watch their hands

There are several different ways to defend yourself, but I consider your best defense your eyes. Your eyes will tell you what your attacker is going to do. I have made the mistake of not paying enough attention to where someones hands are and it only took a few seconds for them to put it in their pocket and pull out a weapon. Fortunately It was a lesson learned with not to much physical damage.

If a stranger approaches you its important to always watch their hands since that is what their going to attack you with, or pull out a device to hurt you with. You need to be very careful if they refuse to take them out of a pocket because you can not see what they are holding.

Never let them get into your personal space. and never let them back you into a corner. If they come to close then back away and always watch their movements. You are feeling very uncomfortable and feel that danger is imminent remove yourself from the situation. Keep yourself at arms length. Remember it only takes seconds to react and you will always be slower than your attacker since you are reacting to their actions.

Always be aware, watch their hands, don’t be afraid to ask them to take their hands out of their pocket, if they refuse then you know they are up to no good and time to remove yourself. Never turn your back to them, back away, but don’t just turn away and walk. Back into a public place, such as a store where they will be afraid to go. Tell a store employee and if needed call the police.

There is alot to be said about facial expressions. Your body never lies. It does not matter what you do, your body movements will give away if your lying, if your friendly and have no worries, or if your nervous about actions you are attempting. Better safe than sorry, If you feel uncomfortable. Get away.

sentence for OWI

This post is a little off the subject, but i feel its important since I try to make posts for things that will help your family. I feel that by keeping this tragedy in mind it will help emphasis even more what a huge problem drunk driving is and the tragedy it can create..

I also wanted to make people understand the seriousness of drunk driving. I actually saw the scene because It happened right outside of an account I work security at. I hope i never have to see a scene like i did that night. It is something that will stay in my head my whole life.

That night two peoples lives were destroyed. The victim who was killed, and now the offender, who is a 21 year old girl will now be spending almost 20 years in prison. I attached a link for a video of the sentencing. If you have children i wold HIGHLY recommend that you show them this video so they see what can happen when you drive drunk.

http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=7393

open carry law

This is a little off the subject of home security, but it has a HUGE impact on personal security.

for those of you who don’t know what “open carry” means. It means that by law as
long as you have the proper licenses you can carry a gun as long as it is
visible. For example you can carry a pistal on a waist holster. To me, no matter what the consitution says about right to bear arms this is a very very! bad thing. How would you like to be walking through the grocery store and come across a guy who has a gun on his hip, don’t you think this would make your feel uncomfortable. Why is this neccassary, thats what i don’t understand, yes we all have rights but police carry guns, because they work in a very unfriendly envionment, I carry a gun in my job because i work security and also am in an unfriendly environment. OK, yes we have the right to protect ourselves, but i think more people who will carry guns do it just on principle because they can. I would be willing to bet money that they have no clue on what the laws are for deadly force. This puts law enforcement in a horrible position and creates an unsafe environment even more unsafe. It is also creating law problems because more than 1 police chief in my area has openly said that officers will stop you and ask for your permits. The problem this poses is that they are violating that
persons rights unless they have propable cause to make the stop. Just becuase he has a gun is not Probrable cause since he has a lawful right to do that. I work armed security and this is making officers very nervous becuase at night clubs when we know there are gang members in there we know there are guns around in cars parked in lots and driving by. Now though, we know people have the right…what then? what do we do?
They can come to us displaying a gun legally, and we know it, but its impossible to say if he will pull it out on us. It puts an impossible decision to make in the hands of armed security and police.

We all have the right to protect ourselves, but do you know the legal statutes to when you are lawfully able to use deadly force?

home security alarms

There are a lot of different home security companies, and even more different types of systems to choose from. It’s advertised as this end all solution to crime and people breaking into your home, but before you invest in such a system it is important that you make sure you use a reputable company with high standards. Also its nice to know what the laws are that govern how this company responds to alarms. Some advertise that they call the police immediately, but in some cases this is not true. Yes, someone will respond, but it might be private security. If this is the case, it still is not a deal breaker, but it is important that you know what security company they use and try to get some information on that companies reputation. The right private security company is just as reliable as the police, just do your homework and know who exactly will be knocking on your door when the alarm goes off.

protect your car

One of the most popular item to steel of a car are portable electronic equipment such as GPS units, Ipods or radar detectors. People mount them on there dashboard and when they leave there car they forget they have essentially left a sign saying “steel me” on the dashboard.

