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1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!

 If you are close to the perp, a bop on the sensitive nose will hurt him; a harder bop could break the nose.  Shoving upward with the heel of your palm could separate the nose bone and drive it into the brain, possibly causing his death.

2. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM.  Toss it away from you.   The chances are that he is more interested in your money than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse first.  THEN RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights, stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.  The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working and just sit (doing their checkbook or making a list, etc.)  DON'T DO THIS!  The predator will be watching you and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head and tell you where to go.  AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.  If you need to make a list, drive to another location where there are numerous people moving about and park in a well-lit area.

If someone is in your car with a gun to your head, DO NOT DRIVE OFF.  Instead, gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your air bag will save you.  If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it.  As soon as the car crashes, bail out and run.  It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.  Another option is to head the auto into the center of a busy  intersection, jamming on the brakes and blocking the intersection for all traffic.

5. What to do when getting into your car in a parking lot or parking garage:

A.) Be aware; look around you; look in your car on the passenger side floor and in the back seat.

B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door.  Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

C.) Look at the cars parked on both the driver's side and the passenger side of your vehicle.  If a male is sitting alone in a vehicle in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall or work and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.

IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY.  (And better paranoid than dead.)

6 What to do after getting into your car in a parking lot or parking garage: 

A.) Lock the door(s).   When you open the door, hit the lock of the driver's door, which in most autos will lock all the doors.  Get in and lock the driver's door. 

B.) Insert the key and start the engine and you are ready to roll. 

C.) You can engage the seat belt at some convenient safe stopping point.

At night ALWAYS take someone with you, EVEN if it is the bag boy at the grocery store.

7. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)

8. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN!  The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times.  And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ.  RUN, preferably in a zig -zag pattern.

9. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic, but this compassion may be what gets you raped or killed.  Serial killer Ted Bundy was a good-looking, well educated man who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women.  He walked with a cane or a limp and often asked for help in getting into his vehicle.  This was one of the techniques he used to abduct his victims.

10. Be very careful when answering your door at night to strangers.  This is a true case in point which was featured on the America's Most Wanted TV show: 

 A woman heard a crying baby on her porch and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was bizarre.  The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door."

The lady said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window and she was worried that it would crawl into the street and be run over.  The policeman told her not to open the door, that a patrol unit was on the way.  He told her that they suspected a serial killer was using a recording of a crying baby to coax women out of their homes because they assumed that someone had dropped off a baby.  He said they had not verified it, but that they had received several calls from women reporting baby's cries outside their doors when they were home alone at night.

11. Be very careful about opening your car window to strangers who claim they saw you drop money on the sidewalk and want to return it to you. Read the true story of a woman who this happened to in Louisiana - in the same area where a serial killer had already murdered several victims. 

12.  Do not smell perfume samples offered by strangers in parking lots.  The perfume may be ether and the strangers may be thieves or worse.  Read the e-mail warning sent by a reader.

Do you have other suggestions for self-protection?  Send CUFF an e-mail.