Criminal attack prevention
Safety experts agree the single most important step toward ensuring personal safety is making the conscious decision to “Refuse To Be A Victim.”
“A victim stands a much better chance of preventing criminal attack if a safety plan is developed before you need it,” says certified seminar instructor and Center Target Sports co-owner Peggy Santos.
That is why the National Rifle Association’s “Refuse To Be a Victim” crime prevention seminar will be held Wednesday from 6 to 10 p.m. at Center Target Sports, 3295 E. Mullan Ave. in Post Falls, according to Santos.
Anyone can attend the class and NRA membership is not required. The cost of the course is $15 with 100 percent of the proceeds donated to Post Falls Officers and Advocates Sharing Intervention Services.
O.A.S.I.S. provides direct, immediate services and shelter to victims of domestic violence and other crimes. Support is ongoing and can include shelter, medical, court and prosecution assistance and referral to community services.
This lifesaving seminar was developed by women for the NRA in 1993 in response to requests for crime prevention seminars. The program became coed in 1997; NRA estimates more than 26,000 men and women have taken the seminar.
The seminar is designed to provide common-sense information geared toward awareness and avoidance of criminal attack.
Participants will discuss the characteristics, thoughts and attributes that are commonly associated with criminal behavior such as low self-esteem; overconfidence; demeaning victims to increase their own self-worth; masking themselves with a façade of conformity; viewing niceness as a weakness; and constantly trying to beat the system.
Participants also will be presented with a variety of crime-prevention strategies which can be integrated into their daily lives, as well as tips on maximizing home, travel, automobile, telephone, technological and personal safety.
They will learn unbiased information about carjacking prevention strategies; self-defense training options; and devices such as pepper spray, Mace and kubatons.
Although Center Target Sports is a firearms training center, the “Refuse To Be A Victim” seminar has nothing to do with firearms, Santos says.
“Participants do not need to have a firearm,” she says. “I encourage mothers and daughters to attend together to learn what precautions can be taken without the use of firearms.”
Santos’ training background includes many years with the National Safety Council, the National Safe Boating Council, and as director of a YMCA. She has taught swimming, water fitness and safety, fire safety, CPR, first aid and defensive driving courses.
Santos says she feels people need to be more aware of their surroundings and assume more responsibility for their own safety.
“Of all the variables of a confrontation, the easiest to control is your environment,” she says.
“If you are aware of your surroundings and the people around you, your chances of successfully avoiding a bad situation are vastly improved. Follow your instincts because avoidance is definitely the key.”