On this page:
Why Avoidance?* | Who's Going to be Robbing You? | Kinds of robbery* | Fringe areas*| Five Stages of Violent Crime* | Home Invasion | Robbery avoidance | Attack Range | Car jacking | Pyramid of Personal Safety* | Lethal force | Normal, Abnormal, or Dangerous?* | The cost of "defending yourself" | What NOT to do while being robbed * | Lunch Time Lectures: Crime Prevention (Colorado)

Robbery is defined by the US department of Justice as: The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody or control from a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

This is different from mere theft, where force is not used against you personally, but objects are stolen. In short: Theft happens to your property. Robbery happens to you.

In theft your any damage will occur to the item stolen or other property (i.e. your door kicked in by a burglar). With robbery the threat of harm is to you.

A pick pocket (who takes your wallet out of your purse) is not committing robbery, he is committing theft. Someone who walks up and puts a gun in your face and demands your purse is committing robbery. In a robbery, you are put in danger. This is why robbery is deemed a more serious crime.

IF you are lucky, you will only be offered the threat of violence.

Why is Avoidance Best? It might require you to take extra steps, it might even require you to hang up your cell phone and return to where you came from, but why is avoidance the best option?

Who's Going To Be Robbing You? To understand both the dangers and why you want to avoid such situations, you might like to understand what kind of person commits robberies and muggings.

Kinds of robbery Different states have different definitions and different statutes regarding robbery. But there are basic kinds of robbery and often what you do for a living or where you live determines what kind of robbery you are most likely to encounter

Fringe areas Most personal robberies occur in what we call "fringe areas." This is a common term that runs through our system. What constitutes a fringe area might surprise you.

Five Stages of Violent Crime What are the predictable - and easily identified stages a violent crime MUST go through in order to happen? How to identify when you are being set up for a violent crime

Robbery avoidance Avoidance sounds wimpy until you are staring down the barrel of a gun, then it begins to make all sorts of sense. Unfortunately, by then it is too late. It is far easier to avoid being robbed by taking simple and easy steps.

Attack Range
Do you know how to tell when you're about to be attacked? How about being set up for one? Let's talk about recognizing attack range

Car jacking Much of what you can do to prevent your vehicle from being carjacked can be found in the robbery avoidance page, however, there are some things that are specific to carjacking.

Home Invasion
There is no type of robbery more dangerous than home invasion. This page explains why.

Lethal force For those of you who find the idea of using lethal force to protect yourself uncomfortable, it is critical to realize that it exactly the level of force, whether lethal or of grave bodily injury that the robber is offering you. And that means you ARE in serious danger.

Normal, Abnormal, and Dangerous
A sad reality of defending yourself from robbery is that you're likely going to end up on the witness stand facing hostile counsel. One of the ways attorneys operate is, like computer hackers pinging for computers without firewalls, the lawyer is going to ping for weaknesses in what you say and know. After you say "He was..." a common strategy is "How do you know he wasn't...?" (For example, you say, "I saw him do a witness check before approaching." The attorney responds with "Is is not possible he was looking for a friend?") Do you know how to answer such a question? The Normal, Abnormal, Dangerous model gives you a way to answer such questions.

Pyramid of personal Safety The pyramid of Personal Safety is a multi-level system designed to both discourage and foil criminals from preying on you. It is a blanket protection against several kinds of crime ranging from burglary, robbery and stalking. The more levels you include the safer you will be.

The cost of "defending yourself" Many people think about getting a weapon or training to protect themselves from robbery. Others are appalled by the idea. We maintain this is a personal decision for each person to make. If you do chose to acquire either weapon or training, however, you are not exempt from deploying an avoidance strategy. There is a psychological cost of using lethal force on another human being. What the following article discusses is some of the long term repercussions that one must expect--especially if you did not try to avoid the situation. The article was written to get through to you a young man who had cavalierly discussed the idea of using a knife on another human being, as such the language is somewhat rough being a "Wake up Junior." Although focused on knife use, it is applicable to any lethal force usage.

What NOT to do while being robbed
Did you know poor people are less likely to be injured while being robbed than those from the middle class? It turns out to be about behavior. Here's a introduction to how to avoid provoking such attacks

Lunch Time Lectures: Crime Prevention For businesses in the Colorado Front Range area (Denver & Colorado Springs) we offer a one-hour "Lunch Time Lecture" on crime avoidance and personal safety. We travel to your office and lecture your staff on how not to be the victim of crime. This is not a self-defense seminar, it's how not to be selected as a victim.

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