Principles of Security

“Principles of Security” may sound like an in-depth phrase with lots of hidden meaning, but in reality all it is is a few simple rules to live by when dealing with security. If you remember and follow these principles as we travel along on our journey, you will find it much easier to grasp the concepts that will be discussed and you will also be more prepared both mentally and physically for any security situation that may arise.

Diving right in, below are the points that will be discussed in this topic:
a. Mental Preparedness
b. Physical Preparedness
c. Temper and Intent
d. Continuum of Force
e. Deadly Force

Mental Preparedness:
Mentally preparing yourself for situations involving your safety is unlike anything else that you have probably had to do. In acquiring your security mindset, you identified possible situations in your life that could threaten your safety, you reviewed actions that you could take and the possible reactions that could happen, and then you decided on a plan to deal with the threat. Now you have to be mentally prepared to put that plan into action.

Earlier we discussed carrying mace while walking through a parking lot at night, but carrying the mace and actually having to use it in a dynamic and stressful situation are two different things. Most people in this society are averse to causing a fellow brother or sister harm, which is a good thing most of the time. But when it involves you or your family’s safety it could be disastrous. Dave Grossman has written a great book titled On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society. He argues that humans have a natural aversion to killing their own kind and goes on to explain how the military and society has overcome that aversion to a certain degree. The bottom line is that you have to be honest with yourself when you ask “can I really harm another human being if I had to?” If you answer no, then you have to resign yourself to the fact that even if you implement all the best security measures, you could still become a victim. When an attack happens, it is only you and the perpetrator and if you can’t protect yourself, he will always win.
If you answer yes, you think you can, then you need to begin practicing. In the military, if we are not engaged in warfare then we are training. The purpose of all that training is to increase our skill level and make certain facets of individual combat “muscle memory”.

Muscle memory is being able to do something without thinking about it. If you have finally made it out of the Stone Age and accepted the fact that computers are here to stay, then you probably have some idea of muscle memory already. Typing is a great example. You don’t even need to look at the keys or think about what letter you need to hit in order to type a word. Your fingers just “know” where to go. But you were not able to simply sit down at a computer the first time and let your digits fly. You had to practice. The same goes with any security plan that you have decided upon.
The more you practice your security plan the more confident you will feel until the thought of an attack no longer owns you; instead, you will be ready to meet the challenge head-on, afraid, but prepared. Since we all have varied lives, I can’t recommend a catch-all way that you should go about practicing but if you are having trouble getting started or feel that what you are doing is not working, please feel free to drop me a line with your personal situation and I will see if I can help.

Physical Preparedness:
Being physically prepared involves more than just physical fitness. During extremely stressful situations, your brain begins the “Fight or Flight” process that can physically hamper your ability to effectively protect yourself. You must be able to identify these changes when they are happening and overcome them or all your preparation may be for not!

Let’s talk about physical fitness first.
It is no secret that to stay healthy you need to eat right and exercise. This blog is about security, not diet and nutrition so I am not going to go into how you should eat or exercise. What I will go into is pretty much common sense stuff that you may have not thought about before:

• If you have been stabbed, shot, badly beaten, or physically harmed in any way you have a better chance of surviving and recovering if you are a healthy individual. Most doctors will tell you that.
• Any fight requires stamina. I’m in good shape and could go outside right now and run 12 miles, but the same high school wrestler who would lose to me in that run may tire me out in a matter of minutes on the mat. There are different kinds of stamina and the one that matters here is the high intensity, short duration kind. Consider mixed martial arts, jiu jitsu, or krav maga to not only stay healthy and protect yourself, but to also work on the sort of stamina you need to go the distance in a life or death struggle, or to make it to safety.
• There have been reports of people dying of heart attacks simply because of stress. Don’t think I need to explain that one.
• The last one I will cover is injuries. If you are out-of-shape you will be more prone to injuries which may result in you losing a battle with your attacker. More than likely the stress response taking place in your body at that moment may mask the fact that you are even hurt at all but it is still a possibility.
• If you are in shape, stay that way. If you are not, get there. It will only help you.

