Crime-Safety-Security
Newsletter
25 March 2008

Folklore and fables – from vampire and wolfman legends to tales of The Brothers’ Grimm – tell us of ogres, fiends, and monsters. Today we call them violent criminals. They’ve always plagued us and – as long as passions, madness, and evil exist – always will. Let’s blow away a predator's biggest advantage: the naïveté of the prey.

VA TECH SHOOTING RAMPAGE

It's not hard to see how the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech happened, nor how the gunman was able to move around the campus so freely. As a 1992 graduate, I lived in the hall where the first killings took place Monday morning. Blacksburg, both on and off-campus, was an extremely safe place to live and remains the sort of town where people can walk the streets at night without fear. What happened there could have happened anywhere.
Excerpted from Beau Yarbrough’s report in The Hesperia Star (WA) – 17 April 2007

Trey Perkins, a student at Virginia Tech, recalled the gunman who burst into his class, pointed a handgun at each student and pulled the trigger. Then the gunman suddenly stopped firing and left the room... A few minutes later, he tried to force his way back inside and managed to open the door a crack, but the students pushed back hard enough to stop him. Another student, Derek O’Dell, said, “It was almost like you had to fight for your life. If you didn’t, you died.” ... Mr. Perkins said he was struck at how Mr. O’Dell managed to help hold back the gunman, given his injury. “It was just amazing to me that he was still up and leaning against the door,” he said. “Derek was able to hold him off while I was helping other people.” ... Mr. O’Dell said that initially at least he had not noticed he had been shot. “I looked down and realized I was bleeding,” he said. “That’s when I took off my belt and used it as a tourniquet.
Excerpted from The New York Times – 18 April 2007

Rampage shooters in schools and shopping malls – or anywhere – have the same early-warning-signs as rampage shooters in the workplace, as described in Risks & Remedies. Also see Shooting Rampage.

REPORT EVEN CASUAL THREATS
You hear it time and again. “It can’t happen here.” Unfortunately it can. Omaha’s Westroads Mall, Virginia Tech University, Columbine High School. They all thought, “It couldn’t happen here.” But it did happen here, it did happen there, it has happened all over the country and it could happen again. ... Dr. Susan Lipkins, considered the leading authority in high school and college violence, said that extra police and things like metal detectors don’t get to the root of the problem. “Schools still are not addressing how to identify and track potentially violent students,” she said. “And that inaction is a certain recipe for disaster.”
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Lipkins outlines action plans for anyone who hears a threat to come forward with information:
• Immediately report information to the police or school, when it appears that a student is extremely isolated, depressed, hostile, unstable, and obsessed with guns, ammunition and destruction.
• Multiple systems to report suspicious activities must be made available. Tip hotlines should be publicized and include online anonymous ways to report.
• The reporting of activity is not enough. A systematic way to quickly assess the information and alert appropriate administrators, students, and the public needs to be in place, well functioned and practiced.
• Appropriate and immediate staff needs to be available to intervene and protect.
• Train students that they have the power to act/react since a group can overpower individuals [like the 9-11 heroes of United Airlines flight 93].
Excerpted from The North Platte Telegraph (NE) – 22 March 2008

Contact Us with your comments or questions for this newsletter.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION
[I’ve deleted names & locations, and reformatted the e-mail date sequence to scroll down from oldest to newest – ML]

