In light of the threats and acts that are becoming more and more frequent in our society today, I thought I’d put together a few tips on spotting and avoiding potential dangerous situations in public.
First, you may not know this but our company, Colorado Krav Maga, provides much more than the best self-defense training system in the world (Krav Maga), but we also have a menu of very popular seminars and lectures ranging from situational awareness to body language (pre-attack indicators) and de-escalation tactics that we provide to many first responder agencies as well as other groups and businesses that hire us out for employee training and safety.
This post will be the first in a short series of some tips from those seminars to help keep you and your loved ones safer out in public this year. Starting with positioning, movement, and cover.
Ballistic protection
Outdoors:
Whenever you are outdoors, make it a point to identify objects in your immediate area that can provide COVER if needed. “Cover” is defined as any object that can stop direct or indirect fire. Some examples of cover outdoors might be:
- Large tree trunks
- Brick/concrete walls/buildings
- Large rocks or earth berms
- Engine blocks of vehicles (or other thick steel objects)
Note that instinctively many people will hide behind cars. Pretty much the only thing in a car that will stop bullets is the engine block or maybe the axle or some framing, depending on the vehicle. Almost nothing in your car door will stop bullets.
Something else that you need to consider in today’s day and age is if the cover is stout enough to stop a vehicle. Hiding behind a car won’t necessarily prevent you from harm if a larger vehicle collides with it. There is really only about 4 square feet of rubber contacting the ground keeping it in place.
If you are in a very crowded area or walking on a crowded sidewalk, try to keep the “inside track” closer to buildings that may offer you a quick getaway off the street during an event. But once you’re inside…KEEP MOVING! Many people make the mistake of allowing the perceived safety of indoors to cause them to stop or slow down once inside. Keep moving, identifying cover, and alternate exits!
In places like a park or outdoor venue that you are stationary in, be sure to identify paths of escape from your position that offer cover along the way, allowing you ‘leap frog’ from one cover position to another moving quickly in between.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a “herd mentality” can be a bad thing in these types of outdoor situations. A bad actor intent on causing maximum damage will concentrate efforts on larger groups, generally ignoring solo folks moving by themselves in another direction. If the threat is readily visible, most people will instinctively move directly away from it. Consider your options laterally instead. Simply creating distance may not be the best plan of action.
Indoors:
Don’t be fooled by walls. Most walls are just drywall and some wood or metal studs only 1.5” wide and spaced widely apart. Tests have shown that even a 9mm round will go through 10 (yes, TEN) sheets of drywall and still penetrate about 8” into ballistic gel (which mimics the density of flesh). That’s 5 walls with sheetrock on both sides!
There is precious little actual cover in your home. Kitchen appliances are millimeter thin aluminum with spray foam insulation and plastic, yet for some reason every action movie still depicts refrigerators stopping bullets…drives me crazy! Experiments have shown that even a .22 caliber bullet can penetrate a 1.5” thick solid wood door. The most wood in your walls is at the corners and around the doors and windows. It’s not great, but it’s better than drywall.
In spaces like malls, it’s really more like a sidewalk than a store. Do your homework on the mall you are in by checking a few of the smaller stores to see if they have back doors to staff hallways and other areas generally off limits to the public. Most do to allow deliveries from loading docks. Know the layouts! However, the walls in malls are also most likely just drywall and studs, so choose your cover wisely. Larger spaces generally have vertical columns that are concrete or steel beams placed periodically. These may provide better momentary cover.
You should NEVER be in a space without knowing exactly where the alternate exits are. And to really be safe, you need to have walked to one at least once to give yourself a better chance of overcoming the fight-or-flight brain fog in an emergency. In an “novel threat” event, your brain will run a “get out” program. But due to the effects of fight or flight (cortisol and adrenaline in your bloodstream), you won’t be thinking rationally or clearly and will most likely only do what you’ve already done. Which means, you’ll only have one exit option in your mind…the one you used to enter.
One thing that I do to practice this often is whenever I am in a new space such as a restaurant or other venue that I’ll be in for a longer period of time, I will excuse myself from the group (usually using a restroom visit excuse) and the walk a path from where we are to an alternate exit thereby buying myself a 50/50 chance of choosing the safer one since I’ve already walked that path.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a good starting point. Be vigilant and pay attention to things around you that can help you in an emergency.
Next up I’ll discuss what Situational Awareness REALLY is, and how to give yourself superhero-like powers of intuition.
Hey, want to get more information on booking our speakers and Certified Subject Matter Experts on topics like Situational Awareness, Body Language, De-Escalation, or hands-on training for your group or agency? Learn more HERE
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