
c.) Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle and on the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall or workplace and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
7. Always take the elevator instead of the stairs.
Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at night.
8. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, always run away. According to statistics, there is a four in 100 chance that the predator will hit you (a running target), and even then it most likely will not be a vital organ. Run, preferably in a zigzag pattern.
9. Women are always trying to be sympathetic.
STOP. It could get you raped or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well-educated man who played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane or a limp and often asked for help into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his victims.
10. In the US, a woman said she heard a crying baby on her porch one night and called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her, “Whatever you do, do not open the door.” The woman said it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The police officer said, “We already have a unit on the way. Whatever you do, do not open the door.” He said they thought that a serial killer had recorded a baby’s cry and was using it to lure women out of their homes, thinking that someone had dropped off a baby. He said they had several calls by women saying they heard a baby’s cries outside their door when they were home alone at night.
11. And beware of the water scam. If you wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of all your taps outside running or what you think is a burst pipe, do not go out and investigate. These perpetrators turn on all your outside taps full blast so that you will go out to investigate, and then they attack.
This article has been circulating via e-mail.