Module 1: Overview
Detail In-Training Survey Results: Can you spot the bad person?
In module 1, which introduces the program, participants are asked to vote on whether or not a profile is of a good person or a bad person. Votes can be by hand or by electronic means. S/HE prefers a program called “Mentimeter” for electronic voting, which participants access through their mobile phones. The results below were taken from a training of 11th grade girls and their mothers who were members of the Dallas, Texas chapter of the National Charity League on September 11, 2016.
The slide is shown along with the profile facts, which are also read to the students and any parents who are present (it is extremely useful if parents actively participate during training).
Ted
Answer: Ted was a terrible person.
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But if you thought he was a good person, you are not alone. Police were looking for a suspect named “Ted” who drove a VW Beetle (just like Ted). They had a sketch of the suspect that looked like Ted and his co-worker at a suicide hotline reported him to authorities (it was Ann Rule, prior to her days as a celebrated crime writer). Police didn’t believe this good looking, clean-cut kid was capable of doing bad things and cleared him as a suspect. He went on to do terrible things to over 100 women.
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One woman who escaped did so because she trusted her instincts. Ted used to pretend he was hurt by wearing a sling on his arm or using crutches. He would ask a woman to help him carry something to his car and then hit her in the head from behind and shove her into the car. In this instance, his intended victim got a feeling like a blanket of evil covering her and she trusted that feeling, dropped what she was carrying and ran. Later that day, Ted found another girl and did something terrible to her.
Lessons: Predators may use tricks (as elaborate as a cast or as simple as a smile) to appear non-threatening: stay on guard.
Trust your instincts: If you think something is wrong, it probably is. Don’t worry about being polite. Get out of there!
Mark
Answer: No, but he played one on TV. Mark Harmon played Ted in The Deliberate Stranger. He was so good it hurt his career for a time. Prior to taking that role, Mark was named People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1985. Mark now stars in the TV series NCIS. Mark played a teacher in the classic movie Summer School, where his character was offered the opportunity to commit a bad act with a student and deftly deflected it with humor.
Lesson: If Mark played Ted, then Ted must have been attractive. It shows you that you cannot tell a bad person by the way he or she looks.
Ketrell
Answer: Although many registered offenders are homeless because they can’t find anyone to rent them an apartment, Ketrell is not a offender and is actually a hero. He stopped a man from attacking a woman. Ketrell is also smart because before he intervened, he got himself a weapon. Ketrell isn’t rich and didn’t have a gun or a knife, but Ketrell is resourceful, so he found a stick, and a brick and he beat the bad man with them. Ketrell’s combination of two weapons is extremely effective for self-defense because if one weapon is blocked, the other weapon can be used. When confronted by a criminal, always use a weapon if you can find one.
Lesson: If you are attacked, be smart like Ketrell and use a weapon to defend yourself. When you use a weapon like a stick use short repeated swings and go for bone, like the hands, elbows, shins, hips, or knees. Almost anything hard can function as a weapon, but the best weapons are sharp. According to a recent study, 99% of women wielding a projectile or edged weapon when attacked by a would-be rapist escaped unharmed.
Molly
Answer: Molly attacked a 15-year-old boy after starting a texting relationship with him. She began the relationship by having her son tell the boy “you should text my mom, she thinks you’re hot.” Offenders can be very good at flattering you and making you feel special. Some boys and girls who meet people over the internet wind up being kidnapped, drugged and sometimes even sold into slavery where terrible things happen to them. Our group has met with young women from good families who were captured and then sometimes even bought and branded as property to be sold for up to 24 times a day.
Lessons: The boy kept this relationship secret from his parents. Predators use secrecy to commit their depraved acts. Children are most at risk when doing things that are kept secret from their parents. Beware of internet/texting relationships. People contacting you over the internet rarely are who they say they are. This is particularly dangerous because once they get your phone they can text pretending to be you, and arrange to meet your unsuspecting friends.
Additional Lesson: Kidnappers will tell you “we got you, we’ll get your friends and family if you try and escape.” That is a lie. Your friends and family are at the greatest risk when you are captive because no one is warning them about this continued threat to their safety. Thousands of girls have escaped, and we have never seen an instance where their friends or family were harmed. Once you escape, your kidnappers will run because they know you are going to the police. Kidnappers will also force their victims to work as prostitutes and say “you did bad things for money so you will go to jail if you go to the police.” That is also a lie. No one kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute has ever gone to jail.
Darren
Answer: Darren confessed to 200 acts of molesting a young girl. Even after the confession, many professionals (including a school board member) wrote letters on his behalf. Many people also continued to accuse the victim of lying. 60% of girls who are hurt this way tell a friend about the assault. Sadly, 40% of those “friends” say something like “I don’t believe you” or “it was your fault you were raped.”
Lesson: Offenders can be very charming and seem very nice, often gaining significant support in the community. How anyone can justify that support after a confession or conviction remains a mystery. Further, if someone trusts you enough to tell you they were sexually assaulted, that is not the time to express your doubts or make observations about what they should have done differently. That is the time to say “I love you, I believe you, what can I do to help you?” and then listen.
Jorge
Answer: Pope Francis, formerly known as Jorge, has never been convicted or even accused of any crime. That said, about 4% of offenders are people in positions of authority, such as priests, teachers, and police officers.
Lesson: Even people in positions of authority can be bad people.
THE QUIZ
You can deliver the Quiz yourself or you can show the video below. Make sure people vote either electronically or by raising their hands. After this module ends, invite everyone to stand and learn how to escape a one-handed grasp. The “techniques” video at the end of all modules teaches this and other techniques. It is critical that in between each module you teach a defensive technique. A video of the defensive techniques is available at the end of all modules, but you really must learn these live.
Alternatively, you can show this video by pausing on the profile (the profile shows in silence for 3 seconds) while you deliver the background information, then hit play and listen to the person talk. Hit pause when the video shows the text “Is ____ a bad person?” and conduct your vote. Hit play again and so on. You should practice with this before using it with the class.
TO CONFIRM YOUR REVIEW OF Module 1, CLICK ON THE SURVEY MONKEY BUTTON BELOW:
