COLUMBIANA Patrolman to teach self-defense class to women
Women will discuss crime prevention and how to be prepared mentally and physically if crime occurs.
COLUMBIANA -- Columbiana police are accepting registrations for a six-hour self-defense course for women, which will be Nov. 9 at Upper Room Fellowship.
Patrolman Wade Boley will teach the course known as PROTECT: Personal Response Options and Tactically Effective Counter Techniques.
Personal Response Options is the first portion of the course -- a discussion of issues directly related to preventing criminal acts. Among the discussion topics are vehicle, home and personal safety, sexual harassment, weapons, survival attitude, rape and domestic violence.
Tactically Effective Counter Techniques is the second portion of the course -- demonstration and practice of techniques that can be used when various strategies fail to deter a criminal act.
Getting involved
Boley said women can determine how much they want to be involved in the physical portion of the course, from simply observing to full participation.
He said there are no age requirements for the course but children younger than teenagers should be accompanied by an adult.
Boley said classroom discussions in the morning are a necessary before the physical training because a woman has to be in the proper mind-set to take action.
"As a police officer, I am trained that I may have to one day decide whether or not to take someone's life to save my own or someone else's," Boley said. "Faced with a violent situation, women have to decide whether or not they will fight."
Boley said in the example of an attempted rape, a woman must choose whether to fight or not. If she fights, she might be harmed physically but fend off a rapist.
If she does not fight and is raped, she might have fewer other physical injuries, but her recovery will deal more with mental anguish of the rape.
"The bottom line of this program is that each woman's personal defense system must include both mental knowledge and physical training," Boley said.
The cost of the course is $12 to cover materials. Class size is limited, so registration is required.
For more information, call Boley at the police department at (330) 482-9292.