Who’s Responsible for Your Safety? It’s Not Who You Think

Who’s responsible for keeping you and your loved ones safe?

The government? Your employer? Your school? 

Nope. 

Wait? What? 

Let’s dive in to see why you can’t rely on others for your safety.

The Government/Law Enforcement 

Police cars often have the motto “to protect and serve” emblazoned on the side of their patrol cars.

But in reality, law enforcement works after the fact. First the violence occurs. THEN they respond. Too late for your safety.

Police patrol in their cars. It gives them higher visibility and mobility. Which helps shorten their response time to a call FOLLOWING a violent crime. Yet again, too late for your safety.

Except in small cities with populations under 10,000, the average ratio of sworn officers to population throughout the country is 2.4 sworn officers per 1000 people. And most police officers work a 10-hour shift 4 times a week. So at any given time, it’s really less than half of a department’s sworn officers that are working per shift. So it’s actually more like 1 sworn officer per 1000 people at any given time.

There’s just not the manpower to prevent a violent attack from happening.

But it’s more than just the lack of physical capacity. Law enforcement has NO DUTY TO PROTECT you or anyone else from violence by another person..

The US Supreme Court says so.

In DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989) and in Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005), the court held that unless there is a specific relationship or “entitlement”, the government has no duty to protect citizens from violence by other citizens. 

Eye opening isn’t it? What do you think?

Employers 

Are employers responsible for preventing violence against their employers?

In a general sense maybe…

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, (The General Duty Clause) requires employers “furnish a workplace which is free from recognized hazards which may cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.”

Primarily this is meant to prevent unsafe practices at construction sites and manufacturing where there the work can be physically dangerous.. Further, “The General Duty Clause is used only where there is no standard that applies to the particular hazard.”

Some states have gone beyond that. Mostly related to safety in healthcare settings.

 California has recently instituted the broadest requirements for employers to prevent work related violence. The law goes into effect in July 2024. It’s a good start as it requires some training and reporting of safety concerns by employers.

But over all, being protected from violence by employers is not happening. 

Here’s just how disconnected employers are from keeping their staff safe.

A study by a national Human Resources trade group found that 55% of HR professionals DON'T EVEN KNOW if their employer has a workplace violence prevention program. 

And they’re the ones who are SUPPOSED to handle complaints about bullying, harassment, and threats and prevent them from escalating. 

How focused on your safety is an employer if NO ONE IS DOING THE TRAININGS if the majority of HR people DON"T EVEN KNOW if there organization has a violence prevention program.

And how effective are the trainings that are actually being done? Not very.

Each year about 2,000,000 American workers REPORT being the victims of work related violence. There are about 167,000,000 Americans in the work force. That's about 1.2% of the workers in this country each and every year.

And even fewer employers still train their staff that works in community environments how to keep safe from violence while out in the community.

So can you count on your employer to keep you safe? Nope.

Colleges/Schools 

Schools from elementary on up through college have seen a wide level of physical threats, from mass shootings, to targeting of students over world events.

In fact, the LACK OF CLARITY over a school’s responsibility to students for safety, was illustrated by the three presidents of three Ivy League schools congressional testimony over public threats on campus to eradicate Jews qualifies as harassment at those schools.

And all three gave a similar answer…it depends. So much for genuine concern for safety.

Under Title IX, and other types of federal laws discrimination, and violent acts that are treated as discriminatory conduct, such as sexual assault, are punishable. Creating legal action for those subjected to the discriminatory treatment.

But punishment after the fact is not prevention. Not by a long shot.

This is especially critical for women subjected to date rape on campus. The investigator I worked for back in the late 1980s and early 1990s is one of the best in the nation at these types of investigations.

But, these laws essentially help prevent being victimized a second time. As the first instance of victimization must occur in order for there to be an investigation and subsequent finding.

Some schools provide sexual harassment and anti-bullying trainings. Others may provide active shooter trainings. But, with school leadership conflicted about when to protect students, how effective can they be?

One need only look at Jewish students being trapped in the library at CUNY, or the Jewish teacher trapped in an office at a high school in Queens, and the less than adequate responses by the administrators to those situations to realize it’s hit or miss at best.

Here’s How to Keep Safer From Violence 

So what can you do to keep yourself safe?

 It’s on you to understand that there is no one but you who can keep yourself safe. And to implement a personal safety approach that will help protect you and your loved ones from violence. Wherever you are.

 The single most important thing to know about keeping yourself safe from violence is how to implement situational awareness. It is the only way to actively avoid a safety threat. 

 For more on situational awareness watch this video here

 Developing de-escalation skills can help you to calm an escalating situation before it becomes violent.

 For more on de-escalation watch this video here: 

 Changing the dynamics of an attack at its onset can provide the opportunity to withstand the initial attack by taking away the attacker’s initial advantage. And basic self-defense so that you can stop an attack and exit safely

 For more on changing the dynamics of an attack and self-defense watch this video here: 

 Let me know what steps you are taking to keep yourself and your loved ones safe whether out in the community, at work, or at school.