Let's venture a pure thought experiment for a brief moment. To protect ourselves effectively, we need to change perspective: Let's rationally consider what is most likely going on in a perpetrator's mind and what irrefutable conclusions we can draw from it for our own safety.
So, let's assume you want to mug someone – purely as a theoretical thought experiment. How would you proceed? How does a perpetrator usually plan their crime?
A classic perpetrator is not a wild, thoughtless attacker. They are primarily an economically thinking cost-benefit maximizer. Before committing a crime, they usually establish the following logical criteria:
Maximum element of surprise + The best possible unfair advantage + Radical speed (seconds of access) + Nearly zero risk of self-injury.
The clear conclusion from this: A perpetrator never seeks a fair duel or a minutes-long confrontation. They always want to radically exploit the best possible, unfair advantage in their favor. If they realize that their own risk is too high due to resistance, or if they cannot achieve their objective within a few seconds, they usually break off immediately. They seek quick, risk-free success with a surprised, defenseless victim.
What do we learn from this for our own safety? It's simple: We must make the perpetrator's mathematical equation unprofitable. We systematically deprive them of the basis for their success.
Perpetrators select based on visible stimuli. If we keep expensive smartphones in our pockets and forego ostentatious status symbols in public spaces, on trains, or in dark alleys, we simply fall outside their radar. We offer no visual incentive.
A perpetrator scans the surroundings for insecurity. Anyone who walks slumped, with their gaze fixed on their phone, or fearfully through the streets unconsciously signals: "I am easy prey." Instead, walk attentively, with an upright posture and a watchful gaze. Non-verbally signal: "I see you, I'm aware of my surroundings, and I'm not an easy target."
Avoid known hotspots, even if it makes the journey a few minutes longer. If you have to go through unsafe areas or take the subway at night, deliberately seek out the proximity of other people. Get into the carriage where passengers are already sitting. Don't go alone – join groups or ask someone to accompany you for a while.
If you have a bad feeling, prepare discreetly. Take out your smartphone. Mentally pre-dial the emergency number, so that in an emergency, a single button press is enough. This immediately gives you mental strength and drastically shortens your reaction time.
Let's remember the perpetrator's most important criterion: The act must be carried out lightning fast, and their risk of self-injury must tend towards zero. An attacker wants and needs to breach your critical distance to assert their physical superiority, gain direct control, or snatch your belongings. If they get close to you, it becomes dangerous. Therefore, the highest commandment is: Maintain distance.
As long as a perpetrator is more than an arm's length away from you, they can effectively do you no harm. If you manage to consistently maintain this distance, you gain valuable seconds. Every second that passes makes the perpetrator sweat immensely, as the risk of being discovered increases exponentially. This forces most offenders to immediately abort.
Some try to create this distance with everyday objects like a handbag or a heavy flashlight. However, these things offer little reach, and a classic stick is neither practical in everyday life nor legally unproblematic.
The safety umbrella is the perfect, completely legal, and inconspicuous answer to the psychology of the perpetrator. As an extremely sturdy umbrella, it serves in an emergency to keep the attacker well outside their own striking and grabbing distance:
We won't leave you alone with your new protector. With every safety umbrella, you receive completely free access to our approximately two-hour, detailed video guide.
The best part: You can watch this course flexibly, anytime, and anywhere, to refresh your knowledge immediately if needed. You don't have to attend complex or expensive self-defense seminars – here you learn everything you need to know about self-protection with an umbrella directly and to the point.
Invest in an elegant, beautiful, and extremely high-quality umbrella that accompanies you stylishly in everyday life – and in the reassuring feeling of being optimally prepared for tricky situations at all times.