They are very popular because a window can be broken the item grabed and the offender gone in under 10 seconds. this is called a “smash and grab”

There is an obvious and easy solution to this problem and as a car owner you just need to be aware of doing it every time you leave your car. You need to take any portable device, mounting device or cord out of visibility. If you remove the temptation and force a would-be robber to take more time to look through your vehicle there is a far less chance they will break in. By hiding your processions you have added time needed to break into your car which has raised the risk of being caught and you have just lessened the desirability for your car. They will go to the much easier target.

The secret now is to always remember, make it easy for you to remove your property so even when your in a hurry it will only take a second and you won’t get lazy. Just that one time you were late and didnt do it may be the only time needed for someone to break into your car.

The second tip is to strategy park your car in a high visible area. If your in a parking lot park as close to a light post as possible. Make sure your car is in an open area and not being hidden by a tree, bush or building. Again, this goes back to my idea that criminals hate light. They do not want to be seen and if your car is very easy to be seen it will be a less desirable target. By being in light it will also be much safer for you to approach because you can see everything around you and you can see if anyone is inside of your vehicle as you open the door.

The third and final tip is that when you enter your car, the first thing you should do is lock the doors, especially at night. The second is to start it and turn on headlights. Before you get settled in by putting your seat belt on or adjusting any controls lock the door and turn it on. If someone were to try to attack you. 1.the door is locked so its harder to get in, and 2, if you need a quick escape the car is started, put it in drive and slam on the gas.

timed lighting

Criminals  hate light because it makes it hard to hide.  Along with motion lights set up outside your house you should also have timed lights inside your house. Timers can be bought for very cheep at any local home improvement store.  Timers are very simple to operate. Of coarse there are fancy ones and simple ones, but the basic operation is that you plug a light into the timer, and then the timer plugs into the wall. You can then set the timer to turn that lamp on and off at certain times of the day. You can buy timers that change on a daily basis, but if you don’t want to spend that much money just buy one that changes at the same time every day, just make a habit of changing the settings every so often so no one who may be watching the house will figure out a Patten, which in turn will give him the clue that the lights are on timers.

The best thing to do is put a couple lamps throughout your house that plug into the wall, then put them on timers Do not put your main lighting sources on timers because you want to be able to manually operate those lights.

These are very useful especially when you are on vacation. Not only does it make it appear that someone is home, but if someone actually is inside the police, or neighbors can see inside the house to realize that an intruder is inside.

Remember that you want to play on a criminals doubt. If someone Might be home in one house, but the know someone is not home in another they will go for the other.

It will also save you money so you don’t have to leave a light on all day and night, just remember never to form a pattern. Change the timers settings every couple days so again, you will create a doubt in a possible intruders mind. “yes, they might be timers, BUT, they might not be and someone might be home”

Law on guns for protection

unfortunately in this world some people can legitimately say “i was in fear of my life” and shooting them was justified legal reasonable and understandable. I wish humans did not get to that point, but it happens. for this post I’m referring to the general public and general situations involving guns for protection.Continued from my last post, another important part of using a gun for protection is knowing the law. We all have the right to protect ourselves, but this does not mean if you “feel” threatened you can shoot someone.

Law enforcement can define what “imminent threat to life and great bodily harm” is, and they can justify actions because of professional training and experience. But the average person can’t.

If you shoot someone, weather is was lawful or not, you are going to court and they are going to ask you “why” you are going to say “i felt threatened” and they are going to ask “how” and what experience do you have that made you feel threatened to the point where you had to shoot them.

If i am justified to use my sidearm on the job as long as i acted lawfully and how i was trained i have my company to protect me, my trainers and all the people who certified the trainers who trained me. If you shoot someone and you go to court..who do you have to protect you?

know the laws: I’m not a lawyer, but i do carry a gun for protection so i know my justifications like i know my parents. I can’t speak for any other state other than Wisconsin, but are you aware that you can not shoot someone to protect your property? If someone breaks into your house and you meet them at the door and shoot them, then you can be charged with a crime. why? because that person did not pose an immediate threat to your life. 

(other than a cop) you can not use deadly force for any other reason than to protect yourself from imminent threat of death or great bodily harm to you or another.

if you are home and someone breaks into your house, i would suggest grabbing your cell phone or cordless phone..get out and all 911. Do not attempt to confront that person because there is a good chance he does have a weapon and a better chance that he is more likely to use it on you.

if you want home protection I say the best thing to do is make your home an undesirable target. Guns are expensive. the average gun (new) probably costs 400.00 and pistols..even more. Take that 500-600 dollars and run to the home improvement store and you can buy a lot of home safety needs with that money.

Dogs are great to, do you like dogs? NO, not pitbulls our monster dogs, get a nice family dog, that makes a crap load of noise of disturbed or if someone comes to the door. People breaking into a house hate light, and they hate noise. It does not matter what size dog it is, if there is noise people in the area will look and are more likely to spot someone breaking into your house.

guns for protection cont.

