Air Date: March 1, 1992 ‘Transcript #KERA-101 KERA-TV 3000 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75201 ‘Transcripts: Journal Graphics, Ine, 1835 Grant Street, Denver, CO, 80203 Press contact: Ms. Jonnie England (214) 871-1990 ext231 low To Avoid Being A Victim with I Detective J.J, Bittenbinder i Copyright © 1992 A co-production for PBS by KERA DallasiFort Worth, J Mare Group and Video Publishing House, Ine. ‘Transcript produced by Journal Graphies, ne ‘Transcript Charges: $5.00 each. Bo sure to indicate air date and subject or participants. All orders must be prepaid. You may also order by phone with MasterCard, Visa or American Express: call 1903) 831-9000. Eastern Time. There is a $2.50 surcharge for this servic, which wets the transcript to you quickerKERA SPECIAL #101 ‘Transcript #101 ‘Air Date: March 1, 1992 Street Smarts Igraphics} IN THE UNITED STATES: ‘One violent crime occurs every 17 seconds, One aggravated assault oc- curs every 30 seconds. — US. Department of Justice ‘Rape is an epidemic spreading across the country. One in five women will be raped at some point in their lives. — USS. Senate Report Ist VICTIM: The gun was pressed to my temple. Someone in the store— 2nd VICTIM: I was incapable of responding. Srd VICTIM: 1 felt it was over. 4th VICTIM: With that gun, I felt that I— 5th VICTIM: He just put a knife to my throat. 6th VICTIM: And he told me he was going to kill me. 7th VICTIM: They got me down on the ground and started beating me. 8th VICTIM: Took a knife and plunged it in my son's heart. ‘9th VICTIM: I had been left with two .38's in the head. Det. BITTENBINDER: You've got to play it like you're all alone out there. You have to play it like there are no police. ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, Detective J. J. Bittenbinder. Det. J. J. BITTENBINDER, Host: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, My name is J. J. Bittenbinder, and I'm a policeman. Tve been a police officer since 1971. I've been a homicide detective for the last 15 years. I've handled double murders, triple murders, rob- beries, rapes. I've interviewed over 1,000 victims, witnesses and fenders, of violent street crime in Chicago, What I want to do today I'm going to explain to you, number one, how victims are selected. I'm going to tell you how not to be selected, and I'm going to tell you what to do if'you are selected. First thing I've got to tell you is, there are no absolutes. There is not cone magic paragraph that I can read over you. There is not a book that Tan stick under your arm and have you take home, or a videotape that Tcan make you watch that is going to make you safe in every situation. ‘There just isn't. But, hopefully, T can explain your options to you, show yout what you can do and what you can't do, and explain to you why they and why they don’t. st of all, there are three rules you have to understand. Number ‘one, it can happen to you. It can happen to anybody, it can happen to them any place, any time. But it can happen to you. None of this stuff where you think it's only going to happen to somebody else. It can hap- pen to you. You can be the victim of a violent crime. Number two, I want you to understand that the bad guys do not all 2 look like Charles Manson, or like Bluto. These people, they look like ‘you and they look like me. They look just like anybody else. Those are the bad guys. So don't expect them to walk around with marks on them. ‘And, number three, it’s your responsibility for your own safety. You have got to be responsible. You require everybody else that you put your life into their hands, you require them to be responsible. You re- ‘quire them to len. You require them to be prepared. Here we have an airline pilot. You wouldn't get on an airplane with this pilot unless you were really sure that she knew what to do. If you're at 40,000 feet and that left engine quits, you don't want her to pick up that microphone and say, “Oh, tower, tower. Oh, tower, tower, what do I do?" You require her to know what to do, because you put ‘your life into her hands. You require her to have a plan. She has got to be, prepared. Well, you're responsite for yourselt: to yourself. You've got to have a plan. Now, they don't have to be reai sophisticated plans. Some of these things can be quite simplistic. ‘Simplest plan I ever heard of was @ woman at 47th. She's waiting for a bus at 47th Street. She's standing on the corner, she's got her purse over her shoulder, and she's standing there. And she notices the goof, and here he comes, like he comes out of the woodwork. And he’s coming toward her, and she says, "Oh, man, here it comes.” She doesn't even acknowledge him, she's just holding onto her purse. And he got closer and he got closer, and just as he made his final turn, and approached her for the final time, she looked at him and she says, “Don't I know your mother?” He says, “Ah, ah,” and he didn’t do anything. Because he wasn't sure. Now, that's as basic as you can get. It only has to work once. She had something to say. She had something to do. She was not ill-prepared. She had something. ‘Well, that's what you've got to do. You've got to be prepared. You've got to have a plan. Now, there's four areas of the plan that we're going to talk about today. The first one is maki second one is denying privacy; the third one is attracting attention; the fourth one is doing something to this guy, taking some kind of action towards this guy. Let's talk about the tough target. Tough targets don’t get selected. It's real easy, the tougher target does not get selected. ‘The most vulner- aable, or the weakest target, is the one that gets picked to play the game. ‘You don't want to be picked, you don’t want to be selected. And there's a lot of ways not to be selected. Let me give you an example. Here we've got two people. Now, these two people have two apartments, and these apartments are right across the back porch from each other. 