Howe To Evade and Escape Dangerous Situations w/ Robin Hunting
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Howe To Evade and Escape Dangerous Situations w/ Robin Hunting
SUMMARY
Robin Hunting, aka @DutchInTheUSA, is a former Royal Marine and survival expert. His Escape and Evade tactics are being used by thousands and has resulted in saving the lives of multiple people. He aims to empower people with knowledge and confidence to protect themselves.
Robin shares practical tips on how to evade and escape dangerous situations, emphasizing the importance of problem-solving, understanding the mechanics behind restraints, and maintaining a calm mindset under pressure. They discuss common restraints like zip ties, duct tape, handcuffs, and chains, and Robin demonstrates how to break free using everyday items.
The conversation also touches on the psychological aspect of dealing with fear and the importance of being prepared for emergencies.
Follow Robin @DutchInTheUSA on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Robin Hunting- Howe To Evade and Escape Dangerous Situations
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[00:00:00] Robin H: I think the biggest thing I've learned from being in the Royal Marines is to embrace whatever is happening to you. A lot of things are outside of your control and I think most people get stressed out because they're trying to get control of a situation where there is none. You are not in control. And if you give that, that part of control up immediately, it makes it a lot easier to focus on the, the solutions that what you need to do in order to get free or get out of a situation.
[00:00:33] Lauren H: Today's conversation is with Robin Hunting. Now, Robin is a formal. I can't speak. I can't speak today. Great. Let's try that again. Robin is a former Royal Marine that turned his knowledge into information that resonates with the audience. His escape and evade tactics are used by thousands, hundreds of thousands of people and has resulted in saving the lives of multiple people.
That is not an exaggeration. This conversation, and his content, is life saving. Besides showing his tips, Robin enjoys being a husband and father of five. He also enjoys scuba diving and martial arts. His profile, Dutch in the USA, has over 5 million followers and nearly 200 million likes. His content focuses on survival tips from how to avoid precarious situations in the first place.
Two, what happens if you happen to, heaven forbid, find yourself in them? How do you escape? I had reached out to him after falling in a deep rabbit hole of his work. And to be clear, there are people who have done content around the idea of what happens if you get kidnapped, but often I find it can feel a little clickbaity.
I know it's not a word, but bear with me. Or like kidnapping porn in a way. I, it just makes me feel icky versus Robin's content is educational, effective, creative, and succinct. It's taught me personally valuable lessons, including in this conversation, things that I wanted to ask him as simply a fan of his work.
So in this conversation, we talk about his personal journey, practical tips on how to both evade and escape. And I subjected him to a coaching of a live tutorial on how to get out of zip ties. This is how to evade and escape dangerous situations with Robin hunting.
So Robin hunting, AKA Dutch in the USA, you know what, that's actually probably a good place to start. So where did that handle come from? Tell us a little bit about, about your journey to becoming, you know, obviously a Dutch in the USA. I think, I
[00:02:37] Robin H: think it started when I first moved to America, I opened up an Instagram account and.
I was Dutch, moved to the USA. I'm like, well, that sounds influencer likey, or I thought it sounded cool. I had no intention of becoming an influencer at some day. And then a few years later, TikTok started and all of that. And I'm like, Hey, I got this handle. I can use that one. So that's kind of how it started.
I joined the military at a very young age, kind of did like an ROTC army program, which is not really the same as in America, but you would still go to your bootcamp and. Do all kinds of stuff, but you got like an education in it. And if you had to go to a shooting ranges in another country, my parents would have to sign off on me leaving, whatever.
And then I joined the Royal Marines from there because I, I needed more of a challenge, which they provided. It was definitely a challenge. While I finished my contract out there, I met my wife who was doing a, a trip in Germany to do a film study in Germany. And we met in a bar in Amsterdam and really immediately identified her as the love of my life.
And we, uh, she moved to the Amsterdam and we kinda moved back and forth a little bit. And then when I finished my contract, the day after it stopped, I moved to the United States. That's kind of how it all started.
[00:04:00] Lauren H: Why the U S like, what, what pulled you there?
[00:04:03] Robin H: Uh, well, my wife is an American, uh, and our family lived in the United States or her family.
So it really was, I was away a lot anyway. And as you get older, you start to build your own family, right? So it's, it's moving away as part of natural life. So I wasn't home much anyway. I'm like, well, what does the United States matter nowadays? You have airplanes and FaceTime and all these things. So. This was before the pandemic, right?
