What to do if your mugged, AIBU to think this advice is crap

[Janefromdowntheroad]

DD had a safety event thing with local police yesterday.

They asked them what they would do if they were mugged (give them phone/wallet).

Police officer said no, you should throw the phone down the path or road away from the mugger

Now if I'm desperate for cash and mug some poor kid I'm not going to be happy if he/she then lobs the phone down the road and breaks it!

AIBU? It seems like bad advice!

Agree with PP that say you have no idea how you'd react until you're faced with something.

I had a pickpocket target me at a sporting event. Young DS in an ergo on my back. I felt a tingling near my hip, looked down and saw my jacket pocket unzipped, was a bit puzzled felt for my phone which was there then looked up and a guy next to me was staring straight at me.

Before I knew it, I had both hands on his chest pushing him forcefully away yelling "what the fuck are you doing?" He turned and sloped off. It was surreal and I still cannot imagine that I'd did it. DH followed him a small distance then pointed him out to security.

"I think some of you have a false idea about muggers in your head"

Please tell us all about muggers OP, then tell the police and every other professional that you know better than.

I did once tell a mugger to 'fuck off' and it worked. He looked so shocked, then walked off.

I didn't even think about it. I have the worst instincts and wouldn't recommend anyone else do it.

I do martial arts and had to spend ages learning to avoid hits. I used to just block and hit back. No ducking and diving for me. Don't know why, my instincts are shit and dodging or running away doesn't come naturally.

Fwiw, the tossing the phone or wallet and running is the standard advice. It's given in self defence as well. You may not agree with it. But it's not pulled out of thin air. Why not contact the school and see if you can speak to the police man/woman who came in and find out exactly why they give that advice.

Oh and yes I always thought in my head 'if someone wants you wallet just give them it'

You don't Know how you will react, until it happens. You can plan all you want.

The difference between handing something over and tossing it aside is that when you are tossing the item aside, you are diverting, when you are giving something, you are inviting.

It's all to do with personal space. The more space you have between you and the attacker/mugger, the safer you will be. This can be mentally or physically, but either (or both) gives you a chance.

I got mugged the day after that McIntyre programme where he desperately tried to get himself mugged down the road from me (and the first dozen lads he met told him to put his laptop away!)

Encountered kid who used exactly the same phrase as on the programme, so as I was encumbered by some previous annotated proofs, I gave him my phone and he gave it back saying "Don't you have anything worth having?" So I gave him £20 and told him to piss off which he did. I suspected it was his first time, which annoyed me that it was clearly going to be a success, but I couldn't put my stuff down to push his knife away. Previously I've got knives off kids - I used to work with teens who generally carried them.

Throwing items far from you is standard advice, it is what I have always heard before.

Other things I have heard that may be useful is if you need help shout instructions rather than yelling help or screaming, so shout out 'phone the police'. I can see how that would be useful, I have lived in areas that are quite noisy and there are often teenagers shouting/screaming while messing around so noises like that are less likely to be acted on.

With rape I don't think there is any single good piece of advice you can offer someone with regard to whether you fight back or you don't. There are categories of rapist for people who study this stuff, some may be deterred by a target who fights back and others may escalate the violence in response. In that moment you have no way of knowing what you are dealing with.

I don't think any rape survivor should ever feel they did the wrong thing, they protected themselves the best they could with the information they had. Freezing and not acting counts as a way of protecting yourself as it decreases the chances the offender will violently escalate the attack.

I think the only really useful protecting yourself against rape advice is using things like alarms and self defence spray plus behavioural advice such as looking out for others and walking home in groups. The reality though is most women who are raped will be raped by someone they know and trust