'If you went up the back stairs, you will find that they have a common back porch. ‘These two apartments are exactly the same. Except this woman, she went to the pet store and she bought a dog bowl. She bought a big dog bowl. She filled it with water, wrote the word “Killer” on it, and put it outside of her door. Now, when Mickey the Moke comes up the back stairs to do one of these apart- ments, to burglarize one of these apartments, which one is he not going to pick? See how easy this is? Not being selected is the most important thing that you can do. Tough targets are not selected. Tonly tell one real joke, so I'm going to tell it here. Two guys are in a tent. They're sleeping in a tent in the middle of the woods, and a bear —3-starts to claw his way through the back of the tent. ‘The two guys tum- ble out of the ten, right infront. One guy jumps up and starts to run, the other guy jumps up and starts to put his gym shoes on. And the first guy says, "What are you putting your gym shoes on for, pal? You can't outrun that bear.” And he said, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. AILT have to do is outrun you.” Same lesson. You can’t be the weakest ‘one, the most vulnerable one there. You cannot be that one. ‘You ever see these nature shows that they have on television, where the antelopes are running in a herd, and the lions are sneaking up on them? Have you ever seen the lion go after the swiftest or the strongest. of the antelope? He picks the weakest one, only they call it “the thin- hing of the herd,” or “the survival of the fittest.” But it's the same thing. He's picking the most vulnerable one. ‘These people are stronger than you are, they're swifter than you are. But you're probably smarter than they are. You know, when we throw these bad guys up against the wall and search them, we don't find any ‘Mensa cards in their pocket. And I don’t think we have any out-of-work rocket scientists making license plates in Joliet. What you're dealing ‘with, people, although they have excellent instincts, they have hockey soore {qe But they pick their victims, and they pick their victims on this vulnerability scale. The most vulnerable one is the one who gets it. It's targets of opportunity. If they have an opportunity to steal a purse, they'll steal a purse. If they have an opportunity to steal a car, they'll steal a car. Whatever is there, that’s what they'll do. It doesn’t mean ‘that you have to be tough in one area; you've got to be tough in all your got a purse? May I see your a beauty. That's a 40-pounder. going to do that here. ‘This is yy the American woman walks down the street. She walks down the street with her shoulder bag over her shoulder, coat buttoned up, and her other thing — American women always carry two thing id she walks down the street like she's looking for quarters. Just like this. Well, you can't do that. You've got to walk around with your head up. You do. Remember, predators walk around looking at other things. The people who are prey walk around looking at the ground. Just like in the ‘animal world; the predator is always looking out, and the sheep, or the rabbit, is looking at the ground. So, if you don't want to be a prey, look like a predator. I'm going to show you three women as they walk down the street, and we're going to see who's the most vulnerable. First one, we call Bar- . Now, Barbara is a businesswoman. Business Barbara. Business Barbara has got a purse over her shoulder, she has a trench coat, her briefease, her umbrella, and she's walking down the street and she's concentrating on business. She's not thinking about safety, she’s think- ing about business. She's walking down the street, and the purse is be- hind her. And as she's walking down the street, it swings around like this, and it bounces, just as she walks down the street. Now, that’s ‘woman number one. Woman number two, now, she’s a little tougher, so we give her a tougher name. We give her a T-name. Weill call her Tess. OK, now, ‘Tess carries her purse over her shoulder like this, and if there's a flap 4S ' on the purse, it’s toward her. And when she walks down the street, she's got this baby. She walks down the street, boy, she's holding on to this purse, She's got it. That's woman number iwo. Now, woman number three is real tough, so I call her Rita. Now, Rita— Rita keeps her purse just like Tess does, only Rita puts her purse ‘on first, and then puts her coat on. Now, these three women are walk ing down the street, one right behind the other, in any order you want to ut them in, and the goof comes out of the alley to steal a purse. Whose purse is he going to take? Ast AUDIENCE MEMBER: The first one. 2nd AUDIENCE MEMBER: Barbara Det. BITTENBINDER: Every time! Not because she's younger, or older, or weaker, or stronger, but because she's more vulnerable. ‘That's what he does, So, the idea'is you cannot be the most vulnerable one there. You've got to be strong. There's only one way to carry a purse safer than the way Rita caries it, and that ie with a fanny pack. Weigh this one out: Two women are walking down the street; one’s got the little pocketbook on her arm, and the other's got a fanny pack that nobody can see. Which one is the most vulnerable target? These are easy to do. Another thing we've got to talk about, once the victim is selected— all right, let me put it to you this way: A shark is the most perfect killing id eating machine that God ever created. He never made anything that kills as effectively and as efficiently as a shark does. It is absolute- ly magnificent the way it does these things. But, even a shark does not come by at 35 miles per hour and snap somebody's head off. ‘That's not what happens. What does the shark do? ‘The shark comes off and it wants to see what it's doing, s0 it gets real close to people. But, a shark has bad eyesight, so it has to bump into them. So, the shark puts his face down and he bumps into whatever he wants. He wants to see what is, and then he comes back around and then he takes it. Well, that's the same way these guys do it on the street, only the bump is not physical. It's a verbal bump. They come up to you and they ask you questions. ‘They ask you questions that require an answer. ‘They want to see the fear in your eyes. They want to hear’ the fear your voice as you answer these questions, And they get right up in your face. They get close, I mean, real close. When the guy asks you a ques- tion, he wants to know, “Which way is Clark Street!” “Do you have change for # dollar!” “You got a cigarette?” What he's doing is invading your space. When he asks you if you've got change for a dollar — “You got change for a dollar?"