We didn't know it was going to get shut down and you can't see anyone. So now it's felt that America had more opportunity to offer. Uh, I think. You know, you assess your own skill, uh, skill level and Holland has its benefits, but it also has its downfalls and we kind of waited back and forth and decided to move to the United States to be closer to her family.
[00:04:50] Lauren H: And then, so how did this journey, I mean, as much as you're willing to share, because I think we chatted about this a little bit before we actually hit the record button, but a lot of quote online personalities, that's really just a half of our life. So not sure how much you're willing to share of the private life versus and then what you were doing that then brought you to this point of, of creating this incredible account.
And when I say incredible, I really want to emphasize the value of you have people that talk about like, Oh, wow, you built an account with like X number of followers. And I mean, you do, you have 3. 5 million followers on Tiktok. But what I find particularly impressive and that I, I respect the most about your account is you're teaching things that are so valuable and informative and it really struck a chord with me when you started sharing the stories that people have shared with you of how you've helped change their lives.
So how did that all come to be?
[00:05:48] Robin H: So I guess, um, in the beginning of the pandemic, we, uh, I downloaded TikTok, like 50 percent of the United States, I guess. Um, and, uh, we enjoyed it. Me and my wife both got onto it. And like, after a while you get your FYP that's like geared towards you and you know what you like.
And then we just start posting. So if you scroll through the beginning of my account, it's all, Things that I think are hilarious. And we started posting there. I really thought so. I did. I still think if I look back on them, I'm like, well, that's great content. But after that, I did a, I saw a video and in an action movie where he broke a zip tie.
I'm like, I can do that too. So we redid that scene with the scene playing in the background. And I kind of like. It's pretty fast, but it's kind of showed you the mechanics of how to break these things. So as it turns out, someone saw that in a few weeks later, she was in a position where she needed to use that knowledge to get out of a bad situation and ended up breaking out of them, get into another car, drive to a police station and have the person arrested that did this to her.
Um, so I shared her story, obviously with her permission. And I got this overwhelming support, but also a lot of questions. How do you do it? What about this? What about that? And obviously with my background, I knew quite a few of these things. Like, okay, this, I thought this was just common sense. Right. And not, not saying that everyone knows this.
It just, in my mind, I'm like, okay, well, this is easy physics, right? This has a breaking point. This has, this needs a tool. And if you look at it as simple as that, based on each restraint, It becomes a lot more clear what you need to do. For instance, if you have duct taped on, but you're being watched, okay, then wait till you're not being watched because even if you break out, you're going to be back in the same scenario.
So if you really start thinking about some of these scenarios, it really makes it easier, especially if you have a fear of being kidnapped, going through an exercise of how you would get out, or if you're watching TV and you see someone like this, just pausing the TV and go with your significant other or whatever, Hey, how would you get out?
Because I think the problem right now is Hollywood, Hollywood is, is, how do you say this? Hollywood is putting this fear on it. We have to wait for the police or we have to let these things happen to us in order to survive it. For instance, There's a lot of stories on SVU where someone, they come after the fact, after they've been assaulted or whatever, and then they do the police investigation.
Well, some of these cases, that's absolutely true. And anyone that has ever been in a situation did nothing wrong. Even if you could have escaped, I want to make that very clear. Any person did nothing wrong, but there are things that you can do. If you ever are in a situation to escape. And I think understanding the basics, like on my page, it's makes it a lot easier.
It doesn't, it doesn't mean that anyone did anything wrong when they're in that situation because that's, that's just where you are. I'm trying to prevent people from one, getting there with awareness and then two, giving you the tools to not get there. And if you are in that situation, here are some tools that you can try to get out.
So it's really like, I'm trying to counter it on each step to make sure that you have everything you need in order to get out of these situations.
[00:09:19] Lauren H: It is interesting what you described too of the repetition and the need to actually practice these situations. I mean, we hear about it in any kind of life event in, in more of a positive sense, whether it's giving a big speech or maybe you're an artist and you're doing a performance.
It's visualize if you were in that situation and by going through it, even mentally, that helps you be prepared. Let alone in physical situations, we have, it's muscle memory, it's riding a bike, it's doing different exercises, so why not practice muscle memory of things that actually could be beneficial to our own safety, not just health and safety, like genuine safety in a precarious situation that we never hope anybody ends up in, but let's get real, you can't predict these things in life.
