R.A.D. Systems
23305 Hwy 16
Denham Springs, LA 70726
Voice: (225) 791-4430
Fax: (225) 791-4431
Hours: 10am-3pm Central

R.A.D. Systems

The Law Enforcement Trainer September/October 1997

Self Defense Education & Community Oriented Policing: The R.A.D.ical Combination
by Lawrence N. Nadeau

Most women fear for their safety at some point every day of their lives. This is an astounding revelation to men, who rarely fear for their safety at all.

It shocks the mind to think that one of every eight women, at least 12.1 million has been the victim of forcible rape. Equally appalling is one study that estimates 25% of all rapes occur to male and female children under the age of 13. Women and children are victims of countless acts of violence committed on a daily basis in this country, yet many law enforcement and public safety departments shun their obligation to educate the community they serve about violence, how to reduce the risks of violence or the many options for deterring the commission of violent acts. Public safety departments have a responsibility to educate their communities regarding things that may keep them safe from violence, hence the title Public Safety. In truth, law enforcement officers are not omnipresent entities that detect violence as it happens, evidenced by the estimated 1.3 women raped every minute in the United States. An inability for police to be everywhere at once interrupting violence and the desire to provide protection to the public they service before they become victimized, creates a set of circumstances that mandates another approach. Let's face it, law enforcement as a profession has become increasingly reactive to crime, especially crimes against persons, and particularly against women and children. Community Oriented Policing programs are vital and very popular with many departments, but they are much more involved than simply creating a sense of safety through high visibility. True Community Oriented Policing initiatives include educational programming, and in fact make education a foundational cornerstone, as evidenced by the success of Citizen Police Academies. Giving the citizens information they need to be Ambassadors of their own safety is a prudent, responsible and effective response to the violent times we live in. Our citizenry certainly has a right to know how to protect themselves from violence, and they have a right to expect public safety departments to provide this valuable information. Public safety departments on the other hand are obligated to fulfill the public's expectation and need for realistic self-defense education, and many already do.

Still there are some public safety administrators that fear the potential liability of teaching self defense skills to their community, failing to see that in actuality, by doing nothing at all they will incur more liability as a result of being deliberately indifferent to the publics overall safety needs. To make things worse, some departments only make token efforts to educate the community with safety brochures and lectures that promote compliance as a safe response when assaulted. These approaches alone show signs of being consciously insufficient with regard to a department's educational responsibilities. It is clear some administrators do not truly understand what self defense education is all about, but in fairness not many people do. Many of us are locked into a paradigm when we hear the phrase Self Defense. The overwhelming tendency is to think of the defensive physical response to a physical assault: hands, feet, elbows, knees.... all used against an attacker's sensitive and vulnerable target areas. When in fact the defensive physical response is a very small part of what self-defense really is. Self Defense, when viewed holistically, is a whole myriad of options ranging from awareness and risk reduction strategies, to even the self preservation act of compliance in certain situations. All that lies between these tow defensive extremes falls under the broad heading of Self Defense. As educators, the instructional objective is more to develop and enhance the many options of self defense, so those options become viable considerations to the woman or child that is attacked. Misguided instructors who tell their students to "Do this when that happens" of "Do that when this happens" are promoting unrealistic step by step guidelines and giving limited, dangerous advice. This method can also place the burden of liability firmly on the instructor and/or the department he or she represents. What the public requires instead is enough foundational information and physical practice to make their own objective decisions about what is appropriate when faced with a compromising situation. What they also require is the opportunity to develop their personal strengths and weaknesses and identifying tailored defensive strategy. So where does a public safety or police department begin if they wish to provide self-defense education to their community? Instructor Certification will be the single most important decision a department makes in educating their public about self-defense options and strategies. If any one self-defense philosophy or program could be considered a National Standard, it would be the R.A.D. Systems. R.A.D. is an acronym for Rape Aggression Defense, which means essentially defense against abduction. Wait a minute, did you say a National Standard, but a lot of people teach self-defense, how could there ever be a National Standard? Very quietly R.A.D. Systems has managed to establish programs by which all others are measured. By being well researched, structured, responsible, defensible and dynamic, R.A.D. Systems has remained the only self defense program ever endorsed by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA). Founded in 1989, the R.A.D. Systems of self defense for women and children are currently taught at nearly 400 colleges, universities, rape crisis centers, municipal, state and county law enforcement agencies. Since it's inception, the R.A.D. Systems have certified almost 2000 Instructors, who in turn have taught the programs to over 45,000 women and children nationwide. These are hard earned credentials, the result of countless hands on training hours, the type of credible education that cannot be acquired through a 30 or 45 minute workshop, a flash and trash video tape, or some quick fix high gloss magazine article. No, the R.A.D. philosophy is earned through blood, sweat and tears, but those who pay the price are positively changed for life.

