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.

SIVA

We've had a spate of people robbed while walking home from clubs and bars uptown recently, so, I thought I'd devote a couple of posts to how the bad guys select their victims.

The acronym we use is S.I.V.A. which I'll break down over the next four posts. This one will be devoted to S which stands for selection.

A study was done by Grayson and Stein a few decades ago in which they used prisoners who were human predators and showed them video footage of people walking. In prisons on both coasts the predators all picked the same victims within seven seconds of watching them walk. It didn't matter if they were male/female, big/small, tall/short, black/white, dressed well/badly or catholic or protestant.

The results found that gait was very important as the ideal victim tends to be tired, lacks confidence, walks too slow or too fast, shuffles and looks down instead of around.

One of the best ways to understand this is to adopt a predatory mindset and go out and pretend you're a crack addict looking for a victim to rob. Who would you pick? Why?

Who appears shy or vulnerable?
Who is intimidating?
Who is aware of their surroundings?
Who is distracted, alone or task fixated?
Who is reckless or having a great time?
Who else is watching?
Which people need other stimulus (alcohol, conflict, attention etc)

By looking at it from the enemy's viewpoint you'll better understand how to lower your own profile so you're unlikely to be one of the chosen ones.

Ok, next time we'll talk about the "I"