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You don't need to be muscle-bound or have a black belt in karate to be safe from the crime and violence that is increasingly part of every campus and community in America. Knowing some basic "street smarts" can prevent you from being marked as an easy target by would-be criminals or attakers.

Here at Tripod, these basics are known as the ACT plan. ACT stands for Awareness/Assessesment, Communicating Confidence, and Trusting Instincts. Following this plan is simple, but it might be the key to staying one step ahead of the bad guys.

Awareness/Assessment

• Stay alert when in a public place, and you will be less vulnerable to crime.
  
• Carefully observe the surrounding environment so you can better identify and protect yourself from threatening situations.
  

You can make this a habit by practicing "people watching." Become a better observer by making an effort to notice body language and the small quirks in the people around you which reveal clues as to their feelings or intentions. Doing so will make this second nature, and soon you will find yourself with a heightened awareness of some of the more subtle signals in your environment.

Communicating Confidence

• Always act calm, confident, and in control. By doing so you send a strong message that you have no intention of becoming a victim.
  
• Make eye contact with strangers or suspicious figures to let them know that you have seen them. This lessens the likelihood of a threatening confrontation.
  
• Even when worried or distracted, try not to appear so, because this is exactly what a criminal is looking for.
  

Evaluate yourself when you are in public. Try to picture what you look like to someone who might be watching you. If you think you appear worried or timid, try to use the above advice to boost the confidence of your public persona. If you look like an easy target, that's exactly how you'll be treated by a thief or an attacker.

Trusting Instincts

• You have a built-in danger detector. Use it. Whenever you feel uncomfortable in a place or situation, leave.
  
• There is a reason that certain types of body language and the invasion of your personal boundaries seem threatening. If you sense you are in danger, follow those instincts even if doing so might seem impolite.
  
• If you have doubts about trusting your insincts, remember that it's your body and your life you are dealing with. It's better to be safe than sorry.
  

This is the ACT plan. Yes, it's simple and it seems like common sense, but by thinking about it now, you might be able to avoid a circumstance in which you don't have time to think at all.

Consider these your basic safety tools. They're useful for all kinds of people in any situation. They'll provide a strong defense against anyone out there looking to make you the next victim. Of course, there are a few things you should know in addition to the ACT plan that are situation specific. We have not attempted to cover all of these things here, and we do not consider this to be a replacement for training by a safety expert. Nonetheless, Tripod has developed street smarts sections for many of the common situations, which we find ourselves in daily. They include:

After a review of these special cases, you should be ready to cruise the streets, or wherever else you're headed, in style and safety.