On 11 Mar 2008, the following message was submitted to crime-safety-security.com:
To whom may concern,
I've found your details via internet about protecting women against violence. I'm on behalf of [my friend], she is not a strong woman. Her mother dumped her to abusive home and her mother left her and she is now in [another country]. Now [my friend] is suffering with her ongoing abusive partner. I'm getting worried about her emotional and mental and physical state she's in - especially her safely. She needs help but she don't know how! Is there any way? I need your help and this is urgent. I got all her details of where she's stays. I would be glad to meet you in person to talk more about her. Please please I need your help!!!! She's living in [location deleted]. Please make sure she must not know that I contact you because her abusive partner got a gun and he knows who I am. You know what I'm saying??? I would be much appreicate for your co-operation.
[Concerned Friend]
-------------------------
From:
To: [Concerned Friend]
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Dear [Concerned Friend],
Your concern for [your friend] is most admirable. Contact the local authorities.
If they can't or won't help [your friend], perhaps you can arrange to secrete her to a safe haven where she can start life anew – without her abusive partner able to trace her.
I hope you succeed with helping her find a true escape route. Please let me know what happens.
Thank you,
Michael
--------------------------
From: [Concerned Friend]
To: michaelloftus@crime-safety-security.com Date: 11 Mar 2008
Thanks Michael
I've finally heard from [agency deleted] - we busy co-operating concerning this matter. I rather contact to many people as much as possible to bring attention. I'm glad to have good respond and [agency deleted] will keep in touch with me shortly as I've hoped. I hope for the best for [my friend] to keep her safe from harm. Thank you for your repsond. I really appreciate it. I will let you know how things goes.
All the best
[Concerned Friend]
P.S. By the way, I cannot and will not arrange with her secretly because her partner knows me well and he can get hold of me. [My friend] cannot keep quiet. That's the problem. I'm just hoping [agency deleted] would sort it out. I rather remained anonymous for my own safely sake. See. I have to push to do something. I hope it would works out.
Thanks again. :-)
---------------------------

As Domestic Violence points out, a battered woman is often bewildered by seemingly hopeless circumstances even though they could lead to her murder or suicide. Oftentimes no neighbors even call the police during obvious beatings nearby because they each think or hope someone else will do so. Or afterward, injuries are passed off with flimsy excuses. Bystanders may be afraid to get involved, but if nothing else, you can at least make an anonymous call to the police. Give them enough of a foothold to very possibly save her life – even if she currently refuses to help herself. Also see Rescuing a Victim Safely.

See how to escape a dangerous man at Stalking > Stopping The Stalker.

THE MAN WHO HELPS PEOPLE DISAPPEAR
Frank Ahearn, who describes himself as a privacy expert, is a man who makes a living from making people disappear. "A lot of women who come to me are trying to escape stalkers or violent husbands. ... Success is dependent on following a strict set of rules and, despite increasing technology storing huge amounts of personal information, he insists it is actually now easier for people to reinvent themselves than ever before. Technology is much more of a friend than a foe. "There are pay-as-you-go phones, even pay-as-you-go credit cards. The days when you had to go into a bank with an account book to withdraw money are long gone. ... "My job is basically to go through a checklist with the client and ensure that all loose ends are tied up. ... People ask about what's the best way to visit their friends and that kind of thing. “Those who think disappearing is an easy way out need to think again. The mistake people make is that they forget it's a complete lifestyle change, you can't do anything you used to do before. People get complacent and that's when they put themselves at risk of being discovered."
Excerpted from The Yorkshire Post (UK) – 14 March 2008

A private investigator might help you cover your tracks – and serve as a liaison back at your former home. See the links at Domestic Violence to contact rape crisis/women’s shelter counselors for advice.

Contact Us with any questions, comments, or requests. I’ll answer as many as possible in the next newsletter.

Contact Us for Michael Edward Loftus Sr to speak to your group.

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Pointing out a victim's possible missteps before she fell prey is not always a bad thing, according to Linda Fairstein, renowned author and former New York City sex crimes prosecutor. "If we can learn something from it, we can give her back some dignity," she says. "If we see what the risks are and what would prevent this from happening to someone else, then there's something that benefits the memory of that victim."
Excerpted from The New York Daily News – 24 August 2006

We’d be wise to learn from the little mistakes of victims. Usually, they didn’t know that predators are always hunting for carefree prey. As Dr. Anna Salter wrote in Predators, "Normal, healthy people distort reality to create a kinder, gentler world than really exists."

You don’t need a bulletproof vest, a bodyguard, or to sleep with one eye open – just a new attitude toward being S.A.F.E.:

Skeptical of anyone trying to get near you or trying to isolate you,
Aware of danger zones and escape strategies,
Flexible: being tricky, changing strategies as needed – and if worse comes to worst:
Exploding like a mad dog to fight for your life. Stun & run. See Fighting Options.

Whenever you’re tempted to be careless, ask yourself, "What could possibly happen?" The stories throughout this newsletter and web site show what could possibly happen – and how to avoid being easy prey.

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