One of the sad realities of life is that not everybody is as nice as we are here at the Insider. In fact, some people are downright evil and wouldn’t hesitate to attack a woman for any number of absurd reasons.
Nobody – man or woman – should have to feel afraid to go to the ATM, grocery store or anywhere else for that matter. And if you’re a woman who wants to learn how to defend yourself in case you find yourself in a dangerous or uncomfortable situation, you should check out the Rape Aggression Defense System classes put on by the Concord Police Department.
The RAD System is a program of realistic self-defense tactics and techniques. It’s a comprehensive course for women 18 and older (or 13 to 17 if accompanied by an adult) that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance, and eventually moves through the basics of hands-on defense training.
And it’s strictly for women.
“We tell people, ‘Don’t even tell your husbands’ ” what went on, said Concord police Officer Amanda Reed, who runs the free course.
The idea behind this is that if men know all about the techniques designed to fend them off, they’ll be able to adjust and learn how to thwart those tactics. Reed said that even if a woman were to tell her husband, he may casually mention something to a friend, which may be overheard, and the next thing you know everyone’s talking about how to get around these special defensive techniques.
The RAD System is a national program, and there are also RAD classes for men and seniors, though the Concord police aren’t certified in training for those classes.
The program consists of 12 hours of training, one night a week over four weeks. And during the final course, the women get a chance to show what they know by going through a few real-world scenarios they may encounter on any given day. A session just ended last week, and although I have the Y chromosome, I was allowed to go watch the scenarios at the Heights Community Center – and what a sight it was to see.
Without giving too much away, let’s just say that each woman was presented with three terrifying scenarios they had to escape from. Playing the “bad guys” were Concord police Officer Craig Levesque and retired officer Steve Clarke, who now helps out with the UNH Police Department doing “whatever they ask me.”
The officers wore thick padded suits and helmets with face masks – all essential gear, as these guys took some serious beatings over the course of the night. The women wore some protective gear as well, just not as much.
The women had to use all the techniques they learned – using strong, loud words; kicking; punching; running like the dickens.
And boy, did these women know what they were doing. The room was often filled with screams of “No!” and “Come on!” (uttered by the pretend thugs), and the sound of foam padding being struck with crushing blows. If you were just walking by the room and didn’t know what was going on, you’d think a legitimate attack was taking place.
But all of the women did well and escaped unharmed – and emboldened.
“It’s definitely a confidence builder,” said Rhonda Lara, who completed the class last week by absolutely dominating the two men in padded suits.
“It’s made me be more aware,” added Krystal Heins, who packed quite the punch herself.
“Be firm. Be confident,” was the takeaway for June Tillotson.
And that’s really the goal of the program. Although the physical stuff make for good photos, the most important parts of the training take place before any of that happens. The goal is to avoid having to use the physical tactics at all, but being able to stand your ground when there’s no other choice.
The Concord police have been running the program for about a year and half, and “I have waiting lists for all classes at this point,” Reed said. Space is an issue, because only 10 to 12 people can take the class at one time.
The hope is to have another session at the end of March.
Go to concordnh.gov/index.aspx?NID=1406 for the most up-to-date information.
