by Richard B. Isaacs, M.A., CPP and Tim Powers

"As the attacker dragged me toward the bushes he kept telling me what he was going to do before he killed me. Because of your training I was alert, prepared, and able to escape unharmed."
Robyn Gebhart, assault survivor.

The Seven Steps to Personal Safety touches on both crime prevention and self defense, but is not about crime prevention or self defense. Rather, its subject is violence, and its goal is keeping the reader alive and well in the face of violence. The authors are law enforcement trainers, and bring to the book tools and techniques currently in use by police and professional bodyguards.

The Seven Steps to Personal Safety is designed to show average people how to keep safe in a world increasingly preoccupied with violence. Because the book was designed to be used either by individuals or corporate wellness programs, the publishers have gone to great lengths to make this emotionally-charged subject accessible to a wide range of readers who might otherwise be unwilling or unable to give it any thought. The book is forthright yet positive. Illustrations are by D. F. Bach, illustrator of books by Asimov and Vonnegut. The book design was done by artist Catherine Nicodemo, known for her prize-winning pastels. It uses large type for the benefit of older readers.

The book is divided into three sections: How to Avoid a Violent Confrontation; How to Deal With a Violent Confrontation; and How to Survive the Aftermath of a Violent Confrontation

The first section, How to Avoid a Violent Confrontation, contains the first four steps.

• Step 1 (Be Aware of Your Vulnerability) helps the reader assess potential danger and presents other risks to put personal safety into perspective.
• Step 2 (Mentally Commit to Doing Everything You Can to Stay Safe) covers the ethical and practical implications involved in making the decision to protect yourself. It also deals with social issues related to violence.
• Step 3 (Be Aware of Your Environment and Take Reasonable Precautions) discusses factors which allow violent confrontations to take place, and shows how to anticipate violence. Awareness is not presented as a mystical concept: Instead, the authors present specific behavioral warning signs and cues that the reader can detect and act on. It additionally contains over a dozen pages of safety tips categorized as General Tips, In Your Car, At Home, On the Street, and In Public Places.
• Step 4 (Get Away by Creating and Maintaining Distance) presents the base physical skills needed to run away from an attacker.

The second section, How to Deal With a Violent Confrontation, contains Step 5 (Stop the Assault and Then Get Away). This step deals with self defense as the means to getting away from your attacker. It first covers use-of-force from the police perspective, and then discusses a wide range of self defense options. These include martial arts (not recommended), the program based on this book and the Impact(sm) and Model Mugging(sm) programs (all recommended), guns (not recommended), knives (not recommended), personal defense sprays (recommended), and impact weapons (not recommended) and defensive keychains (recommended). It then presents a complete self-defense program, including detailed instruction in the use of defensive keychains and personal defense sprays. The authors are particularly qualified here, since they were responsible for the introduction of pepper-based personal defense sprays to the law enforcement community, and were the developers of the first police training course in use of personal defense sprays.

The final section, How to Survive the Aftermath of a Violent Confrontation, covers two important areas not generally discussed. Step 6 (Immediately Notify the Police of the Attack) tells how to deal with the police after an incident.

Step 7 (Deal With the Post-Traumatic Stress of Being Assaulted) covers the psychological aftereffects of a violent confrontation.

The Seven Steps to Personal Safety (188 pages, 6x9, $14.95, ISBN 1-883633-01-X) is published by The Center for Personal Defense Studies. For information on distribution please contact The Center for Personal Defense Studies at 617-332-1638, or via email at 7steps@ibm.net. The book can also be purchased from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D188363301X/002-5110107