Selling Safely

Recently here in Charlotte there was a double murder of an elderly couple who went to meet someone to sell their car.

A lot of people do this, especially with E-Bay and Craigslist making the process so convenient. However, anytime you go to meet some unknown person(s) to do a deal there's a risk involved.

What I'm going to cover here is a couple of steps to minimize that risk.

1. Gather intel. You have the person's phone number and name. Google them both and see what shows up. You can, for a fee, do a reverse lookup on their number and see that it comes back to who they say they are. Run their name through the local sheriff's dept and see if they've ever been arrested for anything.

2. Sanitize your vehicle. That means take out anything with your name and address on it, any valuables, and anything that could be used against you as a weapon. I've mentioned in other blogs the importance of what your car says about you and how much info a lot of them contain for the bad guys.

3. Arrange to meet in a public place. (the victims in this case didn't) That means a mall, a shopping center, a gas station or in front of a police station. Make sure it's when they're open and there's going to be loads of people around.

4. Take someone with you...preferably someone BIG. Husband, boyfriend, neighbor's kid, cousin...someone who at least looks the part.

5. Once you arrive at the meeting place, if you feel bad about the situation or the people you're meeting (now that you've laid eyes on them) feel free to leave. Trust your instincts. (The couple in this instance felt something was wrong and called their daughter to let her know. That was a good step and expedited the capture of the alleged killer but if they'd followed it up with high tailing it out of there they might be alive today)

6. Ask to see identification and proof of insurance. Take a pic of the i.d. and send it to someone on your camera phone if you want to be really safe. Also check with your insurance agent about who's covered etc during a test drive. If the potential buyer crashes the car it's a rotten time to find out your coverage doesn't extend that far.

7. Don't let them test drive on their own and don't let them outnumber you on the test drive. If you are by yourself and the two of them want to be in the car during the test drive you should be in the back seat and not in the front with someone sitting behind you.

8. Remember most of the above also applies if you're going to buy a car from someone online or in the paper. One scam involves the criminals using the address of a foreclosed or vacant home. You roll up and they produce a weapon, take your money and your vehicle and you have no idea who they are.

Remember, thousands of people every day do transactions like this and nothing goes wrong. Don't be paranoid about the whole thing but, by the same token, don't be complacent either. The aforementioned steps will go a long way towards alleviating risks.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I have a huge problem with the propensity of reality TV shows that air details about police, special forces, DEA, forensic processes and so on. Why? Because the bad guys watch them too and they learn from them.

There have been cases where rapists are wearing condoms and making their victims shower before leaving to destroy any DNA evidence. There's another where a rapist smuggled semen out of prison so his brother could plant it on someone else in a bid to prove there must be someone else out there with matching DNA.

How about home invasions? Someone's going to have to convince me the trend isn't a result of watching SWAT and DEA teams on TV raiding the bad guys houses. Some of the MS-13 crew have even been purported to post snipers out the back of the houses they invade lest someone tries to escape that way. That is straight out of the commando play book on taking down a occupied dwelling.

Not too long ago one of my students told me about his mate in uptown Charlotte. "Steve" (not his real name) was walking home with his woman from dinner and a few drinks. Two black guys walking towards them suddenly lashed out...one grabbed her by the neck and put a gun to her head while his accomplice stood back with his weapon concealed behind his hand in front of his waist area and told Steve to hand over all their stuff (watches, phones, wallets, rings etc). The threat for non-compliance was chilling..."hand it over and don't try anything or we'll kill her while you watch, then we'll kill you."

The way the guy stood with his arm round the girl and the other guy stood back made it look, to anyone passing by, like a group of four friends hanging around chatting on the sidewalk. Even a law enforcement buddy of mine said, after seeing a re-enactment, it wouldn't have raised any alarm bells with him."

Of course at that point there's not much anyone can do. I don't care if you're Jackie Chan on six cups of espresso and Chuck Norris all rolled into one...you are in the kill box of an ambush and there's a good reason they call it that. (This is where S.I.V.A. comes into play...the Selection, Isolation and Verbal portion of that acronym is where the avoidance and awareness comes into play)

When Steve was reporting what happened to the police later he commented on the fact they seemed so organised and had their attack planned...there was non of the usual histrionics and waving guns around, holding them sideways etc. The Sgt taking the report replied that "yes, they're continually evolving and they get most if from TV."

I can only hope that one day a family member, or a member of the media, who think it's cute to air all this stuff becomes the victim of someone who's got their skills watching his show on television. To be hoist by his own petard as it were. How fitting that would be.

More Bug In Bag Stuff

Back when I was posting on a regular basis we were in the process of going through the contents of the Bug In Bag. Someone had asked about a small bag and I said I'd get back to them on it, which I will sometime in the very near future.

What I want to cover here though is what do you keep on your person at all times? Bug in Bags are great but there's going to be times when it's just not practical to tote one with you and it will be in the trunk (boot) of the car and you'll be faced with some minor emergency.

