The Sky Is Falling

The picture to the left is that of a BMW in Germany in which a 20 woman was killed and her Grandparents injured when 3 teenagers threw rocks from an overpass.

Look through Google and you'll find thousands of incidents related to hooligans throwing objects from overpasses...a lot of them result in major damage to vehicles, some to injured drivers and passengers and a few even lead to fatalities.

Here's a good habit to get into when driving under any overpass/bridge...look up and see if you can see anyone up there. If you do, make every effort to change lanes just in case. This is something I do at night anyway, whether I see anyone up there or not.

Another avoidance strategy - assuming you can't change lanes due to traffic - is to rapidly decelerate or accelerate.


Let's assume a worst case scenario...your car is hit and you're still alive and mobile. DO NOT STOP the car. A favourite tactic of gangs in Central and South America is to have their friends wait 400 yards up the road out of view. When the hapless motorist pulls over to inspect the damage, the friends descend upon them and rob/rape/pillage etc. It's only a matter of time before that trend makes its way here. Don't be the first victim of it in your country.

So, just to recap. Scan overpasses as you near them. If you see someone, change lanes and or vary speed. If you do get hit, don't stop until later when it's safe such as in a rest area or gas station. Once again, awareness is going to be your primary defense.

Nick

Surprise or Tea?

Years ago while on a club door some of the other bouncers and I were discussing all the different sorts of fights there were...multiple assailants, armed assailants, multiple armed assailants and so on.

One of the older hands, a boxer called Mel said "nope, there's only two types and that's slow build or ambush" Many years later I heard it described as a "brewing situation" or "flash."

Brewing of course refers to a slow build up of tension. A good example would be the guy that bumps into someone early in the night and now the two get into a staring competition and various gestures. As the night wears on the staring and gestures become more demonstrative and soon insults are being hurled with threats of "lets take it outside then"

The ambush or flash fight on the other hand comes without warning. I'm aware of a friend of one of my students who was standing at an ATM and turned just in time to notice the lump of wood coming down on his skull. He awoke later with some woman, hanging out a car window while she withdrew her cash, looking down on him with disdain, assuming he was some sort of a bum.

There's no excuse for getting in the former. Self protection is all about avoidance so, if a situation like that is developing, remove yourself from the scene and defuse it. Nobody ever died from being insulted walking away from a potentially violent situation. Plenty have died hanging round trying to fight in them though.

The ambush is another kettle of fish and that's best avoided by judicious use of awareness.

Nick

Surfs up

"Surfing" is the name given to the crime when someone looks over someone else's shoulder and reads their personal information...might be their pin number, might be their address or account number etc.

Probably the most daring I heard about was the guy - and his family - caught by an alert airport cop in California. He was hanging round the airport with his wife and kids and pretending to film them with his video cam. His cam however had a zoom lens and he'd film people's credit card info when they were holding them up to make calls on the phones that required to pay by card and punch your info in.

He only got busted when the cop, who really needs a pat on the back for being on the ball, saw him two days in a row and thought it odd. He surreptitiously watched for a while, figured out what was going on, and took the guy, and his wife and kids, down.

Another old favourite version of this was (and still is) to go to the airport and stand in line behind someone dim enough to have their name and address label on their luggage. The enterprising crook would make a note of the info and then go hit your house knowing full well you wouldn't discover the crime until you got back from your trip.

What can you do? Awareness is the first step in defense. Now you know to keep your personal info, pin #s and credit cards etc personal i.e. don't wave them all over the place and be careful of who is standing right behind you, and what they're doing.

If you're going to travel, it's true the airlines will make you use a luggage name tag...but no one can force you to put it on the outside of your bag. As long as it is on or in the bag somewhere that's fine. If you have the money, swanky luggage has the leather tag with a flap over the pertinent info so it will only be visible if someone physically peels the tag back and looks. Great to have, and worth the money.

Beware the surfers.

Nick

Kids Stuff

Parents often ask me what's best for their kids to learn. Despite being a black belt in several styles of karate and an unarmed combat instructor and Filipino martial arts student my answer is always Judo.

To begin with your child will learn how to do break- falls. This skill, highly valued by stuntmen, will save them (and you) hurt and medical bills over the duration of their childhood as they fall off bicycles, and trip on things. Heck, forget childhood, it's saved me many times as an adult as well, not least at all when coming off my motorbike a few times.

Next, it is an Olympic sport. There's always the off chance that your wunderkind will go on to be an Olympic medal winner which is no bad thing.

Third point is that it will wear them out physically so they won't be home bouncing off the walls because they haven't spent any energy today.

Fourth is the fact that the techniques in the kid's programme are non-striking by nature. They involve throws and pins, no joint locks or strangles. Unlike Tae Kwan Do or karate, which teaches striking, this means that your kid's likely response in a fight at school is going to be go grab someone and trip them to the ground where they can be pinned till a teacher arrives.

If "Little Johnnies" trained reaction is to punch and kick instead then he's far more likely to do so in the event of a fight which can mean serious injury to the recipient.