Psychological Response:
Now, let’s talk about that psychological response. I will let you do your own research into the “Fight or Flight” reaction, but what I am going to cover is what may physically happen to you based on my own personal experiences.

• In the beginning of fight or flight, my body decides on the first initial response and pumps blood to that area. If it deems that I should fight, blood pumps to my arms and torso. If it feels I should run, my legs and torso get the blood. When it is unsure, such as a home invasion, all the blood usually goes to my heart which is pumping furiously.
• Either way, my fine motor skills go out the window. My hands get shaky and numb and it would be really hard for me to push small buttons, such as dialing out on a cell phone, or hold on to things, such as a weapon.
• My legs are also affected. There have been times where I could barely feel them and it was extremely difficult for me to run, and other times when all they wanted to do was run. In one memorable case (I was a little kid being chased by the neighborhood Doberman) the blood did not go to my torso; rather, it all went to my legs.
• Due to losing blood to my head, I get light-headed.
• The reaction with the eyes and ears are pretty cool. If it is bright, your body may shut down your ears to maximize your eyesight. If it is dark, your vision may shut down in order for your body to maximize your hearing. I have had both happen to me. While investigating a possible break-in in the middle of the night my vision completely left me. My body decided that since I could barely see anyways I should just focus on my hearing. One time my ears didn’t shut down they just rang, still with the same result.
• My mouth gets dry so it is hard to swallow.
• Sometimes you may lose your voice all together, hindering you from calling for help. Other times you may not be able to speak above a whisper.
• Unfortunately, you may lose control of your bowels, messing up your pants.
• And last but not least you may freeze. You may not be able to do anything at all!

These are just a few examples of what could happen to you during a high-stress situation. Now that it appears there is no hope for survival, let’s talk about how to fight through these perfectly natural and normal responses and continue to fight effectively.

First and foremost, remain as calm as you can. Do not panic! Once you panic all the training and knowledge that you possess goes right out the window and you become easy prey.
Remind yourself that these responses are normal and that you have a plan of action. Stick to that plan; be confident that your plan will succeed. In the instance I described above where I completely lost my sight all I did was stop, I remained calm, and reminded myself that it was normal and I had a plan. Within a matter of seconds my vision began to clear and I was able to continue investigating. It turned out to be nothing but both my wife and I were woken up. Still don’t know what it was.
Unfortunately it is hard to practice calming yourself and working through the “Fight or Flight” reaction without being subjected to an extremely stressful situation, which is what we are trying to avoid. Becoming intimately familiar with your plan and having confidence in your ability to implement it as well as its likelihood of success are all major factors in overcoming your body’s natural responses. And regardless of how your body responds, remember that it happens to everyone. Grown men have soiled themselves in combat, been frozen in place, and were physically unable to help their comrades no matter how much they wanted to.

Afterwards, after the threat has passed or been eliminated, you will feel extremely drained and tired. Rest! And if you suspect that you have any lingering mental issues regarding your ordeal seek help. Do not be ashamed. Having your safe and secure little world shattered is hard to bear.

The last thing I will mention concerning this topic relates to both physical and mental preparedness.
a. Surprise
b. Speed
c. Violence of Action

If you utilize these three principles during a time when physical violence on your part is necessary, you will stand a much better chance of coming out on top.

Surprise
Surprise your attacker. Do not show him all your cards in hopes that he will run away scared. All you are doing is allowing him to prepare his defenses. I know we have all seen those movies where the man or woman suspects a burglar is in their home and they call out “who’s there?” Negative. Once you call out that burglar will immediately know where you are in the house and that you are awake. Instead of being the hunted, become the hunter. If you feel the need to leave a room you know is secure to confront the unknown (which, having young children is exactly what I would do) do it quietly.
*On a side note, if you have teenage children that may come in and out of the house you need to talk to them about your home security plan. I will cover this in a later topic but want to get it out there now because there has been more than one case of parents harming their children because they thought they were burglars.*

Speed
When it is time to act, do it quickly before your attacker has time to even think. Because you have the proper mindset and are physically and mentally prepared, there should be no hesitation in your attack. “Hesitation will get you killed” is a little saying a lot of Marines go by…because it is the truth.