I decided to write more about the topic of guns for protection after doing some research on-line and seeing the hundreds of posts from people asking what type of gun to get for home protection. I could say many things, but held back since it probably won’t mean anything or effect how they think.

Yes, guns can be used for protection and Yes, they are very effective, but No, they are not the best way and most people have no clue what the end result means. I think most people are very ignorant to the use of guns for protection.

To start out with, its scary that people buy a gun, but never take a class on how to use it. I’m not going to go into detail to much about this, because hopefully its obvious that it would be a disaster waiting to happen.

Then there are people who buy a gun and not even buy ammunition expecting to use it to scare people.

Then there are the people who feel they have a right to shoot anyone who threatens them. I think these people scare me the most.  I am not a gambling man, but i would be willing to put money that for the average person who buys a gun only for protection if he/she was faced with a situation and someone did attack them they would freeze up to where they would forget how to even use the gun, know where they hide it, and probably would get it taken away from them and have it used against them.

Unless you are trained on a regular basis on how to use a gun for protection more likely than not if the situation occurred you would forget how to use it.

here is a good way to take it…if you have to think about how to use your gun, then you are not trained properly and will forget how to use it in a stressful situation.

I carry a gun for my profession and when we train we assume that the average offender has a reaction time of 2.1 seconds. This means if someone comes up to us, threatens us and possibly has  a gun or deadly weapon we have under 2.1 seconds to pull our firearms, aim, isolate the target (which means the area is clear of any innocence) make a decision if that person poses an imminent threat (is it really a gun or is he just talking) and then to fire. Once that bullet is gone…there is no going back.

all of your decisions need to be reactions, not thoughts. You do not have time to think.

Can you do that?

running for help

If you are the type of person who likes to spend a night out on the town, do a little dancing and maybe some drinking you should be familiar with a few of the obvious safety risks. Some you have control of and some you don’t

One thing you have control of is where you go. Note the location of the night club. Also note their security staff, make sure they have it and just because there seems to be a lot of security around does not mean its a dangerous place or they have a lot of problems. Usually there are no problems because they have a lot of security. It’s nice to know the type of security they have, if they appear to knowledgeable and experienced, or if they are just a bunch of bouncers. Its usually pretty easy to tell simply by walking up and saying “hi”.  Always note where they are if you need to go to them for protection against someone.

Unfortunately we all know what comes with drinking…and that’s usually stupidity, and stupidity brings courage for a man to keep bugging a woman to either dance, or get her number or so on. If this happens, report it immediately. Don’t let a lemon ruin your night.

Once you leave the nightclub, this can sometimes be even more dangerous,especially later in the evening after people have had a few..some a few to many. As your walking, again, note where the security is because if there is a lot of nightclubs around, chances are they have security, in the summer there is a greater chance that they are at the door. If you are being followed, or attacked run to the nearest security officer.

A few things to understand about security that some people are not familiar with. 1. security are not the police, Some may look it, and professional organizations act like it, But they are bound to a jurisdiction which would be the property line of their account. There is very little they can do off the account, but if you run to them once you are on the account those individuals attacking can not follow without repercussions. This will also give you protection and time to call the police if needed.

I work armed security and on weekends when I work at night clubs off of our property we are very limited to what we can do, in some cases there is nothing we can do. Our job is to protect our clients property and guests. If you ran up to us with a problem we can not leave the account to deal with it, but we can have the police called and we can protect you. Once you are on our account and if your attacker follows our options and strength are very wide and very powerful.

They key is to know where your safety places are. Police are always out there, but they are always moving, security stays in one place. As I said, security are not police, but that does not mean they don’t have the same skills.  Always be alert so if you get attacked you don’t have to think about were to go, you just react.

what to do if your car is broken into

If you find your car broken into the best thing to do is not to touch anything and call the police immediately.

If you approach your car and see someone inside turn around and walk away to a safe location where you can observe and call the police immediately. Its hard not to run at the person, but you do not know if they have a weapon and your car is not worth your life.

If you are able to safely observe, try to get a description of the person. If they leave in a vehicle try to get a license plate and description as well as direction of travel.  All this information can be relayed to the dispatcher so the police in the area will know what to look for.

When you enter an area if they have security keep a mental note to where they are posted so you can notify them as well. If they are not armed (gun) they will not approach a situation like that, but at least it will give you some safety. If they are armed and it is on their property they should approach that situation.

remember that your car is not worth your life so what ever you do, don’t put your life at risk. Information is your best weapon so get as much information of the offender as possible.