[00:10:07] Robin H: No, you can't. I would say that. One is repetition. One is two is understand the mechanics behind what I do. Uh, but three, it's also the psychological effect of seeing one of my videos, knowing that it can be done. And I got a lot of followers or whatever. I always promised that I would never post anything.
Where I couldn't get out because I, there's still a lot of bad people in the world, right? I think there's a lot of good people, but there's a few bad ones. So I don't want them to give, give these people any ideas on what doesn't work. And then they do that. So I only post what's possible. And that's kind of the promise I made to my following to make sure that they get the mindset of oh I saw him do that or You know chains are able if I have the right tools and I want to distinguish that a little bit So you can get out of things without the actual tool So for instance, if you have a chain and lock you can get out of by not using your key, right?
There's other ways to do it, but that doesn't mean you still need those tools in order to get out I can't I can't do magic You You know, I can put some fairy dust on it and it magically springs open. Uh, and most people are not strong enough to just break a chain. And that's, that's a little bit too much.
So in each video, I show you what you need in order to get out. And there's a lot of things that we wear on our body or on our clothing or accessories that can be used in those situations. So I try to be as realistic as possible when it comes to those. For instance, for a lot of handcuffs escape, you can use a bobby pin, uh, which is extremely fast.
It's easy to learn, but yet you have to do it a few times. But I can probably get out in under three, four seconds if I have, you know, a bobby pin. Um, but you still need that tool. There, there's a way to break handcuffs, but it's extremely painful and I've done it once and I will not do it again unless I have to, but it is possible.
The problem with the handcuffs is, is I already started doing it and then I was like, I know I can get there, but it's going to take me another 20 minutes to do it. So I just finished it, but it was, it was not a pleasant experience, but it is possible. So if you're ever in that situation, you know, it's physically possible to do it.
[00:12:29] Lauren H: I love that you brought up the bobby pin video because That's one that actually has come across my for you page And I remember I did a deep dive in the comments on that one Where i've started wearing the bobby pin, especially, you know, if you have long hair, it's not noticeable You just tuck it in behind like it might feel weird.
It's out of practice. I'm like, why would you keep it there? but then I think I loved seeing one of your responses where someone's like well what am I supposed to do just like wear a bobby pin in the back of my head all the time and you're like It's not rocket science. It's not like it's a convenience on your day.
It's a bobby pin. I really want to dive into those practices, but I want to make sure we structure this conversation, you know, in a way where it's like, yes, knowing how to, how to get out of them is important, but having the know how of avoiding it in the first place is actually one of the best practices.
Love what you said where it's like, it kind of felt like the things we should be teaching people. Like this feels like common knowledge the same way that first aid should be common knowledge and taxes and plenty of other, other issues. But what was it that in your training that this was incorporated in that feels so natural to you?
[00:13:38] Robin H: I think it's, it's, if we focus on teaching everyone on how to problem solve, because any, any restraint is basically a quick equation of problem solving, right? I'll give you an example. I did one video where I use the example of the zip tie killer, which put a zip ties around someone's neck, right? So I put my hands behind my back.
I put zip ties on my feet and on behind my back and one of my neck. So in order to get there, I had a shoelaces on. So I knew I, I can break out, right? I have all the tools I need in order to get there, but it has to follow a certain sequence because. I need my legs, uh, the zip tie, my leg to be gone in order to move my hands behind my back to move them forward.
Then I can get working on my neck. So it's, you have to just follow certain steps and understanding a problem and knowing how to get there and what steps makes it a lot easier to, uh, I get out of these things, but I think it's also a valuable life skill. Um, we get faced with problems in our life all the time, small ones or bigger ones, or even when you look at your own calendar, you know, we're trying to balance all these different things.
It's basic solutions to a simple problem. You know, I have three meetings or whatever, and they all overlap. Which one has priorities? It's all problem solving. So. I think maybe the focus on the escape and evade stuff might be too intense for children to grasp or, or parents to sign off for getting that pot.
But focusing on problem solving might be the way to go. I think we can do a lot better in the school systems to focus on problem solving.
[00:15:18] Lauren H: And even stress under pressure sounds like the other half of that. Actually, with your background and experience, are there any techniques? I mean, everyone kind of approaches it differently of how to stay calm in a stressful situation, but do you have any advice of how people can put themselves in a better state to then problem solve?