— there's one of them that’s going to stand up there, and she's going to open her purse and she says, “No, all I got is this twenty.” I mean, it’s like it says “Lowa” right across her forehead, you know? You've got to know that that’s going to happen. Now, they say it's a jungle out there, OK? And if you're walking ~ along a path in the jungle, and you heard a twig snap behind you, do you think you would turn around? In a New York second. When you're walking aiong the streets, big city, you hear a car door slam, you hear the sound of running feet. You know what you do? You go, “Gee, I hope he runs by me.” You can't do that, either. You've got to turn around and look at him. You've got to see what's happening. You know when there's a problem — when the hair on the back of your neck stands up, SS“Uh-oh.” When you say that “uh-oh” to yourself, that’s ‘uhen you know there's a problem. Something is wrong— yeah, when {you think something's wrong, then something is wrong. Now, when you {arn around—T'm not saying to turn around and give him the big smile, but you turn around and see what he’s doing. Then you have more time torenct. And its not just as they walk by, it's as they drive By. Let me show you 6 thing we call “smash and grab.” OK, you're driv- ing in your automobile. You got your purse here, right here on the seat, Now, it doesn't matter if you have it setting here. Let me explain: I had ‘a woman —- now, this is what I've seen them do — they take the purse and they put it around the beck, and they tie it ina knot. ‘Then you take the seat belt, put it around here once and click that baby. Now, that purse is not going to go anywhere. But, he can't tell that. He sees you drive by, sees the purse sitting on the seat, he's going to try for that purse. So, whether he can get that purse out of there or not, you're still Boing to have a broken window. Now, what if I put the purse in the Back seat? He breaks the back window. Where does the purse belong? Where he cannot sce it, because if he cannot see it, he's not going to try for it, Because if he can't see yours, you've got to remember that three cars behind you there's a woman driving down the street with the thing on her seat. . ‘Now, where does this purse belong? I'l tell you where it belongs. ‘The purse belongs right underneath your knee, like this. He can’t see it, He ain't going to try for it. That's where it is. Now. if you're sitting on the other side and somebody else is driving, you put the purse here. ‘Window breaks, you cover your face, purse is gone, and whoever is sit- ting here isn't going to be able to catch him, either. You can’t catch this 13-year-old shoes. It's really impossible to do, Where does the purse belong? Under your knees. He can't see it, he won't try for it. ‘Now, let's say you've got a big purse, and you're sitting on this side. With a'big purse, that won't fit comfortably under here, what you do is ‘you put it real high on the right-hand side of the car. Real high, and You fay it up there so it looks like a floor mat. Or, if you ; ase, you put that up there. It’s a dark color, it looks like a floor mat. I hate telling you that, though, because I know if I tell you to do that. it’s going to end up right there. So, I'd rather have you keep it under your Knee. ‘That's the safest place for you to put your purse. ‘The only other place for you to put your purse is in the trunk of your car. That's where the lady who's ahead of me in a toll booth line usually has hers. See, ac- tually there were two jokes, see? ‘Another thing we've got to worry about; let's talk about walking into a bank. You walk into a bank, there's this counter when you walk right into the bank. And at that counter there are different slips, and they mean different things. Some of them are deposit slips, some of them are withdrawal slips, some of them are checking, some of them are— all kinds of slips. ‘The bad guy's out in front, he’s watching. He can see — because they're all color-coded — he can see what color slip is picked up. A customer walks over to this first table. Customer picks up a savings ‘withdrawal slip. ‘That's the big one, it means big money's coming out. He sees it, walks right over to her car with the ice pick, once through the tire, gets back in his car and he waits. She comes walking out of the bank, doesn’t flash her money — got it in her purse — she walks right into her automobile, locks the door, and she drives away. Everything is fine. Three blocks later, she has this flat tire. And this nice man comes up and says, “Can I help you?” Pow! Now, where did she go wrong? jell, we can't get the banks to change the color of their slips, but what we can do is have you go to the back, take the slips from the back counter. Don't take them from the front counter because they can see ‘you from the door. You have to weigh these things and make sure that ‘you come out on the tough end of the stick. And that’s what that is all about. Being a tough target also means when you're driving down the street doesn't have to be an abandoned area, it doesn't have to be a lonely highway, it doesn't have to be an alley — all it's got to d place that you're not comfortable. You're driving down the ‘as you're driving the street, or the highway, somebody bumps into the back of your car. You pull it over to the side, you get out and