You just left a late-night party and you want to walk the short way home. Do you take the easier, quicker path, or do you take the longer, safer way with lights?\nIt is a question many ask themselves when they walk home at night. Many know about prevention methods, but dealing with an assault once it is already occurring is a different matter.
Prevention Tips
IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger recommends that people walking home at night should not appear to "look like a victim."\n"Whether you're male or female, sometimes walking with your head down, seeming like you're not alert ... is not good sometimes," Minger said.\nMinger said attackers will look for victims who look like they have low-self esteem because those victims are most likely to not fight back.\n"In our rape aggression training that we give solely females, many of them we have to teach how to be assertive," Minger said, "and how (to) appear like you're not a victim, how to walk with authority in an appearance that you won't be taken advantage of."\nMinger also recommends not walking down a street, at day or night, wearing headphones because you may not be able to hear someone sneaking behind you or a bus coming toward you as you cross the street.\nBloomington resident and IU Alumni Association employee Marilyn Behrman spoke about her daughter Jill Behrman, the IU sophomore who went missing in May 2000 and whose remains were not found for another three years. Marilyn Berhman said her daughter may have been listening to music while riding her bike the day she went missing.\n"To be walking around on campus, not just at night," Behrman said, "and take away your senses -- that's huge because you don't know what's around you and your mind is elsewhere. You may not be aware of a car speeding out of control or an ambulance because your ears are tuned into something else," she said.\nIUPD Sgt. David Rhodes, the defensive-tactics instructor at IUPD, also said to not "dull your senses." He recommends not getting to a point where you do not know what is going on around you because of alcohol or anything else that will slow down your senses.\n"Be aware of your surroundings. Beware of what people are trying to do," Rhodes said. "If someone is trying to get you away from everybody, you should pick up on that."\nDawn Adams, the mother of Purdue student Wade Steffey, who went missing Jan. 13 after attending a fraternity party, recommended that students not walk on campus by themselves.\n"Women are usually targets," Adams said. "But not necessarily so. Here's a young man (Wade) who is not a typical target."\nHer husband, Dale Steffey, said not walking at night alone is "Common Sense 101."\n"Don't walk down an alley by yourself." Steffey said. "Don't walk in the woods by yourself. Just walk with someone -- not by yourself."
'What if I still get attacked?'
Rhodes, who runs Ryukyu Kyusho Martial Arts, 1711 N. College Ave., teaches a class at IU for cadets and a separate class for students that includes small circle jujitsu, which he calls a "street defense" class.\nRhodes said "blitz attacks" -- in which someone randomly attacks a person walking down the street -- do not occur in most cases. Instead, most of the attacks, including sexual assaults, Rhodes said, are from people who are acquaintances.\n"You want to make sure that everybody understands that it's not somebody who just suddenly jumps out and grabs you like in the movies," Rhodes said. "... It's actually when you let your guard down, because you think it's OK to let your guard down, and somebody takes advantage of you."\nRhodes said weapons like pepper spray may not help, especially if you have not practiced with them or don't know the limitations of the weapons. In fact, Rhodes said that pepper spray works on only about 85 percent of people when used correctly.\n"There is a lag time if you spray too close and you dilute the substance as it goes on the face," Rhodes said. "It takes a few seconds for the carrier to evaporate before the pepper spray can actually take effect."\nWhile pepper spray may be a good option to defend yourself, Rhodes said the best way to defend yourself is with your hands.\n"If a person is quick enough, they can take it away from me and spray me with that pepper spray," Rhodes said. \nRhodes emphasized that with any self-defense tactic, the goal is "all about survival." If a person who has the correct mind-set and has some basic self-defense skills, then fighting is sometimes a last resort.\n"Remember, fighting is only one of many options," Rhodes said. "As a police officer, I've talked my way out of far more fights than I've been in."\nRhodes recommends lying to an attacker if necessary to survive and talk them into not hurting you. It makes the attacker maybe have some sympathy to not hurt you. Rhodes recommended saying things like "you have kids" or "you don't want to do this."
Don't be a hero
"Don't roll up your sleeves and dive in on them and start punching them," Rhodes said. "The next thing they should hear is the door closing behind you as you get away."\nWhile Rhodes recommends fighting if you have been trained in the skills to defend yourself, he also says not to be a hero and try to catch the attacker. If you end up making an attacker stop or maybe fall down, run away and call the police. He said that if you have enough information to identify who the attacker is, that is a plus in helping catch the attacker.\nTo take a class with Rhodes, visit his Web site at www.ryukyu-kyusho.com or call 355-0405. A 30 percent discount is offered to IU students.