Yeah.
[00:15:38] Robin H: I think the biggest thing I've learned from being in the Royal Marines is to embrace whatever is happening to you. A lot of things are outside of your control. And I think most people get stressed out because they're trying to get control of a situation where there is none, you are not in control.
And if you give that, that part of control off immediately, it makes it a lot easier to focus on the, the solutions that what you need to do in order to get free or get out of a situation. We have a saying called embrace the suck, you know, it's going to suck just embrace it because there's nothing you can do about it And it goes the same in life, you know, it's raining and you're walking through it.
Yeah, it's not pleasant But what are you what are you gonna do about it? Just embrace it. It's raining. Okay. Enjoy the rain
[00:16:28] Lauren H: You can't control The actions that happen upon you, you can control your reactions to them.
[00:16:38] Robin H: Exactly.
[00:16:39] Lauren H: What are some of the, the number one things, you know, whether it's in, in your military training or in what you've learned online that you think are overlooked that people should know, like you can't control if that situation is going to target you.
But once someone who is horrible in this world might potentially target you, how do you evade those dangerous situations?
[00:17:01] Robin H: You can ask anyone that has done that, even me, like, I don't like to be in that situation, so I choose not to be in it. Um, and there's things you can do about it, obviously, but the first step is to, am I gonna take this risk to do this?
And if you're aware of that and not playing on your phone while you're walking and just look around, you're far more likely not to be, um, You know, involved in a, in a crime.
[00:17:27] Lauren H: It's funny you say that because I feel like the, the feminism side of me, and I've, I've struggled with this, especially in my early twenties, where I put myself in, I'm not going to take up too much time on this podcast, sharing those stories, but where I felt like I should be able to wear what I want.
If someone cat calls me, I'll talk back and. The gist of what ended up happening, though, is I got in a number of circumstances where one time it was 8 p. m., not very late, spoke back to a few people, and they chased me for four or five blocks with a metal pipe. Like, these things happen. I think when you're young and something bad hasn't yet happened to you, you have this invincibility.
State in your mind a little bit, like we've all done stuff, but especially, you know, as an, as a woman, I should be able to dress the way I want. I should be able to walk home at night safely, but that's not the reality. So
[00:18:24] Robin H: I think it comes down to the, the, the whole conversation we had before. You can't control the actions taken upon you.
You can only control how you react to them. So you're absolutely right. You should be able to walk at night. You should be able to wear whatever you want. And I think those are two different things to wear. Whatever you want is absolutely like no debate about that. The walking at night, that's where I focus mostly on because.
It's an external threat that you're facing, right? You have from point A to point B, there's so many different dangers. You're in the dark. There's no lighting cameras are out. You know, the, the amount of things you can think about in that short span, we can talk all night about what kind of dangers you were in.
That doesn't mean that I'm trying to scare people, but it's very easy to fix, walk with a group of friends. You're most likely going out with a group of friends. Why can't they walk to the car together? You know, so Yes, you should be able to do this unfortunately, you cannot control actions taken upon you and there's always still a lot of bad people out there and it just Multiplies by all the stories we keep hearing, you know, I think this is part of a much larger problem that we're trying.
Everyone's trying to solve educating people and like behavioral therapy for men that are aggressive. You know, we're, we're getting a lot better at giving young, mostly young boys, the tools to talk through their problems, right. But when I don't see us being there and it's still happening. So I can only tell you, make sure that you understand the risks you're in.
And if that's a risk you're willing to take, I'm not here to tell you what to do. I am here to keep you safe. And these are the dangers you were in, in that. Particular scenario
[00:20:13] Lauren H: completely so let's say someone is in that scenario where you had to be alone there are so many devices on a market and not to mention their different government regulations in canada for example not to say i'm endorsing any of these products to make that very clear but technically you here in the united states where women carry anything from the extreme of.
Pepper spray tasers all the way to guns in Canada. All those things are illegal to carry and to even carry it with intent to potentially harm another person, even if it is out of self defense is still illegal. So that said, that's why I'm not saying I endorse those products, but then there's the whole second tier of okay, well, what can you carry?
What can you have? What can you do? Are there products that, or, or ideas, like I noticed one of your videos addresses the alarm on your key chain that goes off, are there certain things that you think are more powerful in helping someone if they happen to be in those circumstances where like a nurse leaving work from a night shift and someone can't walk them to their car, there's only so much you can do, so what can you do to protect yourself when forcibly alone?
