My pals, Alex Dovgalevsky, who runs Guns N’ Moses in the greater San Diego area, and Scott Kirshner, president of Dedicated Threat Solutions, LLC, and author of several books on safety and violence mitigation strategies, discuss the reliance on “rape whistles” or alarms for self-protection.
ALEX DOVGALEVSKY: Here is my take on these alarms, or “rape whistles” type of self-protection.
These alarms have no stopping power, there is no function in them that actually stops the attacker. Women are actually carrying a devise for self-protection, but it has no features that could even temporarily stop the attacker to give the intended victim a chance to escape.
These alarms are supposed to work by bringing citizen heroes and first responders directly to the place of attack. But is that what really is going to happen? What do all of us do when we hear a car alarm? Do we run out of the house yelling “stop this car thief!”? Do we dial 911 to inform them immediately that there is a car theft in progress? Or do we stay at home, annoyed that some “jerk’s” alarm is going off?
Women that are relying on this seem to forget that they have an internal alarm system called their voice, that can usually be just as loud as this device, but a lot more effective in notifying the public of an imminent attack. People are much more likely to correctly respond to a female screaming over a mechanical alarm going off.
A devise that gives people “peace of mind” but not actual protection is harmful because women may choose to go places or meet people they otherwise would not have. Illusion of safety is very dangerous because it leads people to accept greater risk then they are capable of dealing with.
Finally, having a useless devise takes place of a useful one. Something with actual stopping power. Not to mention how much deceptive “peace of mind” prevents actual training and risk aversion.
SCOTT KIRSHNER: Alex, you are spot on. Such items provide an “illusion of safety” but will do nothing against a physical attack to include preventing an attack. People tend to ignore alarms and even if there are people around who are capable of helping it does not mean they will help.
Safety and security need to be a layered approach and an alarm is fine to have IF YOU HAVE OTHER LAYERS IN PLACE THAT CAN ACTUALLY ASSIST YOU IN YOUR GOAL OF BEING SAFER!
There is a world of difference between being prepared for the best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario!
CONCLUSION: Not only are these “alarms” completely worthless, they do women a disservice by giving them a false sense of security.