Fifth, Judo is one of those sports that just tends to be populated by "nice" guys. This is invariably due to the fact you can't "hide" in a Judo school. Everyone who holds rank has had to compete (hard) to get it and so there's no fantasists running around convinced they're lethal weapons when they're not. (something sadly you run into often in trad martial arts)

Sixth, Judo is cheap. Because it's a non-profit organization clubs charge a mere pittance for membership. Last time I went I think I paid about ten bucks a month and kids paid a dollar.

Now, is that to say the karate programmes are no good? Not at all. Some of them now are nothing short of amazing in that they make sure the kids are taught discipline, keep their rooms clean, get good grades and respect their elders etc. In Charlotte, Mike Price http://www.cmaakicks.com/ is the go to guy for that stuff. I've recommended several of my friends to Mike and his programme is brilliant so, if it's karate "little Johnnie" must have then go to Mike's. However, if you're looking for the Olympic sport that trains champions and like the idea of your kid not learning how to punch and kick then Judo rocks.

Nick

Goldie gets a Mickey...nearly

Many years ago while training and working on club doors I trained with a guy called Goldie.

Goldie had an interesting tale to tell and that was while he was at work one night he put his drink down to go and settle down a couple of punters who were yelling at each other. Once he'd got them settled he came back to pick up his drink and a girl in a nearby table said "I don't think that's yours."

Goldie assured her it was and she replied "but I saw some other guy grab it a minute ago and play with it."

Goldie had his wits about him, immediately put the drink down, and later on had it analyzed (via complaints to the police etc) and they found it contained rat poison and LSD. The two guys yelling was a decoy designed to lure Goldie away so the poisoner could carry out his plan.

Now death threats and attempts aren't that rare if you bounce in any sort of heavy establishment...I myself have been stabbed numerous times and shot at twice that I'm aware of, but that was the first time I heard of a poisoning attempt. Immediately I took note of the lesson and made it a hard fast rule...if my drink left my hands even for a second, I'd leave it and go get another.

The reason I bring it up for everyone else is due to the proliferation of stories about "date rape" drugs being dropped in drinks etc. I personally know one woman and her friend who had champagne bought for them by some guys who did so upon learning it was one of the girl's birthday.

The girls in question drank the bubbly and left immediately after and were both violently ill on the way home to the point they had to stop the car and throw up. Given the only common thing they'd both ingested that night was the champagne they were of the opinion later that they had been slipped drugs in the drinks. It was a very common occurrence at the time in that bar in Charlotte so that was the conclusion. I ran it by some cop friends of mine who worked security nearby and they agreed it was the most likely explanation.

So, my suggestions are these a) women, don't accept drinks from strangers unless he buys it and you see the bartender make it. and b) if you put your drink down for whatever reason, buy another one rather than picking up the original. You just don't know what someone might have slipped in it.

Nick

PS: I had another mate, a forty year old businessman and teetotaler, who had his drink spiked by someone with an LSD tab. He nearly died during subsequent hallucinations etc and while in hospital they found out what it was. They tracked it back to one of his colleagues who thought it would be funny to see "Johnno" loosen up a little.

Five Seconds

A girl in my office was telling me the other day about being attacked by two guys who attempted to drag her into their car, in broad daylight, in a shopping center parking lot.

As I got the details I realized she'd violated two rules of self protection. The first one was that she was task fixated. It turns out she was on the cell phone getting information for an appointment she had to make. The second big mistake was a violation of the five second rule.

When you get to your car have your keys already in your hand, get in, and, within five seconds, lock the doors. Preferably drive away and then stop somewhere safer than a parking lot and make the calls you need to make.

I constantly see (and forgive me but women are the worst offenders) women sitting in their cars balancing their check books, putting on their make up, admiring their new purchases, without the door yet locked or, in worst case scenarios with the door still open.

This is exactly what the girl in question did by the way...door open, foot on the sill, appointment book on the roof of the car, phone under one ear and pen in the other. Because they hit her from behind she wasn't even able to get a description to tell the police.

So, here's the five second rule. When you get to your vehicle you've got five seconds to lock your doors once you're inside. That's it. Do that and you'll make it very hard for people to do what these guys did to her.

Some cars come with programmable locks that will shut automatically once the car reaches a certain speed. Not a bad idea but it violates my five second rule by a long shot. Don't wait for the automatic feature to kick in. Get in, lock the doors. Done, simple and effective.

Remember, you are your own bodyguard.

Nick

Exit, Stage Left

We used to play a game designed to test awareness when I was on certain teams as a body guard. It's another one that lends itself very well to the civilian world.

It involved going into a restaurant (or any building) and at some point covering up someones' eyes and asking them to point out where the exit(s) was/were. If they couldn't immediately point in the correct direction dinner was on them.

Obviously the need for a body guard to know where the exits are in case of an emergency is fairly evident. What about for you? Well, it's simple self protection again...don't go into somewhere you don't know the way out of.

Also, consider this. In the event of an emergency you may well not be able to look up and see where the exits are. Whether it be a bomb, a fire an earthquake or any other disaster, smoke, flames and people will be in your way. You'll be disoriented and precious seconds will be gained knowing in which direction you need to be heading instead of running round in a blind panic like a headless chicken.

Remember, take care of yourselves...no one else will do it for you.

Nick