May 24, 2010

Topic: Personal Safety

On health and wellness day, two of the many guest speakers were Darren Laur and his wife, Beth Laur. Darren is a police officer for the Victoria Police, and also teaches classes on personal and internet safety. They travel around to various schools and work places teaching classes on how to avoid dangerous situations. The vision of Darren and Beth is to "promote awareness and safety and to excel in everything we do as a company." They have both written many books on personal safety such as: Enlighten Not Frighten, Total Awareness: A Woman’s Safety Book, and Internet Safety 101. These two people are making a huge difference around British Columbia among youths and adults. Darren talked about what to do if you ever get in a situation where you are being threatened, or someone is trying to get something from you. Some things that people do unconsciously that make them more vulnerable victims are: walking with your head down, losing eye contact with people who approach you, listening to music and reading or texting while walking. Strategies to ensure that you won't be a victim could be walking confidently with your head up, checking your surroundings constantly making brief eye contact with everyone, stop and lean against a building if you have to text, and listening to your music with only one headphone in. Many of the reasons that some people become victims of harsh crimes are because they are too embarrassed to do what they are suppose to. A tip that Darren gave us was that if you are wearing a long skirt, or long jacket and are being threatened then lift it up high and run, many people don’t do that because they are too embarrassed. Listening to this speaker helped many of us to consider our actions so that we don't become the future victims of street crimes.

Meghan B., grade 12, Strathcona House