[00:21:25] Robin H: I struggle with the idea that if you carry something And you use it for self defense it is then considered with the intent of self defense. That makes no sense.
[00:21:34] Lauren H: I because it's
[00:21:37] Robin H: So there are there are a few things that people look for so people that show confidence in their walks, right shoulders up straight Someone that carries an umbrella anything that keeps them at distance It's kind of hard because that whole that whole point where it's if it's used for self defense It was intended with self defense that that's Something I struggle with because it, if that's the reality that you live in in Canada, obviously the United States and Canada are vastly different when it comes to self defense items.
You might not want to do these things alone where you're forcibly in these situations. You might need to make arrangements not to be in those. If, if that is really a fear and you know, you're in a bad neighborhood, but some stuff like umbrellas, anything that keeps them at arm's length, having 911 pre doubt, or I don't know, the, the emergency number in Canada, call calling a friend could definitely help, you know, let them know where you are having your GPS on, you know, all these things that if something would happen, they can take action.
Uh, but I think if I think about it, simplistically, something like an umbrella, because it keeps them at distance. They're probably not going to try to target you in the first place, because they know you have the ability to fight back rather than someone that has nothing on them, talking to someone in that moment, immediately alert someone else.
So they most likely are not going to target you the safety alarm. Yes, but the safety alarm itself does nothing other than alert people. If you're by yourself in a, in, for instance, like you said, a nurse walking to her car, if that car parking lot is completely empty, No one's going to hear it. So that that's where I struggle with the safety alarms.
I, at that point, I'd rather have you be on the phone with a friend if it's that particular scenario. But the way I struggle is it's, it's so hard to give each and every single scenario, a full proof plan because so many things change. And that's where, that's why I try to be as generic as possible. And these.
Usually in my videos, I address these are, these are for this situation and these are for this situation.
[00:23:49] Lauren H: That's a great segue into the physics of problem solving the escape situations, because you may not know exactly what's going on. And I love that you approach this from a scientific standpoint, because if people try to replicate a formula of like, Oh, it looks like I don't remember this video, I never watched this from Robin's videos now, I don't know what to do, well, no, if you understand.
the mechanics behind what you're doing, then maybe you can help problem solve to that situation. Heaven forbid, again, you're in it. You cover a wide range of tools, but I guess fundamentally, what are the practices or, or motions that would help bull now into the escape portion? Of particular devices.
[00:24:33] Robin H: There's probably about five major groups, right? You have zip ties, duct tape, handcuffs, chains, chains, and rope. I think those are anything falls mostly in that category. Handcuffs and chains are all our metals, right? So you have to be either very strong to break them or you need a tool to get out. Now there's a multitude of tools out there from.
You know, the Bobby pins or a hair club, depending on the mechanics of that particular one, but zip ties and kind of, kind of duct tape as well, all have a melting point. 'cause they're either plastics, duct tape is designed to shear, uh, which, like if you ever had a piece of duct tape, if you try to rip it like that, it rips very easy.
If you do it sideways and you pull it, that's where the strength flies. So understanding those things means that it has a burning point. It means that it can be ripped. As far as zip ties. Zip ties is plastic. Plastic as a melting point or a heating point. So if you heat something plastic, what does it, it it.
We have all been kids, so if you melt something with your, with a lighter, you see this plastic, like, dripping. And that's kind of what happens, right? If you eat something, it drips or it breaks. So using your shoelaces on zip ties and creating the bicycle move with your feet, or if it's on your legs with your arms, just moving it, that creates heat and then it just falls right off.
And I've tried it with small zip ties to what they call military grade hand cuffs, uh, zip ties, which are zip cuffs. Basically it resembles a handcuff only made out of plastic. But everything has a breaking point. I, at one point I had the zip cuffs on and I was trying to figure out a way how I can do it differently.
Right. I have a few different techniques that I know, and I was like pushing it down and like trying to do something. And then one slipped and it broke. I'm like, okay, so this is, I always thought it was too heavy. Like it has like a 250 pound force on it. Like, it's not going to go anywhere. And then I'm like, well, I can do this.
So I just tried it. So I slammed it on my shin and it broke. I'm like, that's cool. So I tried it again and it broke again. Then that's why I posted a video of that. So everything has a particular breaking point. Once you understand the mechanics behind it. Cause those zip ties only get, gets caught by like a little teeth.
