I look for demeanor, clothing, and watch the hands, keeping my head on a swivel.
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Donât leave out the eyes and head movements. The eyes will tell you their intent, the hands tell you when they are ready to act and what actions they are taking.
If you watch videos of various types of incidents youâll always see that those lying in wait setting up an ambush, armed robbery etc will be looking around for threats, exits, etc.
They are our opposites but use a lot of the same techniques we do and will usually appear to be nervous, and fidgety in the moments leading up to an attack. You will also notice with multiple actors very subtle non verbal communication taking place.
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hi Zee, I had the privilege to study many different styles, my favorite being an Okinawan style called Uechi Ryu, (waychee roo).
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@bernard1 cool⊠I studied Isshinryu⊠also Okinawan ⊠not nearly as committed a student as you, but itâs very useful stuff.
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Rule #1 as a conceal carrier is to not bring attention to yourself i.e. adjusting position or fidgeting. That is wearing a weapon should be second nature as is wearing a belt or a pair of shoes. Get control of the printing issue and get comfortable wearing your weapon of choice. As you say with most people not paying attention to their surroundings they wouldnât have the wherewithall to notice someone wearing a concealed weapon.
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Body language is key from both perspectives, criminals look for certain triggers as should someone aware of their surroundings. Posture, facial expression, gate, (the way a person walks). Where a persons focus is or is not. One point in making eye contact is confidence. The eyes are the windows to the soul and our emotional state, any weakness will get detected through the look on our face. This is part of the mental training that martial artists practice when making eye contact with opponents. In addition, it helps build peripheral vision allowing a bigger of the surroundings when paired with movement of the head and eyes.
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Thatâs why, when I first made the decision to carry, I carried all around my home and property while waiting for my ccw license to come.
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Videos of criminals papering for attacks show consistently that the eyes not only show you where/who they will attack head and eye movement are very reliable pre attack indicators.
They are not only looking to identify potential victims, but also to identify potential people who will be a threat to them, exit routes, a chance to make an unobserved snatch etc.
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That is correct I saw things like that as a bouncer. In some instances altercations were averted because we, (the team of bouncers), were able to pickup on the signals. A lot of it was noticing the look on the face of the person getting ready to start trouble. True this is not the same as on the street but it was a great training ground for obtaining experience watching suspicious actions. Granted alcohol was always the catalyst in those scenarios.
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Iâm not a fan of crowds at all. I hate bars! Alcohol, testosterone, and women are an explosive combination. Even in my younger days about the only way Iâd go to a bar would be as part of a group and almost only if it was a âhometown barâ where I knew the players.
Born and raised a small town guy and always will be. Get more than a couple of thousand folks in a county and they start rubbing each other the wrong way.
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Unfortunately, alcohol is the catalyst in too many firearm altercations as well. 
I bet being a bouncer was great training for situational awareness.
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I like to think it was Dawn, And @Zee yes Iâve been forced to use my training both as a bouncer and on the streets. However, while working as a bouncer I not only learned to heighten my situational awareness, I came to understand âHow to fight without fightingâ, yeah it sounds like a line out of a bad movie, ( I believe it is), but I learned how to use words to defuse situations over throwing the first or second punch. Nonetheless, it pays to have an understanding of why one should be cognizant of their surroundings at all times.
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Sounds like something Patrick Swayze would have said in Roadhouse.
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âVerbal Judoâ saves you a lot of trips to the ER or Dentist and can save a whole lot of time and expense due to LEO encounters.
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@Dawn let me say this , I have had my behind handed to me plenty of times, mostly through competition because there is always some one better out there. Yes @WildRose Verbal Judo works more times than a physical altercation in the real world. This was my takeaway was from being a bouncer, Since those days I am a firm believer in knowing your surroundings and having the ability to just walk away, i.e. understanding the concept of knowing when to pick your battles, unless there is no other choice. I still carry a weapon, because one of my masters said that a âbullet putter was the best self defense,â however,his Martial Arts training helped him get or stay out of trouble.
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No argument from me there. The best lesson taught in formal martial arts training is to avoid getting into situations where youâll need to put them to use.
Samething apllies to all forms of armed and unarmed self defense. The only way youâre guaranteed to win is to avoid a fight altogether.
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I always tell people Iâll quit profiling when it quits working.
Profiling to me has nothing to do with race or most other physical features. Itâs how does this fit into a scenario. A person wearing winter clothing in the heat of summer will naturally get my attention. The term profiling has been muddied by people not understanding how it actually works.
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Race can certainly and appropriately be part of profiling depending on the cirucmstances.
If youâre looking for radical muslim terrorists, grey haired grannies from Sheboigan probably arenât very high on the list of potential suspects.
If youâre looking for the next Synagogue Shooter, you can probably exclude most of the guys running around wearing a Jewish Prayer Cap.
If youâre at The NRA convention the guy with the gun buster shirt is probably the potential troublemaker rather than the well dressed Chinese guy in a business suit.
Are they out of place? Do they look more or less likely than the people around them to cause a problem? Are they making sharp, quick glances at the exits and entrances? Are they looking hard at the women carrying purses while basically ignoring the big guys and women with no purse?
As you say, Profiling Works!
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A personâs actions and demeanor are definitely key when it comes to situational awareness!
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This only works half the time for me, the Marine base is too close. Once they donât address someone as sir or maâam everything changes.
Uno cards if you have kids are a great tool. Take one of each color, shuffle and let the kids pick a card, first one to spot someone wearing that color wins. We still do this with the the babies in the family.
I like @WildRose situational awareness walk. Back in college I volunteered to be a âsuspectâ of a state investigators surveillance training, we didnât get to meet or see any of them prior, we were told to head to a starting point and then travel freely from there. We were allowed to change clothes, call friends to have them drive us somewhere or use public transportation.
It was at the third location we IDâd our trailing investigators. Being smart asses we headed to the mall, one of the guys we knew worked in one of the stores, we headed out the back door and back to academy. 6 hours later our investigators came back empty handed. If only they had followed us in the store.
We were able to identify two of our three investigators, the third one we had no clue was following us.
To this day I still volunteer to be an âactorâ for LEO training, I learn just as much as they do.
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