you look at it, and you say, “My God, look at that.” Well, you don’t do that. You do not get out of the ear. You stay inside that automobile, and you roll the ‘window down only that far, because the only thing that’s out of that is your voice. You take your driver's license out from that plastic thing you keep it in, and you push it right up against the window and let him read it through the glass. Because I know if you slip that driver's license out the window, and he won't give it back, you're going to come out of that car to get it, and I don’t want you out of that car. Ac- cording to the way the laws are written, you have to identify yourself. Your actual exchange of driver's licenses never has to happen. If he won't identify himself, that’s fine, get his license plate. Keep your door locked and drive away. Now, where do you go? Well, where were you going? If you were driving to work, go to work. And what do you do when you get there? You call and say, “Look, I had an accident, ‘Mile marker 57, 1-55, 11:30 at night.” And if this guy was legit, those two reports are going to find ‘one another, and you're going to be fine. And if he's not legit and doesn’t file a report, you don't care because you're safe. You do not have to put yourself into personal jeopardy to fill out a form for an insurance compa- ny. You don't have to do it. No insurance company can require you to do that. The idea is for you to be safe. Now, what if the car's disabled? You take that sun shade that you use to put in the front over your dashboard to keep the sun out in the summertime, you take a black or dark-blue Magic Marker, and you write the words, “Help, call police,” on it, and you put it in the back window. And any car that comes by is going to be able to call the police, and everybody— there's 100,000 new cellular phones every day, and they've all got them out there, and somebody can call the police. Or they've got a CB radio, or the truckers will call — they will come by and help you. That's what you've got to do. And you have to stay in the car. Now, the reason I started to laugh is because I had one woman ask me ‘one time, “If the car is on fire, do I—?" No. Ifthe car is on fire, you can get out of the car. But, if the car is not on fire, stay in the car. I don't want you wandering down the highway. You're much more vulnerable wandering down a highway than you are in your car. Now, if this guy starts pounding on your car? If he starts banging on the front of it— or, it doesn't even have to be at an accident site. If somebody approachesyou in your car and says, “Hey, get out of the car, I want to talk to you.” Uhsuh. You've got your doors locked, you've got your engine started. ‘They say, “Come on out of the car, I want to talk to you!" No. no. You start that engine up. Now the guy's in front of your car, and he's beat- ing on the hood, and he won't get out of the way. What do you think you should do? Put it in gear. Now, what do you do now? You drive away. Now, you notice hi ly I said the word, “drive.” I don’t want you to I, J.J. said it was OK, so I revved that baby up to 35 and I dropped iti” You drive away. And that’s exactly what you do, you just drive away. But, you've got to give him a reasonable chance to get out, from in front of the car. Now, that’s what being a tough target is all about. ‘Tough targets don’t get selected, and that’s the first part of the plan — tough targets. ‘Welll be right back with more information that could save your life, but before we do, join me in showing support for your public television sta- tion. Remember, we need to protect our most valuable assets — our- selves. {Commercial break} Det. BITTENBINDER: The second part of the plan is called, “Denying Privacy.” Now, denying privacy not only means that you have to go toward where there are people, and go toward the light and away from the darkness, or where the group is — and all that other denying privacy stuff that is so basic and you've heard over and over and over again — denying privacy also means how to manage private places that, you cannot deny, Elevators. You're waiting for the elevator. ‘The door opens. You don't like who's on the elevator. Don't get on the elevator. Don't get on. Now, what happens if you're on the elevator? You're on the elevator and the door opens and you don't like who gets on. Get off! Now, you're standing next to the buttons — because you're smart — you're standing next to the buttons on the elevator, Somebody gets on that you don't like, you push that “Open the door” button. You push it, “Ooops, my floor, excuse me.” ‘Then you get right off the elevator. The problem is over, you're off the elevator. Now, what happens if you get caught on an elevator? You're on an elevator and somebody attacks you. He didn't ook so bad, so you didn’t get off. And now he's attacking you on the elevator. He spins you around and starts to rip at your clothes. What are you going to do? Well, what do you think you should do? The one thing you should not do is push that red button, and I'll tell you why. The red button is the only button on that elevator that stops the elevator. You don't want that elevator to stop. It stops the elevator and gives him privacy, not you. You don't want that to happen. You want that elevator to move. Here's what happens: He stops the elevator. You've got to pull that ‘button out. And if he pushes it in and you pull it out, and he reaches up and he gives you a slap, you've got to take that slap. And if he gives you 8 punch, you've got to take that punch, because you're taking a draw. You've got to keep that button out. So, how do we do that? We push ali, the other buttons. Once you've pushed those buttons, they can't be un- pushed. Every time that door opens, there's a chance for you to get away. And every time that door opens, there's a chance for you to yell for help. And every time that door opens, there's a chance for somebody Soe a to be there to help you, and that's what you want. You want that