Scottsdale police host self-awareness class

 by Mara Zemicael
 published on Monday, March 31, 2008

Mara Zemicael / WEB DEVIL

Imagine being at the ATM and having a gun pointed at the back of your head. What do you do? How could you have avoided this situation?

These are exactly the questions that the Scottsdale Police Department's Crime Prevention Unit wanted Scottsdale residents and employees to think about during its "highly interactive self-awareness" class held Thursday at the Scottsdale Police Department District 2 Station.

Lynne Denton of Scottsdale learned about the class from the Scottsdale Police Department's electronic newsletter. As a real estate agent, Denton said that she is often alone when holding open house events. She said that the event interested her and admitted that she is not always aware of her surroundings.

"Every once in a while you pay attention to your instincts," said Denton.

Denton was one of 16 people who participated. The majority female participants - only one participant was male - were placed in scenarios where they pretended to be alone at a walk-up ATM, or in a stairwell at work or putting groceries into the trunk of their car. A Scottsdale police officer was present during each "attack."

Police officer Jennifer Wattier, one of three Crime Prevention Unit officers and presenters, said that these situations were selected because they are realistic for many people.

"We want to help people be safe and to increase their awareness so down the road, they won't become a victim," she said.

After the enactments, the participants filled out a sheet asking them to describe their "attacker." They were told by officers not to discuss details of the attack.

Once they all had completed the scenarios, officers asked them as a group to describe their attacker for each situation. The answers for one suspect ranged from a height of 5 feet 4 inches to 6 feet 1 inch and a weight of 170 pounds to 240 pounds.

Officers said that such different answers among witnesses are not uncommon.

Police officers Jason Glenn and Kory Sneed, the other Crime Prevention Unit officers, told participants it is okay to not know what a suspect looked like. Whatever a witness does, he or she should never guess, both officers said. They said that it could interfere with the investigation and aid a criminal at trial.

The Crime Prevention Unit holds awareness events two to three times a year. These events are to teach participants to pay more attention to their surroundings, officers said.

"This is not self defense," said Officer Sneed during an explanation of what participants should expect from the event. "The majority of our community is looking for an awareness class. 'What can we do to make ourselves less of a target?'"

Part of what the Crime Prevention Unit does is to concentrate on educating the community about crime trends and help the police department determine the best methods to reduce these trends.