"Action shooting" sports such as IDPA/USPSA are available somewhere in the PS area every weekend. I believe WCA still offers Tuesday Night Pistol League. It is certainly not "training" but there are benefits to your situation. All will welcome you to "just watch" so you can judge for youself if it might be valuable, and fun. Just bring your eye and ear pro, znd your questions.
Recommended.

Hi Jennifer sorry to hear that you were singled out and really glad to hear that you're OK.
As mentioned before, don't suffer in silence if you experience any stress or PTSD.

Arisaka has pretty good advice. Martial arts training is good, provided you have the time to dedicate to it. I've been considering resuming hapkido training here although it's hard to justify the time away from family several times a week.

One alternative to long-term martial arts training is to take a few combatives/self-defense classes from Insights on the East Side. Took this course with my ex-wife quite awhile back and it was very worthwhile. I would retake it if I was still living in Puget Sound:
http://www.insightstraining.com/view_course.asp?courseID=154

Is it possible for you to carry pepper spray on your way to work? This makes a great non-lethal alternative with no lasting effects on the recipient. Sabre makes a nice keychain dispenser of reasonable size.

Another option is a kubaton. There are both blunt and pointed kubatons. The blunt kubatons rely on brute impact force using four basic strikes: forward thrust, overhead, and lateral strikes. The pointed tip kubatons can inflict very severe, avulsive wounds on an attacker and any strikes to the head, neck and shoulder areas could be construed as a deadly force response.

Both pepper spray and/or kubaton classes are available at Insights or FAS.

When it comes to firearms, either formal training academy like Insights or FAS is great. Attending pistol competitions is fun and also helps you deal with time stress and performance anxiety (though it should mostly be fun, most of us suffer from some stress in competition).

Be safe.

SPD has had their balls cut off by the Obama DOJ consent decree, and now Carmen Best is bending the knee to citizen's oversight groups and jury by media every time an officer sneezes. Don't expect to be safe in Seatthell. My wife was almost car jacked there.

GWG's post above provided me with more training than I've ever had with a kubaton, but that doesn't stop me from carrying one with my keys. I'm a big fan.

I have a cheap eBay one that's blunt and looks just like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/KUBATON-KEYCHA ... 2062264254

It's innocuous enough that I figure I can carry it just about anywhere, but I'm confident that it would get the job done if needed.

I used to be really, and I mean REALLY well trained. Trained for years. Helped me out of some really sketchy situations.

Now, I'm old. When my wife sneaks up behind me I rise two feet off the ground and scream like a little girl.

Glad you came out of it ok.

They're pretty potent weapons actually. A skilled martial arts practictioner (yours truly not included in this category) can use them as a pain compliance tool combined with joint locking. The rest of us with blunt kubatons basically go for the gut with a forward thrust as powerful as possible, follow up with an overhead strike to their back if you can get them doubled over. If you take a diagonal step forward off the line of attack, then a lateral strike can also work well.

Agreed you can carry them just about anywhere (airport excepted). Actually ASP makes pepper spray dispensing kubatons I have the Key Defender though thinking about getting the Street Defender. Easier than carrying a large pepper spray canister lol.
https://www.asp-usa.com/collections/personal-safety

Oh.

I was thinking the hinge of the jaw. Or the eye socket.

back of the hand works, and is generally the nearest target...

Eye socket and then the Bag.
Done.

Jennifer, glad you're physically okay.

To help with the mental/emotional recovery, try to look at it as a blessing to review your personal safety in your relatively new surroundings.

The kubaton is a great option, as you could have it on a wrist lanyard, and hold it discreetyly as you're walking, and it would stimulate you to stay aware.

Another option would be an Asp/baton.

Also, with your connections in the police & cert arena, a rape prevention-type class might be a good idea. Perhaps a group of co-workers would take the class.

Even if you don't want to take martial arts, learning, and practicing, a few throat & eye strikes, and some gonad kicks, would be good.

People breaking the law all around you and the cops don't care?

Personally, I'd carry a .50 bmg!

Glad you weren't hurt!

Now, in the same place and time, if I had screamed like a gurl, those same men would have hurt themselves laughing!

During the live fire exercise for my OK CPL we had a full size bad guy with a gun target. Our instructor said that at the end of the day most women in the class ended up finishing up their last rounds in the groin area.

Quit being so selfish Jen you know he's just turning his life around!

Well, I hate to say it, but unleashing the "Jennifer Emergency Response System" scream of "Help!" probably wouldn't have worked so well had I not been me, nicely dressed, white, and in stockings and heels. Which by the way is part of the reason I didn't run--running is just stupid and dangerous in ankle-strap heels. And fuck kicking them off--I wear Wolford stockings, and those things aren't cheap.

Seriously, though, those guys saved me from some serious damage. I was lucky and I understand how lucky I was, given the situation. Thank you Arisaka, GWG and Quantsuff for the self-defence training suggestions. I'll ask my supervisor about organising a class for our department through the UWPD--there are 27 of us, and 25 of us are women.

Of the two men, one is about to go on paternity leave and the other is, while flaming gay, built like a damn Mack truck--he was an offensive lineman in university. He does his best to walk us to our bus stops and whatnot but our clockout times are staggered so it's not like he can walk everyone everywhere. The UWPD has this thing called NightWalk but it's only on campus, and once off Tower grounds, we're no longer on campus.

'Tactical' pens, all aluminum with pointed ends used like a kubaton, or striking, are like 3$......