The Carbondale Police Department is offering a personal safety class for women throughout the spring to inform them of precaution and prevention methods on how to escape from an attack and prevent attacks from occurring.

Although the session beginning Wednesday is full, classes will be scheduled throughout the semester as long as there is interest. Classes are limited to 15 people and usually fill up quickly.

The program, adapted from a similar program at the University of Georgia, is designed to give women options in the event of an attack. The Carbondale Police Department has offered the class for four years.

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“What we teach are escape techniques. We don’t teach fighting techniques,” said Carbondale Police Sgt. Luanne Brown, who is one of the instructors of the class.

The class does not encourage women to go head-to-head against their attacker. Instead, it teaches techniques on how to stop their attacker long enough to get away so that the woman can act as a witness.

There were 18 assaults reported to SIUC Police in 1996, and 13 were reported in 1995.

The class begins with a three-hour lecture focusing on alertness, prevention, precaution and preparation. There are then two three-hour workshop sessions where students learn what it feels like to be attacked and what options they have to escape.

“Many women don’t know how getting hit feels,” Brown said. The philosophy, she said, is that once over the initial shock of being knocked down, women will know what it feels like, and there will never be a first time.

Brown said that many women tend to have a false perception as to what they can do to keep themselves safe. They can keep weapons by the bed and think that they are prepared, but unless they have hands-on experience, it may only trip them up. If they are unable get to that hidden weapon, many of them do not know what else to do.

The demonstrated attacks are performed by Carbondale Police officers who are heavily padded for their own protection and to produce a more aggressive look.

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Women in the class range in age from young girls to women in their 80s. Brown said that by the completion of the course, a drastic change can be seen in many of the women. They begin to realize that while they cannot control anyone else’s behavior, they can be in control of what happens to them.

Another main goal of the class is to make sure women realize that when they are attacked, they are the victim, not a suspect. “Many women tend to blame themselves after an attack, Brown said. It is important to learn how to cope. It’s not over just because you hit the ground.”

For more information call the Carbondale Police Department at 457-3200 and speak with Sgt. Luanne Brown, ext. 443, or Officer Jeff Vaughn, ext. 428.