door to open and close all the time. Weigh them out. ‘Two women get off of two elevators; one got punched in the mouth, and one got raped. One's going to heal pretty fast, one might never heal. Which one do you want to be? It's pretty easy to figure out when you're calm. Now is the time for you to make these decisions, so you know what you have to do when the time comes. Along with elevators, when you're standing there elevator, and there's no elevator coming, so you stairwell right here, and it’s only two floors, maybe I'l yeah, run upstairs.” Those stairwells are, by City Code, fireproof. How much sound do you think is going to come out of that stairwell if you get caught in there? None. You get caught in thet stairwell, you're cought, Can't do that. If you want to exercise, go to the gym. Denying privacy also means you're not going to let anybody take you anywhere. You're not going to let them take you into that empty office, oF into thet storeroom at work. You're not going to let anybody take you into an automobile. If I wanted to rob this woman, I can rob her right here. Right here. IfI'm pulling her into the car, she's at least going to get raped, because I can take her watch and her purse here. Regardless of what I tell her, when I get her in that car, it's not to rob her. What they do is they take them to what we call “secondary crime scenes.” The bad guys will take somebody to a place that they have more control. Now, why would I want to take her to a place I have more control to rob her?’ You've got to know going in, she’s at least going to get raped. If there was ever a line that you want to draw that you're not going to cross, it’s that you will not allow anybody to take you to any other place, ‘8 secondary crime scene, into a car, for any reason at all. If they've got a hold of you— if they got a hold of you, you reach up with your hand and you grab their thumb. Now, it’s four against one, this is the weakest part. You grab that thumb and pull it out, and get away. If they got a hold of your coat, you come out of the coat. I don't care what the coat is made of, it could be made of any kind of animal skin. I don't ‘care who gave it to you, how much it cost, or how old it is. ‘There is nothing that you can put on your body that is worth getting raped for. Just ask a rape victim. And if you hold onto the coat, he's going to pull you and the coat into the car and he's going to get both. So, you let him pull the coat right off of you. ‘The idea is you cannot get into that automobile for any reason at al I know about half of you right here and now are thinking about, “What if this guy has got a gun?’ Well do this gun thing. A guy has a gun, pulls out the gun, puts it in your ear, and says, “Now get in the car.” "Now, he's pulling her into the car. If she breaks and runs from . Fight away, out of 100 times, how many times do you think that the bad guy would shoot at her? Actually. it’s very low. But I'll say 50 per- cent of the time, I'l say half. Half of the time he would shoot at her. And out of the 50 times he shoots at her, what percentage of the time do ‘you think he's going to hit her with his little pistol? That's low, too. But 11 say half, down to 25. Out of the 25 times that he would shoot at her and hit her, what percentage of the time do you think it's going to be a mortal wound, or a serious injury? I'll give you helf. Now we're down to 12 and a half times. That means 12 and a half times out of 100, if she So1d runs from this guy right away, she's in deep trouble. That that 87 and a half times out of 100, she's not in such bad I. Now, that’s not bad odds. You can live with those. But, the real statistic is that two percent are hit. Two percent are shot. I just tried to do it a little bit more graphically. ‘A young lady, she was in the vestibule of her apartment building. A guy approached her with a gun, took her into the ear. He drove her to the cash station. “She went into the cash station and she took out the $200, and she came and she gave it back to the guy. He sent her to the cash station again. She went to the cash station, took out another $200, brought that back to him. She was doing everything he said, be cause he had a gun. He took her back into the car, drove her into the al- ley. And when he's finished with her, in the alley, he takes it and he puts the gun to the back of her head, and he pulls the trigger. Now, what are her odds? Zero, she died. You cannot get into a car with any- body for any reason at all. But, you do get into cabs. Let's talk about taxicabs. Denying privacy in a taxicab. How can we do this? Well, taxicabs are a private thing, and you've got to learn to manage them. And the way it works is this: Now, you're going to put somebody in a taxicab? OK, I go like this, I go, “Good night, Sweetheart. ‘OK, 2212, take my lady home.” Slam the door. Now, I just said the number of that taxicab. He's not going to fool with her because he knows I said the number of that cab and I'm going to remember it. He's not even going to give her that double around the block. He knows. Now, you get into a cab alone, how ean you do this? Well, when you settle yourself into the cab, you say, “Oooh, 2212— 2212, that used to be my old address, 2212.” Or, you could say, “2212, I think I'm going to play that in the Lotto tomorrow, that 2212.” Now, you're not beating him over the head with it by saying, “I don’t like you and I'm going to re- member your number.” You're just saying it in a conversational man- ner. “I'm going to play that in the Lotto tomorrow.” And he's not going to fool with you, either. Now, that’s the way you do taxicabs. ‘Trains, buses — let's weigh this one out. We have an empty bus, downtown location, 3:30 in the morning. The bus is completely empty. ‘Two women get onto this bus. One sits across from the driver who has @ radio telephone and can call the police; the other woman sits in the back, behind the second door, the rear door. Now, the goof gets on there, and he's