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FeelSaferNow.com Offers Tips and Strategies for College Students


Stay Safe on Campus

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) August 31, 2007 — College students keep an average of $5,000 in valuables in their dorm rooms. Theft on campus is a huge problem that increases significantly each year. As you can guess, nothing is usually done about theft on campus. Parents can help their children stay safe and prevent crime with the following tips and strategies from FeelSaferNow.com.

Items such as our Diversion Safes, which are ordinary looking objects that have a safe in them are a great place to place cash, jewelry and other valuables. There are over 30 different looking, different sized safes to hide valuables in. Some of the most popular diversion safes are the book safe, the 7-Up Soda can safe, the flower pot safe, the peanut butter jar safe, and the hair spray can safe. Our dorm room alarms are a great security device that makes sleeping at night a lot more comfortable for students. If any motion is detected on the outside door handle, this alarm will sound off at very high decibels.

Date rape, rape, and sexual assault are the most unreported crime on a college campus. The "dating game" changes significantly in college than from the way it was in high school. Students are exposed to thousands of people all at once, with different backgrounds, and unknown reputations or backgrounds.

Experts say that only 5% of campus rape is reported. If that is true, then the real number of rapes at the IU Bloomington campus must be astronomical. What was reported were approximately 16 rapes in 2005 and 10 rapes in 2006. One student who was raped last year ended up going to another college, because her attacker only received a suspension. "Clearly, our young women are not being treated fairly, and frankly they need to be able to defend themselves, since college authorities are not able to," states Julie Hogan, co-owner of Feel Safer Now and mother of 3.

Drinking has a huge correlation to date rape, because it clouds judgment. There is a stereotype that if a woman was drinking, she asked for it.

TIPS for a young woman at college: Feelings of guilt or shame will keep a rape victim from getting assistance and reporting the crime. Don’t play into this. If you cannot consent to sex because you are impaired, then it is rape. Period. Think about it for a minute. Lets say a guy on campus is drunk, and a stranger decides to take him home and rape him, assault him, or shave his head bald. When this guy wakes up the next day, he won’t feel guilty about being drunk, 99% of the time he will DO something about it. He won’t let the fact that he was drunk stand in his way of getting revenge or reporting a crime.

While alcohol often plays a role in a rape of a woman, the drugs GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) and Rohypnol, are very often used in rape assaults. There is no smell or taste with these drugs. It is absolutely essential for college women to refuse a drink offered to them and to be extremely protective over the drink they are holding. TIP: Never put it down or leave it unattended for even a few seconds. If you are out, drinking, and suddenly you become ill, you will only have a few minutes to act before you become unconscious. Try to get help immediately, before you pass out. Otherwise, the unfortunate scenario is a rape.

Campus security should be available to you if your child need assistance at any time. TIPS for your college student: Don’t walk alone at night, or take short cuts on campus that you are not familiar with. Always be aware of your surroundings, even though it is easy to get distracted on campus with changing classes, or your cell phone rings and you start chatting without paying attention. Just pay attention to where you are, and who is nearby. Watch people and look them in the eye if possible, act confident, stand tall and look aware. This alone can make a predator choose someone else to bother. It is essentially important to have at least 2 self defense products to stay safe and to feel secure in bad situations. For college students we really like the Wildfire Pepper Spray 18%, which is the strongest available , Cell Phone Stun Gun, Kubaton with the point, and The Mace Screecher alarm. These items are extremely easy to use and to carry around. They are important because of the huge potential they have to save your child from harm. Criminals and rapists are not expecting you to be armed with protection. We want to level the playing field with these slimeballs, and why shouldn’t we?

Talk to your child about how important it is to let their room mates know where they are planning to go and for approximately how long they will be gone. Otherwise, no one will know that you are missing, should something happen to you. If you can arrange it, get the cell phone number of their room mate in case of an emergency.

Keeping your child safe on campus has to be the top priority. Our job as a parent is not over when our children go off to college, but a new chapter has begun. The FeelSaferNow.com group is currently offering a free pepper spray with every order! "if it helps just one student fend off an attack, it will have been worth our investment and time," states Bob Hogan, co-owner.


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