R.A.D.'s motto, "Self Defense Education is Their Right, and Our Responsibility," reflects the commitment of this unique network of instructors. R.A.D. Instructors feel an inherent responsibility to provide educational opportunities to their students, concerning self-defense options. These instructors thrive on creating drills and scenarios for participants to develop and refine critical strategies needed when situations occur that could place their students in grave danger. The R.A.D. Basic Physical Defense System begins with a strong foundation of awareness, risk reduction and avoidance strategies, which R.A.D. believes is 90% of self defense training. The program then discusses the Date Rape Mentality and an associated pattern of encounter, all just prior to discussing the decision to resist and the legalities associated with justifiable resistance. The course moves on to a thorough discussion of confrontational dynamics, basic physical defense principles, the postures of conflict, personal weapons of the body and selected target areas designed to stun an aggressor and allow the student to escape. After all of this is covered and presented for discussion, the physical training begins. Starting slowly, the R.A.D. program systematically covers the basics of stances, yelling, movement, blocking, striking, and kicking. Tactics that are instructed methodically at first, becoming progressively more intense as the skill is acquired. The physical options continue with defenses against wrist grabs, bear hugs, and chokes, focusing on the student's personal weapons, the aggressors body targets and ultimately escaping. Then the system takes it to the ground by teaching participants the basic defense against prone assaults. Once all of the skills are taught and assimilated by the participants. R.A.D. begins the revolutionary simulation training process that separates reality from preconceived notions of what confrontation is like. Using the world's first manufacturer produced simulation training suit for self-defense (The R.A.D. Systems Aggressor), R.A.D. creates the chaotic elements of real confrontation. This process actually allows students to test their skills and refine the critical plans of action that were selected and nurtured throughout the program. The R.A.D. Systems formula for success is based upon the premise, "United we stand, divided we fall." The united efforts of hundreds of instructors teaching from the same curriculum and philosophy, offers shared experience, insight, and support to every individual instructor within the network. Instructors actively network through three main venues, a 16 page quarterly newsletter called The Instructor's Voice, a closed internet forum and web sight maintained by RADnet Support Services, and they will also gather together annually for updates and additional certification at the R.A.D. International Training and Certification Conference being conducted in July 1998. In addition to the networking comradery, R.A.D. Instructors honor each other's students with their exclusive lifetime return and practice policy. This valuable benefit cost students nothing! A R.A.D. graduate of any system, taught by any instructor can return and practice anywhere that the same system is being offered, absolutely cost free. In today's transient society, this is a real benefit that could only be offered by a committed network the size of R.A.D. Systems.

Is R.A.D. Systems really the National Standard many believe it is or more accurately could it be considered a National Treasure?

1. National Victims Center Report 1992.
2. Mass. Department of Health Study on Sexual Assault
3. National Victims Center Report 1992.

About the Author, Lawrence N. Nadeau has been a police officer for more than 16 years and currently serves as a Regional Director for the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers (ASLET). Larry is a member of the RedMan Advisory Board and a primary consultant to Macho Products, Inc. He is also an Adjunct Instructor for the H&K International Training Division, and Director of the Tidewater Academy located in Poquoson, Virginia. If you would like to contact Larry, or acquire more information about R.A.D. Systems, call 1-888-472-3543.