Evil walks amongst us everyday and everywhere...
A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The Simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." -Proverbs 27:12
*Disclaimer:
Criminals come in all sizes, race and gender. When I refer to the criminal as "HE" just know it very well could be a "SHE". I am not discriminating but from our position most crimes we deal with are against women by men.
Know Your Enemy
I wish I could describe to you what makes an evil person evil. I wish I could tell you how and why they do what they do. A person is not born evil, so how does it happen? This is the million dollar question that many people study and try to figure out every single day.
No one can answer with 100% certainty how a person becomes the criminal. Is it Nature or Nurture? Is it genetic or learned? Is it a cycle--victim turned victimizer? I strongly believe it’s just the right combination of all of these possibilities. But the more relevant question in my opinion is, “Why?” Why does the criminal want to hurt me and most importantly, why does he think he can hurt me? When we understand the why, we have the upper hand. So, why does the criminal do the things he does?
He Feels Entitled
The criminal has convinced himself that he is entitled to have what he wants. What he basically wants is power. Power over your wallet, your car, and even your body. You are not a person with feelings in his eyes, you are an object only useful in what you can do for him.
He is Self-Centered This goes hand in hand with his sense of entitlement--he’s entitled because he’s self-centered. His motives are pleasure seeking and he suffers from no negative controlling emotions like fear or guilt because the means justify the ends. He does not fear you and he does not fear authority. Empathy is completely absent from the criminal mind.
He is Impulsive and Cutoff The criminal has an uncanny ability to internally rationalize and stop evaluating the outcome of his actions. If that woman hadn’t been wearing that skirt, he wouldn’t have singled her out or the thought, “This car is already unlocked, I might as well steal it.” Crimes are often because of opportunity, and where it would never enter your or my mind to victimize that woman or break into that car; the criminal doesn’t think twice.
He Feels Invincible
The irony of this fantasy is that it’s the criminal’s ultimate downfall. All criminals have a pattern. It’s like a “tell” in the game of poker. He is always tipping his hand whether he realizes it or not but because he feels invincible, he keeps doing it. The excitement of not getting caught even though the threat is there, makes him want to do it again and again.
He is Sentimental Wait, what? How can the criminal be self-centered, entitled, impulsive, invincible AND sentimental? Back to his brilliant skills at rationalization, he believes he is a good person because he takes care of his dog or he goes to church--never mind he likes to rob houses and rape women on the side. Hey, I never said it had to make sense to the rest of us but it makes perfect sense in his head.
Every bad guy is different but you can bet he will more than likely exhibit all of the characteristics listed above in varying degrees, with maybe a dose of overconfidence, a smidgeon of compulsive lying and a dash of uncontrolled anger or rage. He could be dirty, clean, big, small, loud, quiet, cunning, dense, a relative, a stranger. But in my opinion, the scariest criminal of all has got to be the “normal” one.
The “normal” one is a master of disguise and what better way for the criminal to disguise himself than in plain sight? He looks like your best friend and can charm you like a leprechaun without thinking twice about it. He’s the one that is craftiest of all at hiding the typical criminal characteristics and sees his crimes as game-like. Power vs. weak. Even if you are trying to help him out of the kindness of your heart, if he sees a weakness in you, he will exploit it for as long as it benefits him.
These are the warning flags on the flagpole that the W.A.R.R.I.O.R. woman needs to know and recognize on a daily basis. It’s important to identify the tug in your gut that says, “DANGER! DANGER, Will Robinson!” while flapping its robot arms to and fro. Your gut works hard for you to notice that your safety is potentially in danger and it’s time you listened.
There are no safe neighborhoods or areas. The criminal likes to go anywhere and everywhere especially places where people are lulled into the belief that crime can’t happen here. The point of this is to make you realize that your safety is your responsibility. No gate to your neighborhood is going to keep the bad guy out. This isn’t to say you must become paranoid and untrustworthy. No. You must make safety your first priority in everything you do. You’ll learn in future posts very simple ways to do this and the point is to practice these things all the time, so that it becomes second nature. So that you are able to think about safety and still enjoy life at the same time. The perfect balance. Ladies, I do not have all the answers but will always do my best to give you some useful information that will be helpful as you go about your daily life. It is very hard for me to wrap my mind around the heinous things that one human can do to another. Be leary of most and trust very few. Be friendly but never to familiar.
It is not my intention to promote so much fear that you are afraid to even leave your home. I want you to live and enjoy your life. There are no guarantees that nothing bad will ever happen to you. I did not wake up that October day and say, "I think today is a great day for crime to strike me." That is not how it happens, it happens in an instant when you least expect it.
It is very important that you live in a heightened state of awareness. I will explain the "Five Levels of Awareness" in an upcoming post.
Keep your head on a swivel and always be one step ahead...
In Gratitude,
-Vicki
