I've noticed on posts about EDC and Urban survival kits that one thing people don't seem to carry is personal attack alarms. I guess this is more directed at the women of the forum, but also the men.

My Students Union and the local police force advocate (and provide free of charge) personal attack alarms. These are devices that can be carried that when triggered produce a very loud (in excess of 100decibals) siren that is designed to briefly shock your attacker and allow you precious seconds to run away.

they are either battery powered or run on pressurised air. Once activated by either a button or pin they sound continuously even if dropped.

While if I was mugged, I would immediately give up my bag in preference to being attacked, these devices are useful to have accessable on your person if you are out alone..

Is there a reason why people don't carry them?

for the moment i don't have much CASH for selfdefence equipement, but wenn i got the cash i proberbly won't choice a alarm.

mine choice would be either a powerfull flashlight ( like a surefire ) or a selfdefence spray.
-a flash light blinds the attacked or whatever wenn you aim for it's eye and will give you a few seconds to run.
-selfdefence sprays which are allowed in europe will leave a foam like barriere which interupts vision for a few seconds.( and leaves a nice color behind, which stays there for atleast 5 days <img src="images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />)

a alarm doesn't ( temperairly ) take out the the sense which most people use wenn the want to harm a person, the eye's. So i think alarms aren't as affective...

being able to yell has never prevented attacks to any large degree. Effective evasion or effective defense are the only reasonable approaches. If you are within reach of an assailant then evasion has been eliminated so defense is the appropriate response. Car alarms don't cause bystanders to call the police and neither do personal alarms. The assailant can take your noise-maker away and finish the intended task long before the arrival of help. Bystanders will not suddenly become heroes just because you make a mechanical noise instead of a scream. In america atleast the sad truth is that bystanders routinely, well, stand-by instead of taking the risks implied by intervening in anyway. If you wish to deter an attack, be prepared, trained and equipped to inflict pain or injury to your assailant. Short of that is polyannish and niave. The false sense of security provided by these personal alarms might be more dangerous in that while carrying one someone might think that they are safe walking out to their car alone at 4:00 am after the bar has closed rather than going in a group or some similar foolishness.

Also, The police and the Student Union are both rabid gun-control activist lobbiest for the most part and would rather you be disarmed, at risk and eventually dead, than risk the potential that you shoot someone undeserving and they be blamed for advocating that you be armed.

Er... "noise maker"?If you've never heard one of these, rest assured they are quite "devensive" little weapons and not merely a personal "car alarm".

I was quite young and accompanying my Mother shopping in a woman's boutique. I picked up a small device about the size of a thin lipstick. It was gold and shiny and looked like a perfume sprayer to my uneducated eyes. I pressed the top to see if it had any perfume and to find out what it might smell like...

Pain cut my investigation short and caused me to jerk, tensing my entire body into a standing semi-fetal position and slamming my eyes shut involuntarily.

After managing to open my eyes, I looked around to find out what had happened. I was not the only person with their eyes shut & face scrunched up in a grimace of pain; everyone close to me had obviously felt something unpleasant also. The entire store was frozen; no one moved at all. But the ladies farther away all were looking at me.

It finally dawned on me that what I had in my hand was not a cosmetic appliance but a weapon. I spoke up, "Did I do that?", except that I couldn't hear my voice as I spoke. That freaked me out pretty bad. I had figured out what had happened, but I had never actually "heard" the sonic blast, and now I couldn't even hear my own voice. What freaked me out even worse was when my Mother spoke to me and I couldn't hear her either. I was temporarily deaf.

I was holding it at arm's length when it went off. My hearing eventually returned. I wonder how much more it would have hurt/incapacitated me if it had been at the side of my head when I did it.

But to answer your question Liz, I don't know why I don't carry one. Prejudice, maybe? For some reason, I have sound stun devices in a category with electrical stun devices. Blasting someone in their ear or pressing electrodes into their body... they're both just a bit too "close quarters" for my comfort. For my self defense, I want something that can give me at least a little distance, like a pepper spray (or a lot of distance, like a gun).

Stay safe,
J.T.

