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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

GUEST SAFETY EXPERT K.M. FAWCETT -- BECOME A HARD TARGET

Today we welcome back safety expert K.M. Fawcett with some timely advice on being a “hard target” as opposed to an “easy target” as we head into the holiday shopping season. 

K.M. Fawcett is a Nidan (2nd degree black belt) in Isshinryu Karate. She and her husband Scott own the Tenchi Isshinryu Karate Dojo, located in Lebanon, NJ. K.M. is also a certified women’s self-defense instructor with the FLAG (Fight Like a Girl) Program. K.M. writes paranormal romances and loves kick butt heroes and heroines. When not writing novels or teaching karate, you can find her blogging about martial arts and writing action at
www.attackingthepage.wordpress.com. -- AP

BE A HARD TARGET

What do the people in the following scenarios have in common?  A mother exits a store looking at her latest purchase.  A sister stands in the parking lot rummaging through her purse in search of her car keys.  A friend walks, jogs or runs with headphones.  A niece is busy texting her friends.

Each of these people is unaware of her surroundings.  To a predator, they might as well have “Easy Target” written on their foreheads.

Criminals fear two things: being caught and being hurt.  Which is why they look for an easy target in the first place.  Unfortunately, it only takes a predator seconds to zero in on an easy target.  Fortunately, you are not an easy target.  You are a Hard Target because…
 You are aware of your surroundings.
 You walk with your head up and with a purpose.
 You look confident.
 You pay attention to the people around you.
 You make eye contact letting people know you see them, but you don’t stare so as not to challenge them.
 You wear headphones only while exercising at the gym.
• You have your keys in hand when going to your car.

Feel free to share other ways you can be a Hard Target in the comments section.

Stay Safe!

Great advice! Thanks so much for joining us today, K.M. So readers, how else can you make sure you’re a hard target? -- AP

2 comments:

Jill McCullough said...

Good advice. I also enjoyed last Friday's Bad Boys post. Have a great Thanksgiving, Lois, and everyone else. Fingers crossed for zero traffic and no TSA hassles!

Anonymous said...

Great post.

One other way to stay safe is to take a wide path around objects eg stay a metre away from the building when turning the corner. This gives a bit of reaction time if someone jumps out.

Sonya