Sheriff's Department offers free adults, seniors self-defense class on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Meadville

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department has announced plans to host a free community self-defense program for adults and senior citizens on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The program will be held beginning at 9 a.m., at Meadville Baptist Church near the corner of Edison and Franklin streets.

“This class is designed to offer training in empty hand self-defense, uses of improvised weapons, firearms defense and combat cane self-defense tactics,” Sheriff Tom Tindle said.

“If your church or civic group would like to host similar training events for your congregation or members, we would like to hear from you, too. We will make every effort to schedule a date and time for the class.”

The outreach is limited to 20 participants at any given time and those wanting to take part are asked to call and reserve their space in next week’s class by contacting the sheriff’s department at 601-384-2323.

Tindle said basic self-defense training is geared toward making participants physically and emotionally better prepared in the event they are somehow personally threatened, assaulted or attacked.

“Self-defense programs also seek to build self-esteem and instill confidence to those taking part,” Tindle continued. “One of the biggest take-aways from classes like this is for individuals to be more aware of their surroundings.”