School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

Damn, another child abducted – this one a pretty teen aged girl plucked from a meandering bike path less than a half-mile from her home and her parents.  Tragedy.

So, whether you commit yourself to being your child’s Safety Coach or not, you can still take a giant step toward at least minimizing the chances your child will be a victim of the sexual predator this summer, or anytime, for that matter by familiarizing yourself with the Essential Kid Escape Tactical Program.  This is not to say that the above poor  little girl could have ensured her ability to escape and evade her particular abductor (or, should I say “murderer?” since 98 to 99% of the children taken from the “OCS ) Original Crime Scene)” never return from where the sick miscreant takes her), but, I guarantee you this, if trained in Kid Escape Tactics, her chances would have increased about ten-fold.

KID ESCAPE IN A NUTSHELL

Parents, basically Kid Escape features common-sense precautions.  Common Sense, maybe, but the fact is, if these preventive measures are not taken and practiced by the family and the child, I have always said “common sense is the rarest of commodities ever used in a life-or-death crisis.”   What are some of these simple but crucial preventative measures?

• WHAT IF? GAMES.  Q & A with your child about what to do under realistic scenarios, such as a stranger, or someone your child knows superficially, approaching him or her and telling the child that his or her moth/father/brother/sister has been seriously hurt and has asked him or her (the stranger) to take him/her (the child) to the hospital.   Mayhap develop code words that the “stranger” must speak in order for your child to trust.
• REALISTIC ROLE PLAY SCENARIOS.  Play out “real” situations.  Allow your child to react.  Coach him or her on what you believe to be a “better, safer” response, if applicable.
• TEACH EFFECTIVE SURVIVAL SKILLS IN ABOVE SCENARIOS, SUCH AS the importance of breathing (Cycle or Tactical Breathing); Positive Self talks; Using Barricades in the environment to gain distance on the potential abductor; How To Crab Walk Away (to escape); How To Remain in the Original Crime Scene No Matter What.

PERUSE PAST KSS POSTS BY HAMMER TO LEARN MORE SPECIFICS ABOUT THE ABOVE MEASURES.

BUT WHAT CAN YOUR CHILD DO WHEN EVASIVE MEASURES FAIL

Parents can and should teach over and over the importance of staying in high-witness areas, staying alert for adults who seem to be out of place, who seem to be paying too much attention to him/her and the other children.  Understand that “normal” and well-intentioned adults rarely, if ever, need to ask a child for help, directions, etc., but, if they do converse, they also make certain to provide a wide berth of space in order not to make the child uncomfortable.  But, if your child IS approached by an abduction-minded, or maybe a deviant who is not interested in abduction, but wishes to groom and eventually seduce the child, how to escape.

NEVER BE TARGETED

We’ve already talked about teaching your child how to be a Hard Target Child.  Simply put, he or she should be noisy, active (body language indicates a barrel of energy), even nuts!  “What the hell do you want, Old Man?”  Never cement him or herself to the ground.  Move around a lot, hands and fists raised.  Use things in the environment to make it hard for the Chicken Hawk to get close enough to grab hold of the child.  If running is required, run in a serpentine, zig-zag fasion, maybe even throwing objects at his legs to slow his progress (the deviant).

BUT, IF GRABBED

More often than not, the adult will break off his “attack,” if your child acts in such a way and in such a manner to indicate to the pervert that successfully abducting or seducing the child will take more time than he intended it to require.  Not only that, this kid is noisy and pretty volatile, so not only will this take a lot of time, but, Hell’s Bells, the kid may draw attention to the scene and, Lord knows, attention means witnesses, which creates a disastrous combination for the deviant who thrives in solitary and quiet.

But, if the Bad Guy does go after and grabs your child, here are some tips for your child to adhere to to survive this ordeal:

• There is an internal clock in the bad guy’s head.  Make that clock tick maddeningly away for the Chicken Hawk by dropping quickly and suddenly to the ground to break his hold.  Once on the ground “Crab-Walk” on his or her haunches and hands away as fast as possible.  Make a lot of noise and threaten the bad guy!
•  A child scrambling low to the ground is harder for the adult bad guy to grab hold of than you might think.  If and when he follows, make that clock tick some more by changing directions.
• Another tactic is to drop quickly and suddenly from the bad guy’s grasp, but instead of crab-walking, the child should make believe his or her shirt or blouse is on fire and he/she is rolling to put the fire out!  Once again, the internal clock is ticking very loudly in the bad guy’s head.
• Parents:  Teach The Crab-Walk and the Put-Out-the-Fire Drills with your kid(s).  Try to grab them.  Hard to do.  Right?
• But, still, nothing is perfect.  Nothing is ideal.  The Bad Guy does grab your child up in his arms and he is so much stronger than your child.  Some desperation things that your child might try to escape.  And, I swear, these tactics work!  They have saved many children and forced the Chicken Hawk to break off his attack.  In some cases, caused him to be caught and arrested.

1. At some point while Crab-Walking or Rolling, your child can glom onto an object or barricade and curl around it to make him or herself almost impossible to pick up and carry away.  Glom onto the body of his or her bike; a telephone pole; a bed post; a fence.  Whatever.  “That might work, but what if the abductor tries to beat my child, kick him?” you might ask.  Sorry, but Self-Defense is not an injury-free activity, so, yes, it is possible, maybe even likely, that your child will get struck, beaten, maybe injured.  But he or she will remain in the Original Crime Scene, and, even if injured, will be picked up and treated by someone and will return home to you!  If abducted, you will likely never see her or him again.
2. But if picked up teach your child to remain passive for a second or two, maybe even longer to give the abductor a false sense of security.  Pick an ideal time to begin squirming and kicking and twisting to impel the bad guy to let go or at least loosen his grip.
3. Once the grip is loosened, your child can go for the eyes and other body parts and fight for his or her life.
4. Once the grip is loosened, this is the ideal time for your kid to start crawling and/or dropping with dead weight toward the bad guy’s feet.  Now, teach your child to glom hard on to the bad guy’s knees, shins, ankles, feet, his or her head facing the ground.  Grab on hard and shrimp-up toward the ground and wrap his or her arms around one leg and interlock both feet around the other while keeping the head lowered (for protection).
5. Now the clock in the deviant’s head ticks like a time bomb and all he can think about is getting out of Dodge.

Until the next post, stay safe.

Hammer

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