So there's a small piece that comes over and it holds on and that's, what's holding it on. So this has not a lot of force on it. Once you slam on it hard, it breaks. So it's, it's kind of interesting to go over those, uh, different scenarios, but everything has a way out. You just got to find the right tool to use, whether that's your own body or a piece of metal or.
You know, piece of a tree, like I've tried so many different things to try glasses, an underwire of a bra works on handcuffs. Like,
[00:27:30] Lauren H: sorry, continue. I just like, that was a fascinating pulling the underwire of a bra. I guess it's another piece of wire that you can manipulate into handcuffs.
[00:27:40] Robin H: Uh, no, it's, it's actually the, the wire itself.
If you straighten it out a little bit, you can put it on the side and you can click it in. It's called shimming the handcuffs. But that only works if it's not double locked in the handcuffs of a few settings, uh, not everyone, uh, double locks their handcuffs, but I kind of just put a layer of clothes out there and just for my, and my wife's and kind of go, okay, well, what do you wear on a day to day basis that we can use?
And we found a few things like the laces or a belt or earrings. Like there's a lot of things you can use to escape these things. You just, once you understand the basics, you need a piece of metal. All right. Where is metal on your body? Do you have earrings? Like, you know, it just, it becomes kind of an interesting problem solving puzzle of things because the people like to your comments said, okay, well, I don't carry Bobby pins.
Well, okay. Well, I see in your profile picture, you wear glasses. So here's a video on how to use your glasses to get out. And then I just keep continuing until the noise kind of fades away.
[00:28:42] Lauren H: And I can't imagine. I feel half your comments are people always suggesting be like, yeah, but what? Yeah, but those comments, right?
But like that works. But what about this? And they just like challenge you to a new situation. Half the time. You talk about force. What are those points of the body that people can leverage to help break more of the plastic items?
[00:29:05] Robin H: So, uh, absolutely your hips. If you have, you have two hip bones, um, slamming your hands down there works.
Uh, I've tried it on the, uh, on my upper leg works, uh, on anything that is, uh, Round. So anything that will, that will fit between your wrist, if you slam down on it, and it's like solid, like a beam or something, it will work. Um, I actually quite liked my shin that it didn't hurt me at all. Uh, but you know, we, I also have followers that are currently pregnant or are expecting stuff like that.
So they can, I use, you know, slam down on their, on their hips because of the belly. Uh, so that's why I say, you know, there's shoelace methods and, uh, shimming methods, but if you really have time and you have the force, you can break out of them. I prefer my shin because it's, my shin is pretty hard and it doesn't really hurt me at all.
[00:29:55] Lauren H: I'm, I'm intimidated. Like, let's get real. I'm intimidated by the idea of even trying to, to shimmy and, and unlock handcuffs. But like that thought to me feels like I'm picking a lock and I'm going to have to go down, you know, hours of YouTube videos. How do you, I mean, how do you even approach that?
[00:30:19] Robin H: You start by actually doing it.
You just do it. You just said yourself, the fear of being, you know, I guess it's the fear of being stuck or the fear of not being able to do it. They have a beautiful saying in the Marine Corps, it comes from an acronym, but it's just vanquish fear or failure. You're going to do it. So you're just going to do it.
And if, I know there's a lot of buts and ifs and what if this, what if that? No, you're going to do it. You just do it and then do it. It sounds so simplistic and it sounds like it's, It sounds very simple, but it's really that, like, I, I didn't, I didn't think it was going to break some of these things that I did.
And then I'm like, physically, this is possible. So let's do it.
[00:31:11] Lauren H: I was going to say the next girls group get together is instead of brunch, it's going to be a gathering of your, all the devices we're going to learn how to get out of. But I shouldn't even say girls get together. Right. Because it could be no matter what your gender is, everyone kind of faces this.
[00:31:27] Robin H: Yeah, it's a, it's. It's sad that we're thinking about those things, right? It's it's, it shouldn't happen. Uh, but unfortunately it does. So taking a few minutes, like, well, once you get this, these, all these things, you get it, like there's no new design that they put in there or whatever, like this is going to work.
So spending a few hours, uh, one afternoon with your friends and learning this will set you up for. You know, not even having a fear of these things. Like I think if, if you have a fear of kidnapping, right? So what happens in a kidnap? Well, you get moved from point A to B, or, you know, you might be in a car, whatever, if you understand each and every aspect of that, and you know how to get out and each single step.
