The third week in April marked the graduation of 45 new women from The Ohio State University Police Division’s Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) program. The women participated in five-weeks of training on realistic self-defense tactics from OSUPD officers. Due to high demand in the spring, two separate sessions were offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Nearly 100 women have graduated from the R.A.D. program during the 2016-17 school year, with approximately 600 completing the program since 2011.
“This program is important to OSUPD and we enjoy seeing our students evolve during the five-week course,” said OSUPD Detective Cassi Shaffer, a certified R.A.D. instructor. “The safety of our students, faculty and staff is our top priority and free programs like R.A.D. are critical to our proactive outreach to the community.”
R.A.D. has been offered by OSUPD since the mid-1990s. It is a free program available to all females 13-years and older. The program is taught by nationally certified R.A.D. instructors who incorporate awareness education, risk reduction and risk avoidance – eventually progressing to the basics of hands-on defense training.
The dates for the next series of R.A.D. courses are not yet announced. For more information on the R.A.D. program, or to sign up for a future course, please visit dps.osu.edu/rad.