Walking home alone can be scary, especially at night. However, there are a lot of different products people can use to defend themselves in case anything happens. Here are just a few ways people can ease their minds while traveling around campus.
1) MACE
Mace is the general standard for what people use for self-defense. A lot of people have a can of mace on their keychains so it is very portable and simple to use. There are a lot of different strengths of mace, so make sure you get one strong enough but be sure to know how to use it properly. Mace can affect you too if you use it incorrectly.
“There are so many assaults (reported) you can never be too safe,” Alexis Moore, a junior studying biological sciences — preprofessional program, said. Moore owns both mace and a kubotan, which is a self-defense keychain. “I think all young women should at least carry mace.”
2) SELF-DEFENSE KEYCHAIN
There are a lot of different kinds of keychains available on the internet for self-defense. Some look like cats with pointy ears and others just look like a spear. Amazon has a ton of options. Using a defensive keychain is a little more intense than using mace because it means you will have to know how to use it. Ohio University Police Department has a training program called Rape Aggression Defense Systems that is offered once a semester, but you can also request training yourself. The program teaches prevention and how to handle scary situations.
3) EMERGENCY PERSONAL ALARM
An emergency personal alarm can be comforting if you are walking home at night alone. Amazon sells them at reasonable prices and they are very easy to use. For most of them, they come as a keychain and have a removable part that emits a very loud alarm. There are warnings that say you should not play with it or have it go off for a long time because it can cause hearing damage.
“I don’t carry any (self-defense products) on campus because I feel relatively safe here,” Arienne Martin, a •sophomore studying •psychology, said. “I usually walk home with friends, especially at night.”
4) APPS
There are endless amounts of emergency response apps on Apple’s app store. Here are a few that have high ratings.
5) SAFE TREK
How this app works is you keep your finger on the screen and if at any moment you feel unsafe, take your finger off of the button. By taking your finger off of the button, you will notify local police, and they will be dispatched to your location. You don’t even have to talk to the police, they will just come immediately.
6) RED PANIC BUTTON
The app Red Panic Button is somewhat similar to Safe Trek as it also includes sending your location in times of distress. The app uses Google Maps to send out your location to everyone in your emergency contacts list once you press the button on the screen. The app has many different options for how to send distress signals, such as sending an email or a tweet.
With all of these safety options, you might feel a little better about walking through campus at any time of day.