going to rip off one of these purses. ‘Which one do you think he's going to take? The one in the back. Not because she's older ‘or younger, because she's more vulnerable and she doesn't know how to manage her privacy. She's got to sit up with the driver. It’s the same thing with trains, Whether you're talking about interstate trains, you're talking about commuter trains, it doesn’t matter. What you're talking about is sitting with a guy who can make the phone call or radio for help. Sit with him, in that area, because that’s the safest area on that train, ‘That's what denying privacy is all about. And that's what being a tough target is all about. ‘Now, we're going to go into the third part, and that’s attracting atten- tion. OK, now I'm going to introduce you to the big tuna. Now, the big tuna is sitting in his living room. He's sitting there drinking his beer and reading his newspaper, just sitting there, and everything seems ne. Out on the lawn, they're trying to pull this woman into a car. And —10— as they're trying to pull her into the car, she's yelling, “Help, help, po- Tice! "Leave me alone! Help, police! You're hurting me! Help!” And the big tuna, who is sitting here in his chair, says to himself, “I'm not going toget hurt. That's not going to cost me any money, I'm not going to get involved.” And they don't. fame scenario. Big tune's in a chair, this time they're trying to pull this woman into a car. And as they're pulling her into the car, she's yelling, “Fire, fire, fire! Help! Fire, fire!” It’s easy, one word over and over and over again. But, what happens to the big tuna is this: He says, "Now, wait a minute, fire spreads. It could cost me some money, I ‘ould get hurt,” and they get involved. And that’s when they call. And at's what you yell. Thad one woman ask me, she said, “What happens if the fire trucks come?” Good! Good! I mean, they got ax the axe! The guy jumps off the car with this axe? That's good! ‘The same thing if you're yelling for help. It doesn’t matter if there's anybody around there to hear you. He can't take a chance on nobody being around there to hear you. He's got to react like there is somebody going to come and help you, and he's got to get out of there. So, just be- ause there's nobody around you does not mean you don't yell. ‘You yel for help, you scream for help. You've got to play it like you're all alo ut there. You have to play it like there are no police. You have to un- derstand that when this guy goes out there and looks up and down the street, he’s looking for the police, and he’s going to— if there's no police, he's going to do it right then. You have to understand that one of the phrases that comes over and over and over in all of the reports that you {ake, and all the witnesses that you interview, and the victims that you interview, they say, “It happened so fast.” It happens, boom, in re time. And that means if he goes out and doesn't see a squad car, he going to got whatever he's going do— he's going to be gone. That means the police car is not going to be there in the beginning, and it's not going to interrupt him. ‘The police will be there to take the report later. So, youtve got to help one another, You've got to play like there are no po- ice. And if you see somebody in trouble on a sidewalk, as you're driving. by, you roll that window down and you yell out that window, “Get away from him! I'm calling the police!” Whether you've got a phone or not, he doesn’t know and he can’t take a chance. You've got to play it like you're alone out there. ‘Well, that's three, Here's the fourth and final one, the fourth and inal area of the plan. This is to do something to this guy, to take some kind of action against this guy. I'll tell you what we're talking about. There are very few axioms in the police business, and this is one of them: The initial contact. between the victim and the offender is the time that the offender has the least amount of control over the situation. That's an axiom, always. Now, what happens? We know what's going to happen, we know what action you're going to take, but sometimes, for ifferent crimes, you take the action at different times. Rape is the most vicious crime that one adult can do to another. ‘There is no doubt. Three kinds of rape: Date rape, acquaintance rape, stranger-danger rape. ‘They have different expectations. With'a date ‘here is a— when you go out on a date, there is an expectation of intimacy. You're going io be holding hands, or you're going to be danc- ing, or you're going to have dinner together, or you're going to be alone N=together, even though you're out with a group. There's an expectation of intimacy. You're going to talk privately. Acquaintance rape, you go out with a group for a drink after work. You're together, but there's no ex- pectation of intimacy that is as close to date rape. It’s a different level. In stranger-danger rapes, where there's no even— there's not even an expectation of contact. Now, your actions are going to be the same, it's Just that where it happens. ‘With a stranger-danger rape, as soon as this guy makes his approach, that's what you've got to— that's when you've got to do whatever you're i . With an acquaintance rape, when he crosses the whatever that line is. When he wants to take you someplace, or ints to touch you, or he’s getting fresh with you — whatever that line is — when he crosses that line, you've got to remember that no is no. And that's the line that you have. With a date, there is an expecta- tion of more intimacy, and the line is at a different place than with the acquaintances. But, when he crosses that line, no is no, and you do the tance rape, the rapiat will always lt you kiss him. ‘And you kas him, and you reach up there and you grab his lower lip and you bite down until your teet ‘meet. You are ending the relationship. But, you understand, when it becomes a crime, you take action that befits that crime. And rape is a vicious crime, and you take firm action. It’s