Ohio University Police Department revived their Rape Aggression Defense Class this semester, offering it for free to any students interested.
Taylor Ross kicked Ohio University Police Officer Brandon King on Sunday evening in Walter Fieldhouse. Behind her, 11 other women patiently waited for their turns.
Ross, a sophomore studying nursing, has attended King’s weekly Rape Aggression Defense classes since March 15.
The classes, which King revived, discuss how to be more aware of one’s surroundings and teach women how to use self-defense techniques to combat sexual assault.
The classes, which end April 26, are composed mostly of students.
“(The class) is teaching you techniques to avoid rape or being taken, and just protecting yourself,” Ross said.
OUPD decided to revive the RAD program — a free course that got lost in the university curriculum years ago — this year. King teaches the female-only, six-week course every week from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“It’s a very, very basic self-defense geared toward women,” King said. “I’ve been wanting to start. It’s not that the RAD program went away, there was a lack of interest.”
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At last week’s class, King taught the group of women a combination of defense drills that included a variety of kicks, punches and blocking techniques. King has the women use verbal “No” commands with each strike.
“It takes a thousand times before something becomes natural,” King said.
At the end of the course, King brings in mock aggressors dressed in padded suits to practice simulation events with the trainees. The aggressors come from Marshall University, which King believes to have the best RAD program in the nation.
“One simulation could be, you are standing at the ATM machine, and someone comes up from behind you and starts harassing you. … (My students) get to utilize (their skills) on these aggressors,” King said.
King said his class teaches escape techniques in the event that someone tries to physically pull the victim away. That training demonstrates how to escape situations such as someone aggressively putting his or her arm around a person or someone grabbing a person by his or her wrist or shoulders.
“Our goal is to defend, find your escape route, try to get to a safe place where you can contact the police,” King said.
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King said he realized there was a sizeable interest in a RAD class after he recently taught a self-defense course for a group of students in Jefferson Hall. The residential coordinator there had 90 students who said they were interested in the course, though King only had enough officers to teach 20 or 25 individuals.
“This tells me that people are now truly interested in the self-defense program,” King said.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said he’s heard good reviews regarding the RAD training, though his department is working toward education on a different level.
“There’s not a huge demand for (the class) for people other than students,” Pyle said.
Instead, APD is working to bring sexual assault investigators and advocates together to develop a stronger working relationship between the two groups while fostering a better understanding of the legal process.
The RAD program was promoted at freshman orientation and was once promoted at the Ping Center, King said.
King said his goal is to show the university that the program is successful and to have administrators offer it in the course catalog for OU students.
“I have a passion for self- defense,” King said. “Some people like to fish, I like to teach people how to defend themselves.”
Ross said she joined the course because her mother suggested it, though she’s doing it for her own benefit now.
“I like the fighting,” she said.
@Fair3Julia
jf311013@ohio.edu
