Have you ever looked over your shoulder, afraid that someone was following you? Most people have.
With the clocks falling back this weekend, it’ll start getting darker even earlier, so Andrea Canning spoke with former Secret Service agent Evy Pompouras on today’s episode of Dateline: True Crime Weekly to get tips on what to do if you find yourself in that situation.
You can listen to the full episode now, for free.
Plus, read a transcript of their exchange below:
Andrea Canning: Hey, Evy.
Evy Pompouras: Hey.
Canning: We’ve all had that feeling like someone’s behind you. Maybe following you, maybe not, but it’s a weird feeling that you get. What should you do in that situation when you are unsure?
Pompouras: You should absolutely trust that feeling. Don’t second guess yourself. And perhaps nobody is following you, but that feeling might also be telling you the environment that you’re in right now is -- is generally unsafe. So it’s telling you, be cautious, be aware. And maybe remove myself from here. It doesn’t make you weak. It makes you aware and it makes you proactive. And quite honestly, you’re going to minimize your exposure to bad things happening.
Canning: So what should you do? Should -- should you ever confront the person, or should you just keep walking faster? What do you do?
Pompouras: I will say it depends on the scenario. So let’s say someone is following you. If I feel somebody is too close and there’s distance, I’ll cross the street. I’ll move away, or I’ll turn down a different block. Now, if somebody makes contact with you, if they come close to you or they’re speaking to you, I think what you want to portray to them, to some degree, is, “Not me. Not today.” Predators want easy prey. They want easy targets. And if they think you are a little bit off or a little bit crazy, guess what? They will leave you alone. And the other thing people can also do is yell, scream, make noise.
Canning: And yeah, they don’t want that attention on them.
Pompouras: They don’t want the attention. And sometimes these predators, they’re not that strong. You envision them as being this really horrific, strong, powerful human being, and I will tell you most of the time they are not.
Canning: What classes do you recommend for self-defense? What do you think are the best ones, um, for helping you out there in the real world?
Pompouras; With self-defense classes, simple ones are the best. But what I find, sometimes, is they teach you these really confusing moves. And when you’re in a scenario where your stress is up, you’re not going to remember them. That’s why I always tell people, “Think simple.” OK, somebody is coming at me: Claw their eyes. OK, scratch their face. Bite their neck. Sounds savage, but it will do the trick. Kick their shins. You want to think of, like, “Where can I strike this person?” And the whole goal -- always -- is to strike and run away. Your job is not to sit there and engage and have a one-on-one. It’s like, “I need a few seconds to get out of there.”
Canning: And so -- and you say avoid the chest area. Or if you’re going after a man, go after the groin area.
Pompouras: So let’s do this kind of like, let’s go in reverse. We’re going to go from bottom up. Areas to strike: top of somebody’s foot, the front of somebody’s shin. Why? ‘Cause there’s bone under that skin. Now, as you move further up, um, groin area is good, but you have to have the power to do that, and that’s really hard. And you have to come close. I know I sound repetitive: Scratch, claw, bite in the face.
Canning: What can you have with you in your purse or in your pocket that -- that could help keep you safe?
Pompouras: You know, those personal alarms are really good. It’s these alarms you can put on your key chain. And it draws attention and that person instinctually will turn around and go. Those are really simple ways to keep yourself safe.
Canning: Yeah, those things are high-pitched, those alarms. All right, Evy, as always, incredibly helpful tips to keep all of us safe. We thank you so much for your expertise in this area.
Pompouras: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
