People are becoming increasingly security conscious – often locking doors when once they would have been happy to leave them open.

But tomorrow a course that steps up personal security literally kicks off in Bermuda offering a system to protect your self or to diffuse an attack.

It is being run by Reuben Bean, a Self Defence Company accredited instructor and the founder of Jiketsu Martial Productions.

"According to findings from the Bermuda Crime Statistics over the last five years, residents have experienced an increase in crimes of violence, theft and burglary," he said.

"For those of you travelling, studying or living in the United States, according to findings from the US Department of Justice's National Criminal Victimisation Survey, in the last two years, US residents' aged 12 or older experienced approximately 25 million crimes.

"Of those crimes committed, 24 percent (6.1 million) were crimes of violence. While the trend in crime rates over the past 15 years has been downward, the current trends in medium-sized cities across the country are showing an upward rise.

"More and more citizens need to be educated on how to best protect themselves, and maintain the safety of their families and personal property."

Class sizes are limited, said Mr. Bean, and so far eight people have signed up, but the maximum class size is 15. He said he was seeing an equal number of both women and men.

He said he had seen an increase in demand for the course and added: "This is primarily due to the increase in crime statistics, so people are investing in seminars such as this. The important thing to remember is that crime has no bias on its next victim."

Mr. Bean added: "Increasingly, our media is reporting shocking cases of personal assault, muggings, stabbings and shootings. These tragic actions remind the public that awareness is essential in self-protection."

When asked to define what the 10-week course covers, he said: "The programme includes personal alarm training, threat identification, escape and evasion training, primary mugging and assault training, weapons training.

"We also identify three big mistakes that every victim makes, which is not trusting their instincts, allowing themselves to be moved from their position and trusting their assailant when they ask things like what time is it, it takes your attention off them, which allows for them to attack. When I was in university, one of my electives was social psychology and it is what we call getting your a foot in the door.

"When frightened we lose some gross motor movements, so in other words our fine motor skills lessen and we lack the ability to make a fist, their is a loss of cognitive thought, you also suffer from tunnel vision, there is a loss of depth perception and auditory exclusion, as you can't hear everything.

"The 10 lessons strategically covers the physical elements of self-protection, which should be the last resort, while also taking a look at the psychological aspects of self-protection as well.

"These techniques allow maximum opportunity for escape, require a minimum amount of training, while delivering the maximum of effect."

Mr. Bean said in the first moments of an attack a person experiences automatic flinch response, increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and hormones and steroids are dumped into your system.

"You'll have difficulty talking, a tightening of muscles, and your mind reaches for context or is reaching for validation, so that is the physical and mental part of self protection and neither of these should be omitted if you want to have a complete self-protection system."

Mr. Bean, who teaches an effective reality-based self-protection system will be offering "The 10 Lesson Self Defence Programme", which is a two- to three- month course beginning tomorrow from 6.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. at the BHS Old Gymnasium.

For more information on the course contact Mr. Bean on 799-7541 or please visit www.theselfdefenseco.com, www.jiketsumartialproductions.com or e-mail: reubenb@theselfdefenseco.com.