Women's Self-Defense Instructor

Steve Kardian
Lead Instructor
Westchester, New York

Stephen Kardian is a former Sergeant in the Mount Pleasant Police Dept in Westchester County, New York. He is a 24- year police veteran. He is a senior defensive tactics instructor at the Westchester Police Academy as well as a certified New York State/FBI defensive tactics instructor. Steve is also holds State certification as a general topics instructor, Taser instructor, chemical weapons and pepper spray instructor, use of force instructor, baton instructor and a radar/laser instructor.

He is a frequent guest on "Inside Edition" talking about crime prevention and safety issues.

Steve has been teaching police officers since 1980 when he was hired by the Connecticut municipal Police Academy in Meriden, Conn., to teach part time police officers from across the State. Since then he has taught International, Federal, State, County and local law enforcement officers on the east and west coast of the United States.

Steve is the founder of the Less Than Lethal program which teaches tactics and ground control for law enforcement. He is currently working on a committee with the Office of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice, for the State of New York to evaluate and submit changes in the way recruits and Defensive Tactics Instructors across the State of New York are trained and taught.

Steve has been teaching crime prevention, Women’s safety, Men and Women’s self defense as well as general topics to the public for more than 20 years.

He has been involved with women’s self defense for the past 10 years, offering his service free of charge to high school and college women in the region.

“I had been searching for a complete women’s self defense program for two years when I came upon the Rape Escape program. I looked at many popular programs that work well in a controlled environment but not in the REAL world. Regardless of whether I am teaching Police, the general public or women’s self-defense I will not teach moves that require anything more than leverage, technique and timing."

"Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect! The technique should be effective regardless of weather you weigh 100 pounds or 250 pounds. A good instructor needs to possess a high degree of knowledge, desire and patience in order to have the ability to impart his knowledge to his student."

Steve has been involved in the martial arts since 1977 and a Police Officer since 1979. He currently operates a martial arts academy in Westchester County New York (just north of NYC).

Steve recently assisted NBC news anchor Ralph Penza with a news piece on stranger rape and sexual assaults in NYC. Ralph Penza called upon Steve’s expertise on sexual assault and awareness to show what weaknesses potential rapists looks for in a woman when selecting a victim. Being wired for sound and accompanied by two cameramen and Ralph Penza Steve set up in a secluded areas of two popular shopping malls in Westchester, NY. He approached 8 women and attempted to gain their confidence, lure them to a secluded area of the parking lot/garage and have them enter his car or the NBC van under a ruse. Steve was able to lure seven women in a row and place them all in a position to have been the victim of kidnapping, rape, robbery, murder or all of the above. Only one woman responded correctly. Ralph Penza, the two camera men and Steve himself were very much taken aback with the results.

Steve and Brad Parker both share the belief that awareness, avoidance and the Rape Escape method -- in addition to educating women -- are the keys to making this program highly successful.

Recently Steve has brought the Rape Escape program to local High Schools in the region, Pace University, Columbia University NYC, IBM, Pepsi Co, Curves Women’s studio and civic and corporate groups throughout the region.
 

Web site: www.nydefendu.com

Contact Steve at:  kardian@optonline.netx   (delete the 'x' at the end of the address before sending)