BSO program shows children how to resist aggression
By Danny Sanchez Staff Writer Posted
June 25 2005
Cooper City · A man in a thick rubber suit grabbed 7-year-old Emilee Saigh from behind, lifting her off the ground.
"No, no, no!" she yelled as she elbowed him in the throat. He dropped her but held on to her arm, so she repeatedly kicked him in the shin and scrambled away.
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She did everything right, according to Broward Sheriff's Deputy Jay Greear, the rubber-suited instructor who teaches kids ages 5-11 how to stay safe.
At the Cooper City station, deputies also teach how to avoid bullies, poisons, drugs, child abuse situations and kidnappers as part of the Resist Aggression Defensively Kids (radKIDS) program.
"It gives them tools if they're ever in a situation where they may feel unsafe," said Dep. Gloria Anton, who has been with the program since it was brought to Broward in 2002. "The kids themselves enjoy it. Kids come back all the time."
The program is broken up into two groups ages 5-7, and 8-11.
On Friday, the last day of the program, Greear donned the red, rubber suit -- prompting the kids to call him the "big, red lobster" -- and drilled them on defensive maneuvers such as jabbing the eyes, kicking the shin, stomping the toes, pounding the face and just plain screaming and running away.
"I want you hit me as hard you can, OK? Make like this is real," Greear told the group.
There have been 23 confirmed accounts nationally of kids stopping an abductor with radKIDS techniques, said Linda Victor, a Broward Sheriff's Officecommunity involvement specialist.
"It empowers the children," she said.
radKIDS is part of a national not-for-profit program that includes personal safety classes for adults as well.
Right now, there is a waiting list of more than 30 kids for the Cooper City program, Victor said. The next session is booked but classes will resume once the school year begins. No date has been set and the program is only open to Cooper City residents.
Davie police offer a radKIDS course and a few independent instructors teach in Pembroke Pines.
Parents interested in the Cooper City program should call Linda Victor at 954-441-8330. For information on other radKIDS programs in South Florida, contact Betty Helms at 954-655-7587. More information is available at http://www.radkids.org
Danny Sanchez can be reached at dasanchez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7916.
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