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A local community leader is looking to share his expertise in law enforcement to better enable women to defend themselves against unwanted advances.
Zach Allman had previously worked with the Marshall County Sheriff's Office and county prosecutor's office, and is currently a magistrate judge for the county. Allman is pulling from his years of experience to instruct a freelance class on preventing sexual assault, stalking and date rape. Allman is offering to give a roughly hour-long lesson on cultivating a safety-oriented mindset, meant to keep women less vulnerable to predation.
Allman said he was approached by members of some sororities at Bethany College, where he is a teacher, who asked him to teach a self-defense class. Rather than focus on physical defense, Allman thought it more prudent to teach women to be more mindful in avoiding danger and to react quickly in a crisis, a mindset he developed in the military.
"I'm basically implementing what they referred to in the military as a combat mindset," Allman said. "They drill into our head to go through all these scenarios constantly, as part of your training, what you're going to do if something would ever happen. People who don't go through that will freeze up, not know what to do. ... What happens when you train with that combat mindset is that you'll just react; there's no thinking about it.
Allman said statistics show that one in six women are likely to be the victim of sexual assault in their lifetime, and if he can prevent one of those, his efforts will be worth it.
Allman is extending the offer to any classes, clubs, or other groups who would be interested in having him instruct, free of charge. He said the return on investment would be hearing if his instruction helped keep someone safe. He can be reached at zallman33@gmail.com.