Violence of Action
To make both surprise and speed work you need to attack violently. Once the decision has been made that you or your family is in danger, never hold back. If you are using a bat to confront a burglar, don’t aim for the arm and ease up on the swing, the only thing you will do is leave yourself open for retaliation. Strive to end the fight on the first blow but don’t expect it to. Continue your attack violently until your attacker has been incapacitated.

Temper and Intent:
Determining someone’s temper and intent is an effective tool in sorting out the wolves from the sheep; wolves being the potential attacker and sheep being everyone else. The earlier you spot a wolf the more time you have to evade or mount your defense. In order to make this tool work though, you have to be aware of your surroundings. Burying your head in your cell phone or “minding your own business” will render this technique ineffective.

In our everyday lives we determine people’s temper. This ability is natural and you may not even know that you are doing it. Humans give off certain visible and subtle clues as they experience emotion, and we as social beings unconsciously pick up on those clues. We learned in elementary school that somebody who is smiling is happy, and somebody frowning is sad. This is the exact same thing, just taken a few steps further. It’s body language. You do not need to be a psychology or sociology major to become good at reading people, you just need to be aware. Spotting the wolf hidden in the flock of sheep is a good start, but then you have to decide if they are a threat to you or not.

Determining intent is a skill most people also practice on an everyday basis. The door may be held for us, at times we are offered certain items off the street, or someone may just need a question answered. While all these are perfectly safe and acceptable social situations, a good rule to go by is that anybody in the public who offers you more than a passing glance deserves to be scrutinized. Most you can dismiss right away as being routine. But when their purpose is more vague, it could be harder for you to decide on the appropriate course of action to take. Let’s look at a few examples:

Imagine that you are on the streets of a touristic city in the United States, it’s around noon, and you are taking in the sites. From the corner of your eye you spy a man take notice of you or your family and start to approach with a purpose. He is a white male, medium build, clean shaven, and his clothes aren’t nice but they aren’t dirty either. His face wears a smile and in his hands he is carrying a bunch of little trinkets. “Excuse me!” “Excuse me!” is his call. Threat or not? If you answered that he was probably not a threat, you are right. Being aware of where you were at (in a touristic city at midday), his demeanor (he was smiling and calling attention to himself by saying “excuse me” loud enough for others to hear) and noticing what he had in his hands should have led you to the conclusion that his intent was just to sell you something. While maybe annoying, he is not a threat.
Let’s take this same scenario but shake it up a little: You are in the same city, same part, but this time you are walking back to your hotel after enjoying your day out. Most of the shops are closing and pedestrian traffic has died down considerably, in fact it’s mostly just locals. You see the same man out of the corner of your eye approach but this time his speed is slower. He has a neutral look on his face and his hands are in his pockets. He quickly looks to his left or right but then always back to you, almost fixated. The “excuse me” that comes out of his mouth is only loud enough for you to hear. Threat or not? Not so easy this time is it? What do you do?

In both of the above scenarios you analyzed the man’s temper and intent. By doing so, you could then begin to decide on a course of action, whether it be a simple “No thank you” or an application of self defense. Now imagine those same scenarios when you were not aware, when you weren’t actively determining both temper and intent. Your reaction time would be severely limited and the possibility of you or your family becoming a victim much greater. Once you have determined a person is a threat, this is when your fight or flight mechanism will kick in. Depending on the distance between you and the threat, the environment, and your level of physical fitness, evading may be a wise choice. But if an attacker is any closer than 50 feet away and no cover is available, you should never turn your back. Once you do that you lose sight of the threat and the advantage you had of being able to see what is coming. Your safest option is to turn and confront your opponent on as much of your terms as possible. This will begin our discussion on the Continuum of Force.

The Continuum of Force and Deadly Force will be the one portion of this blog I get into definitions and more textbook type verbiage simply due to the fact that it is important information when justifying your actions to yourself or the authorities. You will need to learn your local laws concerning your right to self-defense and the actions that you are allowed to take in what situations as all states are different. Just keep in mind that you ALWAYS have the right to self-defense if you feel that your life is in danger.