Liz:

I think the device you described sounds like a great idea for one simple reason; People committing crimes generally don't like to attract much attention. The racket of a a 100 decibel noise maker along with the screams of "fire"* by the owner will make an assailant more likely to run.

* In the US, people are encouraged to yell "fire" if being attacked because it arouses the morbid curiousity of potential onlookers.


Chris

Liz,

Good question. I, too, have heard some ear-splitting personal alarms, and they are very impressive.

I think that personal protection alarms have some drawbacks, though. For one, they can lull someone into a false sense of security. For another, their effectiveness does depend on whether or not they will attract sufficient attention, and whether or not anyone in the area is going to have the backbone to do anything about it. It is a shame that there are people that will stand by and allow someone else to be attacked, but it happens. Also, even if someone is around that can do something about it, there is a question of whether they can get to you fast enough to do any good.

I don't think that personal protection alarms need to be ruled out altogether, but they are among many options available to you, and should be considered as part of an overall strategy. The key is having a realistic, workable, personal protection strategy.

Criminals do not typically strike at random. They usually pick their targets based on their observations. You might be setting up yourself or your home to be a target without even realizing it. Many people do so every day. You might find it worthwhile to learn what it is that the criminals look for in selecting their targets, thereby reducing the likelihood of setting yourself up. I would strongly suggest that you look into attending NRA's excellent Refuse To Be A Victim crime prevention seminar. While you are at this site, you can check the schedule for seminars in your area. It is not expensive, and the stuff you will learn there is worth its weight in gold. There may well be other seminars that are just as informative, but I have attended and taught the Refuse To Be A Victim seminar, and can vouch for its value.

If you choose to make a firearm part of your personal protection strategy, I would strongly recommend the following excellent books for you to read: Armed and Female, by Paxton Quigley; The Concealed Handgun Manual, by Chris Bird; and two books from the NRA: The Basics of Personal Protection and NRA Guide to the Basics of Personal Protection in the Home. These books are all easy to read, and you'll glean a ton of useful info in no time.

Thanks for all the replies!

My student Union runs self-defence courses that I have attended. They're aimed at teaching awareness of risky situations, increasing your confidence and teaching simple defensive moves.

As i live in the UK, being armed with any sort of weapon is (as far as I'm aware) illegal, and therefore not an option.

I think its the same for pepper sprays and electronic stun devices.

These attack alarms are not designed to attract help because as pointed out by other posters most people don't want to get involved.

Minime: I absolutely agree that these alarms are no substitute for being careful, but attacks can (and have) happened in broad daylight in relatively well frequented areas. These sort of attacks work because you're not expecting them. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

As to training, again, this is more important than any alarm. My union runs these courses as well as handing out the alarms.

Again, being armed not an option where I live (the UK).

As a side note, the alrms are designed to run even if dropped and once activated are fiddly to shut off( as I found out when I accidently set it off <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> )

Couple this with your attack alarm.
http://64.227.169.223/NL_MEATEATER.htm

In the street I discovered it all starts with a good, firm and confident dody language. I lived for two months in a rough part of Birmingham (UK) and learned that most guys aren't as tough as they look as long as you dont start looking down. And I made sure I hardly walked alone. Still glad I am out of there but aslo glad I lived there as the lessons i learned there are invaluable.

Firearms and peppersprays are illigal in the UK. deodrant isnt nor is self defence.

One night around 22.00 I was walking with my brother to the train station with my bro when I discovered a woman stting in an alleyway against the wall, bag on the floor -open, she "sleeping"and clutching her mobile phone. I stopped said:-
"hello" no reaction
"HELLO" woke up
"you ok?" she said she was and I saw black eyes first i thought heroine. Anyway she contioued saying she was alright didnt need any help and basically liked us to leave. I did - but later doubted if it was the right thing to have doen.

If she was assaulted then she would obviously not like male company - if it was a male who assaulted her of course. That made me leave and she had a mobile. Plus I was late for the train even though this should not have played a role it did.

In the end I wished I did stay and help her ring police. But waht do you do when some one does not want help?

reinhardt