Annapolis Security Expert Offers Tips To Protect Yourself

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A violent crime occurs almost every 20 seconds while a property crime happens every three seconds, according to the FBI. Thankfully there are some basic things people can do to protect themselves. Todd Rosenthal, a safety expert from Annapolis, teaches crime prevention and specializes in self-defense for women and active shooter response. He strives to help people best protect themselves so that a crime cannot occur.

"All of my methods take a different approach than traditional forms of self defense in that I advocate for and teach situational awareness skills. A lot of this stuff people don’t even think of. For example, let’s say you are walking your dog and somebody asks to pet it. Most of us put our home address and phone number on our pets tags. Do we want to advertise that to random people? Simple things that we overlook, but criminals like robbers, rapists and stalkers don’t," Rosenthal told Patch.

Rosenthal offered some advice for readers based off his three-pronged approach to safety, paying special attention to identity theft and physical safety. First, think about your digital footprint. What did you just post?

"How much can the average Joe learn about you and your lifestyle just by a basic search on Google. Do you homework- go into a people aggregator site such as Spokeo.com, Peekyou.com or BeenVerified.com and see what information comes up about you. It’s pretty alarming. Now think, how can you minimize that digital footprint. Set privacy settings on social media, disable geotagging on your smart phones and invest in a good paper shredder," he advised.

Second, always use the buddy system and make sure that someone always knows where you are at.

"This makes finding the proverbial needle in a haystack much easier during the time of a crisis when you need help but can’t communicate it," he said.

Third, there are easy ways to boost your self protection. People without a home security system can keep car keys on a nightstand and push the panic button to snag the attention of neighbors and authorities during a home invasion or assault.

"I am also a huge proponent of beware of dog signs even if you do not have one. Most criminals will bypass a home if there is any sign of a dog- dogs have major potential to take away the element of surprise. They bark and can smell/hear disturbances long before their owners," Rosenthal told Patch.

Rosenthal's path to help people protect themselves came after he experienced a personal tragedy. He understands firsthand how important ensuring safety really is. He was attending college, aspiring to become a doctor. His freshman year second semester, a girl on his dorm floor was murdered by her boyfriend, he told Patch.

"I was taking an EMT class ... I was called upon to administer CPR. But I was way too late - she had been dead for 18 hours. I was so impacted by the incident that I vowed from that moment forward that I would dedicate my life to help others prevent being in a situation like she ended up in," he told Patch.

Rosenthal started his security career with the United States Secret Service, studied under Dr. Mark Frank who was an expert in the detection of aggression and deceit, then earned a double master's degree and has worked with numerous "three-letter" government security agencies.

He also is a certified firearms instructor and has trained through Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) Systems and Body Language Institute, which trains leaders in body language and lie detection cues.

"I have provided training seminars at the local level to establishments like Naval Bagels, all the way up to national organizations like the United States Air Force Association," Rosenthal said.

Currently, he said he works for a large government contractor in security and counterintelligence.