As current threats develop and old threats evolve, everyday people are subject to complex issues in which the overwhelming majority are unaware of and/or unprepared to face. Not everyone can afford private protective services, so what can they do to better protect themselves and become their own bodyguard? In this article, we’ll discuss increasing your own survivability and that of those you love and protect.
When considering personal protection, we can most appropriately break down the dynamics therein by priority and by type. For the purpose of this article, we will be briefly discuss awareness, planning, skills, fitness and tools with many links included to other article that are more in depth on the topic.
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AWARENESS
Situational awareness comes first, and with good reason. Without awareness you will always be forced to react to the situation, putting you at a disadvantage. To have the appropriate level of situational awareness, you must first be personally aware and by that I mean to be aware of your condition. We are all human so put the ego aside along with the mentality that ‘it will never happen to me’ or ‘I will never/would never be in that situation.’ Human factors affect us all, regardless of training or experience. You need to understand if you are hungry, tired, multitasking or focused entirely on one task, etc. how do these factors contribute to your situational awareness? Additionally, how to you personally handle stress? Only once you are fully aware of yourself can you be truly aware of your environment.
Constantly consider the environment and its inhabitants. Consider what is or should be common for that type of place at that time. Look for anomalies and assess for the possibility of a threat. You cannot mitigate a risk or a threat that you have not anticipated. Stay alert, stay cautious, and remember “action beats reaction,” it is just that simple. See the article below for the mindset of a protective services professional:
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While a study shows the majority of attacks on protected individuals have and do occur in or near vehicles, the civilian statistics are indicative of a similar attack methodology – the movement to your vehicle or while in your vehicle is a high point of complacency for most and this is exploited by criminals. The article linked below has more information on vehicle security:
