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SALT LAKE CITY -- How far will you go to stay safe? Single Utah women are going to great lengths.
Two Utah bachelorettes, "Tiffany" and "Alisha," are so cautious they didn't want KSL News to give their full names.
Tiffany even goes as far as to only use an all-female carpet cleaning service.
"Being single, I'm cautious with who comes in my home," Tiffany said.
"My sister has gotten involved with a carpet cleaning service that's for women," she continued. "I love that because carpet cleaners, for the most part, are men, and I don't want them coming into my home and find out and see that I am indeed a single woman living by myself."
Tiffany's actions may seem extreme, but experts say criminals usually find jobs that give them access to homes with the most vulnerable victims. Some women go as far as leaving men's items around the house, like magazines or clothing, to make it look like a man lives with them.
Even if you don't live alone, Alisha says Utah women tend to be too trusting.
"They would leave the door unlocked a lot," Alisha said, so I'd always tell my roommates to take their keys and check the parking lot before they leave the house."
The idea behind that is to be aware of your surroundings.
If they were coming home late at night, Alisha said she'd tell her roommates, "Give one of us a call so that one of us can come out into the parking lot or at least check."
Alisha admits this is extreme but says lot of incidents happen in parking lots.
"If there's someone else out there, that could be very preventative," Alisha said.
It's an idea that Tiffany has adopted. In fact, she calls it "The Buddy System."
"I try to surround myself with friends, doing things with people instead of doing things by myself," she explained.
Alisha runs by herself a lot, but after reports of the Mark and Lori Hacking incident in 2004 her male boss encouraged her to carry mace.
"At first I was very hesitant," Alisha said. "It's the middle of the day. I feel completely safe."
That's when her boss explained that it could be those exact people who see your activities on a routine basis that could attack you.
With the mace, Alisha now feels safer. She wears it on her wrist where it's more visible after her boss told her attackers will go after the woman who's not paying attention.
"I don't hope to ever use it. I am very aware of my surroundings. I'm always looking around when I run past them so that they know that I am aware of them," Alisha said.
Experts say women who pay attention to their surroundings stay safer.
E-mail: niyamba@ksl.com
