I first met Linda Sandersen because I was on staff at the San Francisco Writers Conference. She won some coaching from me about her book, a biography of somebody she met in her career as an investigator for a public defender’s office.
The thing about people who work for a public defender for a long time is, they get to know how criminals operate. Even though they occasionally defend somebody technically innocent — and even though recent news has exposed how that happens far too often — she also dealt with a lot of people who break the law professionally. I mean a lot.
She was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about ways we can avoid becoming their targets. That happened in three stages, which I’ll go into here for a while.
Make Yourself a Less Attractive Target
Criminals only make victims when a person has something they want. If you don’t look like you have something worth taking, you’re less likely to be targeted. One place this shows up is in what Linda called Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 neighborhoods.
Type 1 neighborhoods are most of your suburbs and upper-middle-class areas. People there tend not to be criminals (or only white collar criminals). The police are on the same side as the residents. People and things tend to be safe.
Type 3 neighborhoods are dangerous and crime-ridden. Many residents are involved in crime, some professionally. Often the police are viewed as enemies of the residents. Gangs are common.
Type 2 neighborhoods are in between. Most of the residents are law-abiding and on the same side as the cops, but they’re close enough to Type 3 neighborhoods that crime frequently spills over.
If you live in a Type 1 neighborhood and go into a Type 2 neighborhood (for example, most downtowns and theater districts) with a nice car, fancy clothes, and expensive jewelry, you make yourself an attractive target.
Similarly, because bad guys often take field trips into Type 1 neighborhoods (that’s where all the good stuff to steal is), having a home that suggests wealth will attract their attention. So will having open bay windows without blinds, where they can see your big-screen TV and the silver picture frames on the wall.
Yes, some criminals want your body, or your compliance, which is hard to just not make visible, but this advice will keep you safer by making fewer people want what’s yours. For that other kind of criminal, we need to look at the second point.
Make Yourself a Less Attractive Victim
This isn’t the same thing as being a less attractive target. A target is something a criminal might want. A victim is somebody a criminal can take something from. If you look alert, aware, assertive, and willing to fight for your family, criminals are more likely to go bother somebody else.
Remember: criminals don’t want to take risks or do work. If they wanted that, they’d have…you know…jobs. Instead, they want it to be easy and fast, to not get caught, and to not get hurt.
Some time ago, Grayson and Stein showed videos of pedestrians in New York City to a variety of criminals and asked them to point out who they would try to victimize. Even though they were different sizes and races, with different backgrounds and crimes, they chose the same people reliably. They also pointed out to people who they would not mess with, again choosing the same people.
Based on that study, a less attractive victim:
Has their head and eyes up
Is not buried in a book or a phone
Walks with brisk, wide strides
Has arms swinging naturally
Stands up straight
In other words, people who look alert and confident are less attractive victims than others. Criminals will steer clear of you and your family.
Don’t Buy Trouble
If those two points above don’t work and you find yourself accosted by a criminal, you have to decide immediately if you think they want your stuff, or they want you (or your kids).
If they want your stuff, Linda recommends giving them your stuff. Don’t say anything. Don’t stall or argue, or vent your anger. Get it over with as quickly as possible and live to love your family another day. Anything you say or do that might set off the criminal (who might well be under the influence of drugs, alcohol, teenage testosterone, or all three), could mean you get hurt when otherwise you wouldn’t. Give them your stuff quickly, cooperate, and be done with it.
If they want you, fight immediately with everything you have. Scream, bite, kick, gouge, use weapons. Go completely medieval on the bad guy until the threat is over. Try to escape if you can. Turn the bad guy into inert biological matter if you can’t. NEVER, never go with the bad guy to a more secluded location, let them tie you up or handcuff you, or do either of those things to your kids.
Those two responses are how you keep things from getting worse.
If You Get a Chance…
…check out the whole interview. Linda said a lot more smart stuff, and you should hear what she has to say.
