H.I.T. Self Defense

This is the final of a three part series on workplace violence prevention. This blog is really geared towards educators and administrators. Similar to Healthcare Providers, your job tends to put you in a high risk category for violent crimes. Here are some statistics from the BJS. The statistics are a little dated, but I’d venture to guess that they have only mushroomed over time: Over a five year period from 92-96, educators were the victims of 619,000 violent crimes. 14%of those were classified as serious violent assaults, which include rape or sexual assault, … Continue Reading

I’ve decided to create a three-part workplace violence prevention string: part two involves violence prevention tips for ‘HealthCare Providers’. First things first: 45% of all workplace violence assaults are committed by healthcare patients. To all of the health care providers out there… I understand that your first priority is to help the patient. But what happens when the patient puts your life in danger? What do you do when a patient begins to show signs of pre-assault behavior? Might I suggest that you prepare yourself to counter an attack with a ‘reasonable response’. What do I mean by this? Escape … Continue Reading

Man Enters Plea in Murder of Rancho Bernardo Neighbor

SAN DIEGO - He’s accused of brutally killing a woman he barely knew. An unemployed Rancho Bernardo man learned his bail is set at $2 million dollars on Tuesday for allegedly murdering his neighbor, Jennifer Jones. The prosecutor argued there is good reason for the high bail.

“This was a completely unprovoked ambush and a brutal attack,” says Deputy District Attorney Kristen Spieler.

Spieler told the judge that Richard Saldivar attacked the 28-year old engineer after she arrived home from work at Solar Turbine.

“He armed himself with a knife, waited outside and when Ms. … Continue Reading

We decided to switch this post up a bit and talk about workplace violence. This can pertain to the new college grad on your first job, or the seasoned veteran out there surviving the concrete jungle. Most people associate workplace violence with a co-worker “going postal”, but this is only a small percent of the assaults in the workplace. Workplace violence perpetrators can include customers, co-workers, domestic violence spillovers, and the predatory criminal with no affiliation to the workplace. Men often think they are immune, but they are actually twice as likely to be a victim of workplace violence. That … Continue Reading

Recently, I was on vacation in the Smokey Mountains - I came across some pointers from the National Park Service on what to do to prevent a bear attack. I noticed these pointers were similar to what we teach our students on how to avoid an attack from the human predator. Let’s go through a couple of these points and compare between the bear and the human predator:

A. Be aware. The best way to avoid contact with bears is to keep your eyes open when you are hiking, camping etc. This is your first line … Continue Reading

Here is a really unfortunate story about the abduction and death of Lily Burk up in L.A. For any of you who did not hear the story, here it is:

Coroner: Lily Burk Died of Slash to the Neck
KTLA News
11:29 AM PDT, July 31, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Lily Burk, the 17-year-old student who was abducted and killed last week, died from a slash wound to her neck, according to the L.A. County coroner’s office.

Burk suffered the traumatic injury July 24 in the form of an “incised wound to her neck,” said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the L.A. County Coroner’s … Continue Reading

Here is another success story about a woman who fought back during an attempted sexual assault - and the ‘perp’ was caught. This story hits home as we’ve followed this guy over his long string of attacks.

Be sure to note towards the end of the news story: this guy was caught because the intended victim fought back. From other news accounts, she yelled, kicked and scratched this guy: kudos to this woman. She did whatever she had to do to ‘REMOVE’ herself from the situation and flee. Again, I want to make this clear: it’s your … Continue Reading

Here are a few tips (and a clip from the DVD) with regards to safety for the upcoming 4th of July holiday.

A. If you plan to go out for a night on the town and fireworks, make sure you utilize the buddy system: each of your friends should watch out for one another. Even better if have one designated sober ‘party-goer’ who can watch out for any signs of trouble (she is the one who tells you that ‘this guy’ might not be the right one - or who comes in when you give her ‘that … Continue Reading

I thought I would pass along a few success stories this week. Here are some ‘Heroes’ who decided to fight back and survive. Remember, 87% of women who fought back during a sexual assault reported it made the situation better.

A. Woman fights off attacker with keys in Kelso parking lot
Saturday, June 13, 2009 1:31 PM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe

A woman was grabbed and fondled in the Target parking lot Thursday night before she fought the unknown assailant off with her keys, according to Kelso police reports.

The woman told police she was by her car just after 10 p.m. when … Continue Reading

We were asked to give some instruction at an emergency city meeting about a serial rapist in San Diego. Unfortunately, they did not have a great turn out. The quickest way to catch this guy is to activate members of the community. I applaud SDPD for their participation. Feel free to review my last post on this guy:

http://www.hitselfdefense.com/blog/hit-alert-possible-serial-rapist-sexually-assaults-another-woman

As a quick recap, SDPD believe he follows his victims home and waits until they are in a vulnerable position (loading groceries in the house, getting things out of the car, etc.) - he then gains access to … Continue Reading