just that you take them at, different times. ‘We'll be right back with more information that could save your life. [Commercial break) Det. BITTENBINDER: Now that you know when, let’s talk about what you use. Let's talk about guns. Probably the best thing you can do to one of these guys is to shoot him. We've got a young lady standing, there in the corner, and she has @ gun in her purse. Now, I'm not going to discuss the legality of why she has @ gun in her purse, or if it's legal in her state. All I'm saying is, she's got a gun in this purse. She's standing up there, and this guy comes up to her and he says, “Give me your money!” And she unzips the purse, and she pulls out the gun and she points it at him. And then she hesitates. Intelligent people hesitate. ‘The more intelligent you are, the longer you hesitate. In- telligent people understand the finality of the thing they're about to do. This is final act that cannot be changed, undone, erased, altered in any way. This is a final thing. And they hesitate. And the bad guy comes by, he picks up that gun, and he comes— and he pops you with it, because he doesn't hesitate. Ik about knives. I have my knife. If you carry an open knife in your purse, the first thing that's going to happen is you're going to cut a hole in the end of the purse. ‘The second thing, you're going to have that knife in the purse, and every time you put your hand in there you're going to avoid it, or you're going to cut yourself once. Then you're going to cut yourself a second time. ‘The second time you cut yourself on that knife, you're going to take that knife and you're going to close it up ‘and you're going to put it back in the drawer. So, that doesn’t work. ‘The keys between the fingers — my favorite. Women do not have the upper body strength to deliver a good punch. That's not their fault, that's the way God made them. Now, there's exceptions, but most of the time you get @ pawing motion. Make a fist. OK, she's got her keys be- -Re U tween her fingers. She's almost to my face, but she can't reach it. But I can reach all the way down her back. ‘The victims have short arms, the bbad guys have long arms. So, what you're dealing with is this: You're 1Z up to the plate to bat, down two strikes. Now, it's true, if you nice and close, and you've got your keys between your fingers and you pop him in the eye, you can do some heavy damage — and that's food, But, I don't want you to put your face in something that might not work. Now, before I say the next thing, I've got to tell you that it’s legal, OK? Mace is legal, all right? So, let's talk about Mace. Who's got here? You got Mace? Let me see it. OK, all right, now, this is not bad. No, this is set up pretty good. Let me explain to you what I'm talking about. OK, she's got it on her key chain. Now, you can mix it up an ‘you can— I'don't care what you do with it. If I find that button with my thumb, I know it’s facing the other way. Now, what you do is you reach in through the back and you throw that little switch, and then you mash down right on top of it. You don't have to open anything up and aim something. It’s as easy to aim as a garden hose. : ‘Two women are walking down the street; one of them is walking down the street like this, and the other one’s walking down the street like this. Who's the most vulnerable one? See? Now, this is great. It goes from here to fire in a tenth of a second. Now, this one will squirt about eight feet. That's about eight feet. So if T'can keep somebody eight feet away from me, I'm happy. A couple of things you've got to re- member when you buy Mace from wherever you buy Mace from, make sure you by CN. It's the stronger of the tear gasses, and that’s what Mace spray is, it's a strong tear gas. The weak one is CS. ‘Three things I've got to tell you about Mace: You cannot take it on a commercial airliner, you cannot take it into the State of Wisconsin — I think it melts the cheese — and if you take it into the State of Califor- nia, you have to register it. Now, there might be a couple other states that have got some similar rules, so if you live in another state, check with your local police department to find out if it's legal. And it works. Do you know why it works? Because you use it. A guy comes up to you and says, “You got change for a—?” “Yeah, here! Clark Street this, pal!” It works. ‘Thank you very much. Now, what do we do when we get out of the car? We get out of the car— female gets out of the car. takes the keys, drops them right into the bottom of the purse, zips the purse up, opens the door, gets out, takes her purse and her other thing, and now, uh-oh, there's somebody there. She's got to get back in the— you keep your keys in your hand. ‘Now, guys do that. ‘They have to do that. Guys have to keep the keys, bbecatuse— look, when a guy shuts off the car, he can't get in his pockets le he's sitting down. So, he's got to have his keys in his hand when hhe gets out of the car. So, I want you todo the same thing. You keep your keys in your hand until you get out of the car. And you look ‘around, and if everything is fine, then you drop the keys into the bottom of the purse. But, don’t put those keys eway until you get out— until you look around. “And if there's something going on, you get right back in that car and start that engine. And if something happens, drive away, ‘What happens when you approach your car? You approach your car —13—whether it's the whether it’s been in the parking lot at the ai port for a week, ‘been in the supermarket parking lot an nly been there for an hour. You— as you approach your car, you look at it. Is there anybody hanging around the car? If there's somebody hanging on the car, you go back in there and talk to the— somebody in et, and say, “Hey, there's somebody out there by my car.” ‘re being pulled into a car, or you're running from some- body and you trip, and you get knocked down and somebody's attacking you while you're knocked down, what do you do? Well, you