I can't imagine you still having a fear. You know, I talk about home security and all these other things. And I think a very important part is that even though a lot of people have situational awareness, you need a space where you can completely be unaware. So that's usually like sleeping, right? You're sleeping, you're unaware of what's going on, but you also need that space where you can chill out.
Uh, you know, you have a security system, you have good Dell, that bolts, your locking system works where you can just let your guard down. Yeah. Because being at a high level, like where you're constantly looking, well, what's going on, it's not sustainable. You're gonna, you're gonna end up killing yourself from high blood pressure and a lot of high stress because you can't relax.
So that, that's one, if, if you are afraid of all these scenarios, make sure you invest in your own home. A lot of people are not, they, they want to learn how to break out of kid. I'm like, well, how about we start with actually getting you good deadbolts on your door?
[00:33:05] Lauren H: Completely, completely. And that's, I just had this conversation with my partner the other week too, where.
You know, the, the, the age old living in the countryside. I've never locked my doors at night idea. Like I grew up with a mother who raised me on watching Dateline 2020 when I was five years old, forget like deadlocks. We had three different types of locking systems. You mentioned cars and I want to encourage people to like, please go check out your videos and, and watch all these different tactics, but I think it was one of the most important things is recognizing what exists in the trunk of a car.
The moment you pull away a little bit of fabric, like I had to go to my trunk and open it up and find out I, I didn't even realize there's an emergency lever because I feel the, at least for me and my friends and what we've been taught is. Oh, try to like. Break the light and stick your hand out. But there are so many other options that have been built into cars for safety.
[00:33:57] Robin H: So the trunk latch emergency lever actually originally came as a safety feature because people were playing hide and seek and being stuck in a trunk and not being able to get out. And there was a few deaths and stuff like that, that that was one part of it. So I believe any car after 2007 that has an enclosed trunk.
So what that means is. You have your seats and then the trunk is closed in, right? So most sedans, if you have a cross back or an SUV, you might not have this type of security feature because you can climb over the seats, but if you just look at a basic trunk, one, most cars have a spare tire, which means they have an iron bar, you know, the, the, what do you call that?
To tighten the knots, tire iron, that one, tire iron. So usually there's one of those. If not, there's A carjack, which is pure metal, which will hurt if you throw it at someone's head or have it in your hand and swim with it. Um, you can use that. You can even use the tire, the carjack to lift up a locked trunk.
So if you, if you take your tire, you move it out of the, the enclosing, which is usually a circle, right? They put the tire in there. If you move that tire onto the side, use the carjack carjack, you can actually lift up and break. Uh, the lock from the, from the trunk. That's a few options. You can break out the taillights and wave your hand.
That mostly comes down to if you're in public, if you're in traffic or in like a highway that would signal other people to call the cops for you. Right? So it's, it's, it's a way to ask for help. I prefer you do all, all of them. That's fine. You can also use the emergency lever. So the trunk opens up, but there's also a button in the trunk of a car that will allow you to push the seats down to go into where the driver is.
So most of the time, and there's no way of fact checking this because no one knows. But if I was a kidnapper and there's someone in my trunk, I'm not going to lock my two doors on a child's Lock because they're in my trunk Why would I worry about that pushing the seat down and then going out and jumping out of the car that way?
It's very effective in my opinion
[00:36:20] Lauren H: It's a wealth of information that's
[00:36:22] Robin H: I know it's it's it all comes down to basic problem solving and understanding these these basic mechanisms inside of our just knowing a little bit of this information could absolutely save your life. It has been proven you see it on media where.
It was one case where the lady popped the hood, she was in the back of the trunk at the gas station and jumped out, you know, there, this is like, this is happening in real world and people are using the knowledge to fight back. So let's start educating people and giving the tools if, if they ever are in a situation like this too.
Succeed and get away.
[00:36:59] Lauren H: You think about how many, like, not to make light of it, but how many songs I have memorized lyrics to, but not taking the time to understand my own vehicle or other vehicles you can get out of. I mean, for God's sakes, I probably spent more time trying to memorize T Pain's verses than safety mechanisms.
[00:37:17] Robin H: That's because we live in a society where. We are told not to focus on it because it shouldn't happen Yes, if everyone tells you right now that you should be afraid of what's happening around you Would you take the time to read up on some things? Absolutely, but it happens more often that your friend whoever you know says to you.
