GAINESVILLE - Class Instructor, Shawn Pagel explains, "We would get lots of calls from women or from husbands asking if we had a self defense that we could teach the women and the answer was always 'no.' So I went in search of something we could offer the community."

A year later in May 2008 a brutal rape in Haile Plantation shook the community and correlated to increased interest in the R.A.D classes.

Pagel says she noticed a pattern with participation in the program.

"A little while passes and people forget about it and it gets to the back burner," Pagel said.  "People think, 'I don't really need to spend 12 hours going to this class, I'm never gonna need  it, everyone thinks, oh it'll never happen to me.' And lo and behold we'll get another uprising, something will happen and people will be like, 'oh, I really need to take that class.' "

Santa Fe College's moment occurred in January when a student was forced at gunpoint into a stranger's truck until escaping two hours later.

Gainesville's moment happened last month when Andrew Payne Jr. was arrested in connection to the Haile Rape case.

RAD is open to women 13  and older.

For information on how to sign up for the course visit the Alachua County Sheriff's Office website or call 352-367-4108.