Here's what I consider the bare minimum and, as usual, if you have any ideas please feel free to submit them.

1. Cell phone (pretty obvious but they are worth their weight in gold when there's a flap on. Don't forget though that in a big emergency (9/11 and London's equivalent) the system will typically be overloaded and they won't always work.

2. Credit card and cash. Credit cards are always good to have around in an emergency but don't forget some cash as well. In the big power outage (black out) people weren't able to use ATMs due to no electricity.

3. Small key chain flashlight. You've seen them...the tiny LED light that is part of the key chain. These things are a godsend for dropped keys in the dark, finding your seat in a movie theatre etc.

4. Knife. Doesn't much matter to me if you have a tactical folder, a multi-purpose tool like a Leatherman or a Swiss Army Knife but have something. I saw a clip recently where two people trapped in a burning car nearly perished because nobody had a knife to cut them free of their seat belts. Now in some jurisdictions the carriage of a knife can be illegal so make sure you check out the local laws regarding blades. Personally I wouldn't live somewhere that wouldn't let me carry one but hey...that's just me.

That for me is it...the bare bones minimum I carry on a daily basis. Would it be nice to have more? Of course but it's not always practical and it's not always necessary.

As previously mentioned, if you have anything you carry on a daily basis that you can't live without, or find you use all the time, post a comment and I'll make sure it gets aired.

Got Insurance?

As promised I've been nothing but sporadic with regards to my postings of late...bear with me, I'm in the middle of moving and will be in limbo until I find my new place.

Thought I'd grab a moment in between loading up boxes of stuff to mention the need for renter's insurance for any readers who rent their digs as opposed to own them.

One of my students, who ironically enough is an insurance agent, was burgled two days ago while he and his room mate were at work. They assumed their landlord carried insurance against just that type of things and he was stunned to find out that's not the case.

Landlords will almost always carry property insurance against the possibility their tenants will inadvertently burn the place down but they never carry coverage for their tenants belongings. As Dan found out the hard way, that falls squarely on the shoulders of the tenant.

The great thing about it is it's cheap. I insured all my stuff (including a $7,000 Rolex) for about $125 for an entire year while renting a place, which covers against fire/flood damage and burglary etc. If you haven't got it, get it and save yourself the headache.

By the way, I have a great referral for any US readers who fall into the tenants without insurance category...email me and I'll send you the link to the people I use for all my insurance needs.

Convenience Again

In my last post I talked about the three enemies of self protection being ego, complacency and convenience.

Yesterday I was at the local mall and I saw a woman putting her toddler in the kids seat in the back of the car. Her pocket book/purse was on the roof of the car, she was bent over inside and totally absorbed with the job of getting her kid strapped in. Had I been a criminal it would have been so easy, given the fact she was so task-fixated, to attack her, or swipe her bag.

The proper way to do that is to get in the car on the opposite side of the child safety seat and lock the doors while you strap in your child. Then get back out and walk round to the driver's side and leave.

Now, how often do you see anyone doing that? Almost never, because it's not convenient.

Criminals are counting on that so I guess it depends whether you want to deal with the inconvenience of the few extra seconds it takes to do it the right way, or the inconvenience of being a victim of serious criminal assault.

PS: Sorry for the spottiness of the posts...have some major personal and business things going on right now which should be resolved in the next few weeks then it will be back to a regular posting schedule.

Our Three Worst Enemies

We're usually our own worst enemy when it comes to self protection and that's because we know the bad guys are there but we don't do enough about it.

I suppose it's human nature...look at how many people are overweight. They know they are, they know it's bad for them, and they know what they need to do to correct the problem but they don't. Usually it takes a monumental event such as a mild heart attack to wake them up, just as it takes a neighbor being attacked to make them realize the need for some self protection training.

With that in mind I started reflecting on some of my training when I was learning to be a body guard. The big three enemies in executive protection (and self protection) we learned are Ego, Complacency and Convenience.

Ego says "I don't need to learn that stuff. I can handle myself.
Complacency says "It hasn't happened to me yet, so it's not going to"
Convenience says "I know I'm supposed to - fill in the blank - but it's too much work."

Just as we had to check ourselves every day on executive protection teams against those three so must anyone who's serious about not becoming a victim of a violent human predator.

Get Back

Time and time again I see motorists drive into parking spaces nose first...and then back out. From a self protection view point that's disastrous.

When you arrive somewhere such as the movies or stores you generally have time to back the car into a space i.e there isn't an emergency (or you wouldn't be going to either of those locales)

The emergency, if it comes, will be when you are out and about on regular business and, if it's like most emergencies, every second will count. That's not the time to run to your car and struggle with backing it out.

If it's nose out already, leaving in a hurry will be a breeze.