Hey, have you heard that song? These lyrics are dope And you learn it because you like the song, but we're not teaching, teaching people to understanding what kind of dangers they are. And I'm not saying you're always in danger. I'm just saying, these are dangerous situation. You can choose not to be in them.
Preferably so, and then if you are in them, here are some things you could do about it.
[00:37:59] Lauren H: I made the effort to go buy zip ties, 50 pound force. I did check that and had the will power to not try this until being on this call just to hopefully, I mean, we'll see how this goes demonstrate that this is not as hard and intimidating as it sounds.
[00:38:19] Robin H: So let's try it out.
[00:38:21] Lauren H: Okay. Okay. And having taken your advice of putting to try it for the first time, using a buffer between the material as like a long sleeve shirt or whatever, walk me through this.
[00:38:33] Robin H: Okay, is, is your headphone far, far enough to, so you can stand up because you're going to need to stand up to stand out.
You can do it sitting down as well, but for, for the first time, let's, let's make sure that you can actually put yourself in the best scenario possible.
[00:38:48] Lauren H: Fair enough. It is a stupidly long cord. Why I purchased it on Amazon. Don't ask, but it works for this situation. So
[00:38:57] Robin H: your first, uh, option is to stand up as much, uh, if you can.
Okay. So you're going to, it's very hard to tighten them. So you're going to tighten the zip tie with your teeth. You're going to bite into the part that sticks out and you're going to tighten it all the way. And then readjust yourself to do it again. Like really, really tighten it.
[00:39:19] Lauren H: And while I'm doing that, could you explain the physics of why we tighten it?
[00:39:23] Robin H: So you tighten it once you slam down the. The zip tie onto your, uh, whatever you choose. Like I usually do my hip bones. All the force of that blow goes directly to the tension part of the zip tie and it immediately breaks. Okay. So is it tight? You feel it really tight in your hands?
[00:39:43] Lauren H: I do. I believe so. Yes.
[00:39:46] Robin H: Okay. Can you do it any tighter?
[00:39:49] Lauren H: I got one more notch there.
[00:39:50] Robin H: Yes. Okay. Perfect. Okay. So you're going to lift your hands up all the way. Above your head. You're going to do it right where your hip bones are your hip bones like right there Yeah, but you're gonna push out make kind of like a v shape. So you're gonna lift them all the way up You're gonna slam down and as you're slammed down, you're gonna push your pelvis and your belly out So you were gonna push forward while making this one go back.
[00:40:16] Lauren H: So, okay, we'll try this.
[00:40:17] Robin H: You ready? Awesome See how easy
[00:40:22] Lauren H: that was. I was on the first track. That wasn't yeah, that was not Wow. Wow Yes, Wow that easy That was not bad. Oh my god. I highly recommend everyone do this because there's like a weird like empowerment thrill Adrenaline rush kind of happening right now being like Yeah, exactly.
To your point. It's how did you phrase that? It was vanquishing the fear of failure.
[00:40:44] Robin H: Yeah, vanquish fear of failure.
[00:40:47] Lauren H: And that was it. I mean, Robin, I can't, I can't thank you enough for all the work that you do in helping empower and educate so many people, myself included. I can't tell you how many friends if I, if they know if they have tick tock, I've been like, who do you follow?
Let me make sure you follow this guy. This is educational. But before we wrap, I just wanted to kind of leave you the floor, if there's one thing that they take away or one thing you want people to know, what would that be?
[00:41:13] Robin H: I think the one thing I want people to understand is that there's always a way to escape these things.
And I think what's holding us back is the fear, the fear of what we see online, what we see in TV shows. Just remember, those are all shows. There's absolutely ways to get out of them and watching a few videos. And, uh, changing a few things in your daily life will actually benefit you greatly later on.
[00:41:36] Lauren H: Well, Robin, thank you so, so, so much. Where can people find you online and make sure that they get educated through your content?
[00:41:42] Robin H: So it's Dutch in the USA on all my accounts. You type it in and you'll find my YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
[00:41:49] Lauren H: Thank you so much again for listening. And if you could spare a moment, please leave a comment, leave a review on this podcast, wherever it is that you're listening, and The little bit of love goes a long way, and if you have a how to episode that you would like to have us explore on this show, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team.