Continuum of Force:
The Continuum of Force is basically the understanding that there are a wide range of actions that you can take during a violent situation. It is called a continuum because you start with the least destructive (mere presence) and work your way up to deadly force. The following information was intended for riot control so there will be some stuff I talk about that won’t apply to “street” situations. It will make more sense once we dive in so just bear with me and let’s begin!
Before we get into the Continuum of Force, let us talk about resistance first. There are 5 levels of resistance you can expect from a person. I will explain and give an example of each.

1. Compliant – Subject may be argumentative, however offers no resistance.
(Subject begins to approach you in a parking lot and you yell “stay back!”, and he complies.)

2. Passive Resistance – Verbal noncompliance and/or physical actions that don’t prevent control.
(Subject is refusing to leave your property after you have repeatedly asked him to.  You could try to physically escort the subject off your property but he may tighten his body or go limp.)

3. Active Resistance – Physical actions that prevent control; but, do not harm you.
(Subject is refusing to leave your property and is actively resisting all attempts to be physically escorted off.)

4. Assaultive /Bodily Harm – Physical actions of assault against you or your family. (Subject attacks using fists, feet, elbows, etc…)

5. Assaultive/ Serious Bodily Harm or Death – Deadly force encounter against you or your family. (Subject uses a knife, handgun, etc…)

Next we will discuss the levels of force (Continuum of Force) as it relates to the resistance encountered.

Cooperative Controls – Techniques used to direct a compliant subject. Examples are:
a. Presence – Your mere presence
b. Verbal Direction – You tell the subject and he listens
c. Hand Gestures – Most often used in conjunction with verbal direction (ex. Giving the sign to stop while  saying “stop!”)

Contact Controls – Utilized when cooperative control fails and the need of force escalates.
(ex. You physically have to remove somebody from your property by using compliant escort positions you may have learned in a self-defense class)

Compliance Techniques – Utilized when the compliant escort positions fail and the need of force escalates.
a. Pain Compliance/Pressure Points
b. Joint Locks – using empty hand tactics or baton restraining tactics
c. OC/Pepper spray

Defensive Tactics – Utilized when the use of compliant techniques fails. Examples are:
a. Counter-striking Techniques
b. Baton Striking Techniques

Deadly Force – Utilized as a last resort when all other lesser means have failed. Examples are:
a. Use of weapons
b. Defensive tactics concerning the use of counter-striking techniques and baton striking techniques directed into vital points of the body that can cause death or serious bodily harm.

These levels of force are dictated by the threat that the subject presents during the time of the encounter. The levels do not have to be applied in order. What that means is if someone pulls out a gun and points it at you, you do not have to go through all the steps in the Force Continuum in order to use deadly force. And on the flip side, if an attacker decides to turn and run you can’t shoot him in the back…he has de-escalated the situation and you have to adjust accordingly.

Deadly Force:
Deadly Force is defined as that force which a person uses with the purpose of causing death or serious bodily harm, or which a reasonable and prudent person would consider likely to create a substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily harm, and it will be used as a last resort when all other lesser means have failed.
There are 3 preconditions of deadly force and usually all 3 must be present before deadly force can be used. These are listed as they apply to “Deadly Force” but can be used in any incident where the use of some sort of “force” is necessary.

Opportunity – The subject is present and has the opportunity to inflict serious bodily harm
Means/Ability – The subject has the ability to inflict serious bodily harm or death to you or someone else.
Intent – The subject must exhibit an overt action that you perceive as a threat.

Basically, and man that has broken into your house and has a gun would meet all three preconditions of deadly force. He has the opportunity, he has the means and ability (has a gun), and the intent is there (he broke into your home). Also, a man walking toward you with balled fists while saying “I’m going kick you’re #*! would warrant action by you as well.
For those just starting on your self-defense journey, the above may be quite confusing and seem too complicated for you to even want to continue. Trust me, it is not. A lot of this is common sense and usually takes place without even having to think about it. Knowing this information helps in covering your butt and will boost your confidence in your ability to succeed in a potentially violent situation. The more you learn about protecting yourself the more everything will fall into place and make sense.
If you have any questions concerning this topic do not hesitate to ask, that is what I am here for.

This concludes my Principles of Security post; I hope you found it not only interesting but helpful too.
Cheers!

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