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Personal body guards
https://www.bark.com/en/us/in/security-guards/

Considering the present situation where young white girls+women are being randomly targeted for gun+knife attacks,
will personal body guards become more common?

Western society provided a good deal of public safety for the vulnerable, children, teens, young people.
Trends seem to be headed back to more primitive times - which translates into less personal freedom.

It’s been n process over decades. Example: children don’t walk to school as n the past.
Before my time, students often walked miles to school in all weather.

More recently, The Knockout Game, usually targeting white males, of any age.
The goal wasn’t usually death, altho some deaths were caused by it.

Currently, “i got that white girl” - is making the rounds.

No matter form or label, it couldn’t be more cowardly.
Randomly targeting the unarmed, unprepared, trusting.
Ambush+execute.

Now what?

i recently spoke with my son, saying, if a person had a $100,000 diamond bracelet, they wouldn’t just leave it on a public sidewalk, trusting it wouldn’t be taken away.

How much more precious and valuable are our loved ones?

There have been incidents of Anabaptist young women attacked+murdered discussed on forum.

i realize, i’m speaking as one who was violently attacked but got away.
also as a mother of one who was attacked, violently raped, and survivd.

so, yes. i’m skittish about random violence against the unarmed, unprepared, trusting.
not a day goes by i’m not praying for it to stop.

will body guards become a new norm? in my view, most could be helpful without being armed, at all.

deterrence.
remember, the perps are literally the most cowardly of all.
they don’t want to hurt themselves. their joy is harming the defenseless then running away. a pitiful ugly “game”.

.. Trends seem to be headed back to more primitive times - which translates into less personal freedom. ..

Societies have 2 choices.
1) Put up with law enforcement, respecting laws, OR,
2) enjoy criminals “calling the shots”. Because they certainly will do that.

If not the label of body guard, chaperone?
i wouldn’t hesitate to request a chaperone, for just about anything.

Chaperones are/have been common, even if not named as such, i.e., family, friends, community.
More+more, many have no nearby family or community.

I'm sorry for the experiences you and your daughter had, I can't imagine what that was like for you.

Taking precautions makes sense, especially if you live in a place where crime is a significant concern. I wonder what the best ways are to determine what precautions make sense in a particular neighborhood. Perhaps asking the local police or the local schools?

I don't think the big picture is as bad as what you see in some Internet videos. Overall, crime rates went up with Covid, stayed high in 2021, and have dropped year over year every year since. Overall, violent crime rates are about 1/2 of what they were in the 1990s.

But good policing is important, and we have different problems in different places. In Durham, where I live, violent crime is down overall, but gun violence is up, and most of the victims are black. The police are not protecting their neighborhoods as well as other neighborhoods. So it's good to know what is going on locally if you want to know what to advocate for.

Bootstrap wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 7:46 am I'm sorry for the experiences you and your daughter had, I can't imagine what that was like for you.

Taking precautions makes sense, especially if you live in a place where crime is a significant concern. I wonder what the best ways are to determine what precautions make sense in a particular neighborhood. Perhaps asking the local police or the local schools?

I don't think the big picture is as bad as what you see in some Internet videos. Overall, crime rates went up with Covid, stayed high in 2021, and have dropped year over year every year since. Overall, violent crime rates are about 1/2 of what they were in the 1990s.

But good policing is important, and we have different problems in different places. In Durham, where I live, violent crime is down overall, but gun violence is up, and most of the victims are black. The police are not protecting their neighborhoods as well as other neighborhoods. So it's good to know what is going on locally if you want to know what to advocate for.

What race are most of the aggressors, if any?

I hike the woods with a metal hiking pole and a bodyguard who doesn't let anyone get close. And before I leave home I ask the Lord for protection.

I would say that for non-resistant Christians, a bodyguard is no different than carrying a weapon.
It’s also a terrible economic decision for 99% of us.

I don’t think a bodyguard and a chaperone are the same thing.

i appreciate the responses to this.
like many mothers-grandmothers everywhere, i fear for my loved ones, knowing how unaggressive they are, in a world where random violence has become .. .. familiar.

JoyE wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 9:59 am I hike the woods with a metal hiking pole and a bodyguard who doesn't let anyone get close. And before I leave home I ask the Lord for protection.

if i had a metal hiking pole, i doubt i’d know what to do with it, and, i expect taking it from me would be quite easy. Do you have any suggestions for teens+young ones, not trained for offense or defense? my prayers are ongoing. 100%

Szdfan wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 11:39 am I don’t think a bodyguard and a chaperone are the same thing.

i don’t think they are, either - but - not all security is armed (as i understand it) - i don’t presume security or body guards are armed.

in one of my grdaughter’s private elementery schools (in a wealthy area) i once found myself waiting in my car behind what appeared to me to be a secret service type vehicle. i was a bit shocked. but, realized, yes, there could be a student from a wealthy family who attended. there is tremendous wealth in the Seattle area. and some very pricey private schools, too.

there have been discussions about how kidnappings for ransom is common in some countries .. some of it in the Haiti Mennonite kidnapping topic. In the U.S., most haven’t had to think of such things .. i don’t take for granted this will always be.

To repeat, most of the perps are COWARDS and OPPORTUNISTS, they target the low-hanging fruit.

My family and i have experienced various crimes, including car theft, home breakins, etc.
Which are annoying as can be, but not comparable with violent physical attacks.

So, yes. i’m touchy about it.

Between regular law enforcement, whether in the U.S. or abroad, i’ll choose to respect laws, rather than be subject to street crime and cartels, etc. THE LATTER IS READY, WILLING, ABLE. Even knowing no law is perfect, and there are bad apples in law enforcement. The better systems have ways to address failures.

Chaperones can be of the most informal (as a child, i was sent as a fchaperone to my teen siblings)
to professional paid chaperones.

Deterrence, prevention are much better than mitigating damages after the fact.

i do not want my grdaughter to ever face violent aggression like her mother+i have faced. Never.

Statistics are meaningless.
When it happens to you/your loved ones, it’s 100%.

i’m pretty sure other forum members have been victims, in addition to specific cases discussed on forum.

Also.
Being terrified of violent crime does NOT mean vengeance is desired! Not at all.

When i was attacked, i remember clearly wanting to GET AWAY! to BE SAFE, to be FREE.
Not a thought about hitting back or harming the attacker.

i only thought of this afterward. i was surprised. before it happened, i had no idea how i would respond to attack.
i never had a thought of harming him in any way.

now i know.
i learned something about myself that day.

Because there are so many very wealthy people today, IN ADDITION TO crimes, i won’t be surprised if personal body guards increase, to the point they won’t be surprising to see.

Many travel and witness how other countries live.
Those memories+experiences are brought home with them. Positive+negative.

As some discussed on forum, in some countries, kidnappings for ransom are part of the “landscape”.
With so much “soft on crime” happening, along with theft and looting for sport, kidnappings for pocket money could be next.