Secondly, if you go in nose first and are followed to your car the open driver's side door forces you in to what I call "the fatal funnel." You turn to see someone approaching you from behind and there's nowhere to go but into the car. If you'd been nose out you'll have the door between you and the bad guy which gives you options and a barrier of sorts.

We'll cover another trick regarding the door tomorrow but in the meantime, get into the practice of backing in to parking spaces.

Your Fired...

Most people by now have heard the advice about counting the doors from your hotel room to the fire exit. That's because in the event of a fire most of the hallway will be filled with dense smoke and the only clear area will be about 30 inches down on the floor.

The smoke will obscure the exit signs so your only recourse will be to crawl along the floor counting doors until you arrive at your exit door.

Well, here's some more advice for you concerning hotel fires right out of the body guarding play book...

1. Check out the location of the fire extinguishers on your floor

2. Determine what type of fire they'll put out

3. Look at the card that should be on the handle and check when it was last serviced

4. Look at the gauge and make sure it's fully charged.

5. Familiarize yourself with its operation (some work upside down for example)

This will ensure you don't experience such a snafu as to grab an extinguisher that doesn't work, blows up in your hands, isn't there or doesn't work on the sort of fire you have.

Most people do none of the above but the day you're in a hotel and there is a fire (and it happens more often than you think) you'll be glad you did.

PS: This goes for your place of work as well

S.I.V.A. Cont

Sorry for the break in transmission...I was just in Florida teaching a two day seminar on target hardening and awareness and avoidance strategies for a group of personal development coaches et al.

The last letter in S.I.V.A. simply stands for "assault" or "attack." If the criminal has chosen you, isolated you and then determined by process of the interview that you are suitable prey the attack will come next.

Typically, in an all out criminal assault such as a rape, a mugging etc, this attack will be in the form of an ambush. In other words, his dialogue during the interview process will be innocuous and designed to put you off guard and the attack will come out of the blue.

In a bar scenario when some drunken clown has singled you out to pick on (and gone through the same steps as above) the verbal portion of the program may go on for some time (with some tit for tat exchange happening) before the assault begins which then becomes the "brewing" form of assault or one in which you had some inkling it was coming.

The purpose of learning S.I.V.A. is that it teaches you to avoid being selected in the first place by lowering your profile, or changing it (more on that at some time in the future); it alerts you to the fact you might be being followed anytime you leave the safety of numbers and to use some counter surveillance measures to detect that happening; and, to recognize seemingly innocuous conversation by a stranger may be the precursor to an attack and to be on your guard.

If you can do that you can change the intended assault from an ambush to one that is brewing by recognizing the signals in advance and, as has been mentioned before, a brewing situation is a lot easier to get out of than an ambush.

S.I.V.A. Cont.

So far we've dealt with Selection and Isolation when it comes to a criminal's modus operandi. The next step in the attack sequence is the "Interview" or "V" for Verbal.

This is again used in different ways by different criminals. Sexual predators for example will typically say something lewd and, judging by their potential victims reaction, decide to go to the next step. If the victim is shocked, blushes, looks down or gets flustered she's the ideal victim. If instead she reacts with eye contact, a confident voice and a put down then he's going to backpedal and find someone else. Typically they're looking for someone they can control and dominate, not someone who's going to put up a fight and displays confidence.

Criminals intent on violently attacking something will engage in innocuous dialogue designed to befuddle the victim or, alternatively, put them off their guard while they get into range. The old "Do you know how to get to...?" or "Excuse me mate, have you got change for a five?" will typically be used to mask their approach.

Con men will engage in a whole stream of patter designed to dupe their victims out of whatever it is the conman is after but, just like the two other criminal types, they've still gone through the steps of selecting their victim and isolating them.

Role playing is critical in dealing with all of the above. Female students of self protection need to practice so they're not shocked when the "interview" turns explicit. Potential mugging and robbery victims need to learn how to deal with the patter as the potential attacker moves in to the kill zone, and the elderly and the gullible need to familiarize themselves with the types of scams that are out there so they recognize them when they hear them.

PS: My friends wife works for one of the mobile phone companies. Tonight she told us a client came in to cancel his phone as he'd just been robbed in a popular up scale shopping center. Guess what he told her? Yep, you guessed it, "He came out of nowhere." Damn I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that line. (for those who don't know what I'm talking about find one of my early blogs on Merlin the Magician.)

Charlotte Self Defense on television

My apologies to my international readers but this post probably won't be of much help to you guys.

Fight Survival is currently being featured on our local cable access channel 21 here in Charlotte for a 13 week series entitled "How To Be Your Own Bodyguard." It runs on Tuesday nights at 10:30 pm for 30 minutes at a time.

We focus on a mix of self protection - the awareness and avoidance strategies used by professional close protection officers to avoid getting in trouble in the first place - and self defense - the hands on physical fighting techniques as taught in my Fight Survival classes.

Our first episode went to air a week ago and I've heard nothing but positive reviews. If you live in the local market and want to check it out please do so and let us have your feedback.