Many crime prevention specialists explain the crime triangle to understand the nature of crime. You have desire, target and opportunity.

The criminals desire to commit a particular crime, whether it be assault, sexual assault, burglary, robbery, theft, etc., is not something we can control or change. However, the other two factors necessary for crime, we do have some control over.

Let’s talk about target: sometimes the target is your property such as your home, car, business, purse, etc.  Sometimes the target is you, as in an assault or sexual assault. There is a simple concept called target hardening, which involves making your home, business, personal property, and most of all you, more secure. The criminal will move onto an easier target where less work will be involved and the chances of being caught our lessened.

Opportunity is the third necessary component for a crime to take place. A criminal can have a desire to commit a sexual assault and have a target in mind, but if the circumstances don’t line up then the crime will not take place.

Intuition — the dictionary defines it as, “the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning”. Some synonyms are “sixth sense”, “hunch”, and “gut instinct”.

Whatever you want to call it, it is a warning that something is wrong. Our subconscious mind checks out many pieces of information and finds conflicts within patterns and alerts our conscious mind that something is out of place. I believe that as you are trained to be more aware, that your “sixth sense” will improve also and you will be more alert when something does not feel right.

It is easy to dismiss those thoughts and feelings as being irrational and dismiss them as silly fears. As a prior law enforcement officer for 30 years, I have had a number of robbery and assault victims tell me that they had a “feeling” that something was wrong. However, they did not act on that and back out of the situation. Instead, they let it play out, and as a result became a victim.

Have you ever met a smooth-talking salesman or a con man, that you made the mistake of believing and later found out you were lied to, and possibly lost money? There are many dangerous criminals that use the same “friendly” tactics to get their victims in a situation where they can sexually assaulted or robbed.

We all tend to trust strangers that seem normal and forget that dangerous predators are often experts at seeming normal. Many of the serial killers and serial rapists have been described as initially charming at first, but once they gain their victim’s trust, the victims are kidnapped and often transported to a secondary location to complete their crime.

Trust your intuition and when you feel like something is not right, you probably are right. When you are on campus or elsewhere and you are suspicious about somebody, then call the police. You may prevent someone else from becoming a victim.

Give the police a good description and include any actions the person did that aroused your suspicion (asking for money, talking crazy, high or drunk, touching others inappropriately, etc.). The police can then at least identify the person. Often the person is already wanted for a crime and can be removed to jail. The police would much rather prevent a crime in this manner, than to come to the scene later, after a victim has been robbed, assaulted, sexually assaulted etc. Don’t hesitate to call the police.

I spent 11 of my 30 years in law enforcement in the crime prevention detail, where I spoke to schools, businesses, civic clubs, etc., about target hardening and personal safety. I also have spent many years as a martial artist and been involved in teaching self defense.

Coming soon, myself and my business partner (a retired police sergeant and martial artist), will be offering a class for women to learn awareness, avoidance, and self-defense tactics. This will be information on how you can be aware of your surroundings, how you can avoid a potentially dangerous situation, and then if it’s too late, how you can defend yourself in a manner that allows you an avenue of escape.