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hey there I'm Eric Tongue i've been a
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police officer for nearly 18 years and
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I'm currently serving as a patrol
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commander and I oversee our department
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wellness programs today we're going to
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be talking about personal safety tips
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for nighttime activities and social life
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so there's certainly a big degree of
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things that we could be aware of but the
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key thing I want to start with is that
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you don't have to be paranoid if you're
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actually prepared right so there's a
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difference there's definitely going too
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far where you're actually in fear and
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you're not really doing all the things
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you want to do but there's a way that we
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can be mindful about our approach so
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it's going to start with awareness of
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self and awareness of our
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environment so first on awareness of
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self so that is how do we bring
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ourselves into our environment how are
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we displaying confidence our posture our
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tone uh eye contact right so a lot of
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these things we put out and how we show
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up can affect how we are perceived by
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those around us and that could be in
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good ways and bad ways right when I
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think about safety it's hard not to
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think about people that may potentially
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victimize others and we do see oftent
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times in the police industry and other
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industries when people are not showing
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up in confidence other people try to
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take advantage of that right and that
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can be in a number of ways so in essence
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I'm inviting you and asking you to trust
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your instincts right and know your
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priorities a lot of times when people
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have been victimized in different ways
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whether it's financially or uh
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physically they can recount that they
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actually felt something odd was going on
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but they didn't want to come off as
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judgmental they felt ashamed or guilty
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for portraying or having certain
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feelings we need to get at the root of
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what your main prerogative is which is
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to take care of yourself you have to be
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safe and so prioritize those things
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right your safety first and people's
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feelings later when I talk about
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awareness of environment it it's like
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the who what where when and why right so
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where are you going why are you going
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right so that's knowing your goals what
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your intentions are we talked about
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priorities earlier uh who are you going
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with who else is going to be there
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what's going to be there that could be
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things that are going to help you and
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things that may harm you so just be
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curious again if you go in with an
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attitude of curiosity you're not going
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to be uh paralyzed and in fear however
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you will be mindful of these different
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inputs and outputs that will affect your
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situation so when we think about venues
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at night a lot of times those are
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limited in space or there's just limited
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venues and so more people uh crowd
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together in those types of situations
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whether it's a live show or whether it's
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a bar or nightclub situation oftenimes
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we can find that we are crowded in those
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areas right so be aware of your personal
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space your safety bubble things like
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that also your personal effects uh make
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sure you can keep things readily near
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you that are important to you right like
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your valuables there's a lot of things
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that we can do to be mindful of that so
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the buddy system rolling in numbers
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definitely has its uh benefits there are
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strength in numbers people can look out
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for each other also you just have that
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that safety mechanism extra sets of eyes
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extra sets ears and if it goes to
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something like victimization people are
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less likely to pick apart a group of
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people they see that there is danger
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there is a lack of anonymity because
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someone may see and perceive what
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they're trying to do if you are by
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yourself there are other mechanisms you
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can do to build in some sort of a safety
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net or level of awareness with people
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that you know you can tell them where
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you're going you can text them updates
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you can tell them "Hey I'm going from
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point A to B i'm going this way i should
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be there by this time i'm going to text
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you if I don't text you please check in
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on me that sort of thing this day and
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age it's pretty easy to discreetly take
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a photo of somebody uh you can do the
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selfie USEy kind of video pan where
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you're sweeping by and if someone is
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actually trying to victimize someone
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else if they realize that they might
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have been caught on video or on a photo
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they could be likely to back off right
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anonymity is a key factor that promotes
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a lot of people committing crimes
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whether it's a property crime or a
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person's crime so just something to keep
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in mind you could do the same thing for
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ride shares we're not saying that
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everyone out there is a shady ride share
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driver but there have been before right
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so why not snag a picture of the plate
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when you get in double check your app
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make sure it is the right person make
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sure it is the right car you're not just
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getting in some random person's car
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right these are the simple things that
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have been key things that we could think
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about forever but now with technology
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it's even easier to to doublech checkck
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some of these
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mechanisms when we talk about nightlife
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there are a lot of substances often that
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show up in those types of settings and
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I'm not here to tell you what to do or
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what not to do you're an adult you're
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going to make your adult decisions but
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what I am encouraging you to do is
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consider safety right if you are going
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to partake how do you know that you are
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partaking in what you signed up for
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right so if it goes with a drink are you
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actually watching the drink being open
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manipulated prepared can you guarantee
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all those safeguards at a bar hopefully
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that's a safer uh level of credibility
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than say going to some friend of a
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friend's house and what they already
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have mixed into the thing that you're
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partaking in right so again it's
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awareness having a buddy system is
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certainly an added layer of protection
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for things like that so just as
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important about whether you decide to
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carry something or not and what you
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carry or not is whether you can access
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the thing that you're carrying at the
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time that you're going to need it
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another key factor just as important is
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whether you are going to use the thing
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that you're carrying or maybe you even
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have it in your hand have you wrapped
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your head around what this is going to
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be like using this device this implement
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against an attacker and I hope you do
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think about that right i hope you do
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prepare yourself and acknowledge that
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you absolutely have a right to protect
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yourself your safety is your prerogative
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you need to make sure that you get home
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safe you need to make sure that you and
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your friends get home safe no one has
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the right to take advantage of that and
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to overcome that
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so in summary I just want to hit on a
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few things we can recognize a lot about
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ourselves what we perceive but also how
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we are perceived right so confidence
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keeping your head up chin up shoulders
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back that kind of thing can signal a lot
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of things to people it can signal hey
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back off i'm not meek i can take care of
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myself also your friends right keeping
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your head on the swivel being aware of
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your surroundings that's the next piece
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environment know what you're walking
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into know what you're walking out of
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what your tools and resources are and
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all these safeguards that we talked
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about whether it's a buddy system or
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whether it's sharing your location or
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just updating someone or saying "Hey if
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I don't if I don't hit you up by this
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time I want you to check in on me and
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please show up like I might need you to
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get me out of some trouble." So whatever
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the thing is just know yourself know the
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environment stay curious and don't be
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paranoid right by having these
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discussions with yourself and with your
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friends and loved ones by having this
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mental framework you can actually remove
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the paranoia because now you've decided
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to embrace preparedness