swivel and you kick at him, ‘other foot. Women do not have the upper body strength to keep a man’s body weight off of them with the power in their arms, and neither do ve the strength in your legs to keep this guy's what you use. You kick one leg too. Let me show you— I'm going to walk you through one of these thi A young Indy sitnding on the corner with a purse im her hand, and a guy comes up to her and says, “Give me your money!” She says, “OK,” and she unzips the purse and she gives him the . “Here’s the money.” He says, “No, I want that ring.” “Well, it mother's.” “Give me that ring!” “OK, don't hurt me, ring. Here's the and the bracelet, And he says, “You're wearing slacks. Pull the you weren'’ going to hurt mel” “Lady, Now pull them down so I can run away!” And she pul and she gets raped. Now, you can stop that story anywher line and learn the same lesson from it. He's lying to her, but her a lie she wants to believe. And when you tell somebody a ly. int believe anything these people they ta you, He's going to threaten 0 cajole you, he's going to make you promises — what- takes to get you to do whatever to do, into a car, or go into a storeroom, or whatever it is tell you the truth. And you've got to understand where did she make her mistake? She made her wo. Let me show you what ['m talking about. All right, now I'm not @ policeman, I'm just Joe Citizen walking down the street. A guy comes iat going in. jake standing there —u“— up to me and he says, “Give me your money! And I say, “OK, pal.” Hand goes in the pocket, out comes the money. Show the money, “Tt is all I've got.” And then what happens next? ‘The money goes that ‘and I go this way. Now, there's nc there is no It 4 T'm going " “ bundle of noise are running this way, and the money is over ther itself — quiet. Which way do you think he's going to go? There are no absolutes, remember that. But, some are closer than others. Most of the outside zipper pocket of your purse, then you've always got it with you. Any place you can get to it readily, out and you say, “This is all I've got,” and throw it one any time, any place, to anyone. the focused on being effective and efficient. The most effec- tive, efficient way for her to get from the el to her house was cut— was through the alley. So, she went through the alley. Now, when she got into her house — the most effective and efficient way to do it — she ‘would open up the door and let the dog out, and so she wouldn't have to stand there and wait for the dog to do his stuff in the backyard. She would go about her business in the house, and when she heard the dog scratching around the 3 coming through the ‘was out. The confrontation started in the back, on t ‘went through the kitchen, where he picked up the kni stabbed in the kitchen. He chased her through the di blouse was torn off in the dining room, because we found all four but- tons in a very 8 a. We found her in the living room. She had been stabbed 107 times. Let's talk about your kids. ‘Three quick tips vehicle, you If your et have the kid turn around and go opposite the c the kid to turn around and go the other way, than it is to have this guy turn his car around. Number two, you allow no dialogue between a stranger and your T don't care what he says, or how he opens the conversation, you dult and your child. The ‘Always! Always win! You can't take that chance cross the big street, then run home. But; ‘and run back to school.” i's an alternate Wednesda: 't get real fancy. ’s out in the yard—" is‘You can't put an old head on young shoulders. And the third thing you do, before you tell the kid to run, you tell them to drop the books. Be- use every father has stood in front of his daughter and he said, "Young lady. I just spent $43 for these books. I don’t want you to lay them in the snow, I don't want them in the— at the library, I don’t want them at Becky's house. Where you are, these books are, and where these books are, I want you to be." Well, he just reinforced the wrong thing here. He just reinforced the wrong thing. And then I get the little girl, the nine-year-old girl at Foster and Sheridan, gets chased into an alley by a guy. He pulls her panties down and he fondles her, and she’s telling her father, she says, “Daddy, I almost got away, but the book bag was so heavy.” And the father’s heart is breaking. He reinforced the ‘wrong thing. This goof is not after her for her spelling homework or for her history books, And ifthe books are gone when you get back, that's OK, too. ‘The little girl gets to take a draw, too, see? You get to throw the money, you get to come out of your coat, the litle girl gets to drop the books. Well, that’s four of them. We talked about tough targets, we talked about denying privacy, we talked about attracting attention, we talked about doing something, taking some action, And that’s all four. Those are the four parts of your plan. And you've got to remember that you've got to have a plan, because the bad guys are out there. They really are out there. And it's up to you. You have the responsibility for your- selves, tn yourselves, for your own safety, And you don’t have to be the toughest man in the world, or the toughest woman in America. You've just got to be the toughest one there. A burglar does not walk down the street and say, “This is the toughest house on this whole block. I think I'm going to try it.” A burglar looks for the easy one. He looks for the broken door, the open window. He looks for the easiest one. The same thing with these people when they pick their victims. You just cannot be the easiest one out there. And out there is out anywhere. You can live in a nice neighborhood, you can work in a nice neighborhood, and it doesn't matter. When these people hunt deer, they go where the deer are, Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. FURTHER INFORMATION: National Crime Prevention Council 1700 K Street NW, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20006 (Ask for Packet F-1) ie