What Would You Do?

When I conduct a situational awareness PowerPoint presentation, one of the things I discuss is having visualization conversations with yourself and with family members. The idea behind this is to create a bit of mental muscle memory in case something bad starts to happen. The worst thing you can do is just stand there like a deer in the headlights thinking, “Man, I didn’t see that happening." Not long ago, my wife Kathie was watching the horrible news coverage of a terrorist attack, and she commented on a video where people just seemed to be standing and not assisting the injured persons lying on the ground. Those people were understandably overwhelmed by the violence and carnage they had witnessed. I was speaking with a medical doctor not long ago about the importance of maintaining a calm demeanor in dealing with a medical emergency, so that injured persons don’t spiral mentally, which improves the chances of survival. He said that in his medical training, they did "a lot of visualization training on medical emergencies, a what would you do?" conversation to hopefully get a jump start on an emergency when it occurs and to get a better head start on dealing with the emergency. This idea would apply to first aid training, and in our classes, I do a lot of scenarios and the medical treatment for the injury conversations. This scenario training can apply to snake bites, to a stroke victim, and to any other event, and is something we should all do. During my 19 years with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, scenario training and visualization were a constant. For example, every time we prepared for a search warrant, we would go over everyone's role in the operation. We would visualize how the event should play out.

But let’s take this idea a bit further and consider making visualization a normal part of your daily life. Another area is realizing what your state of awareness is during your day. Are you at least minimally aware of what is happening around you? Sounds, smells, things occurring in the background, and even how people look, how they are acting, dressed, and their mannerisms. I remember years ago, Kathie and I would go over to Miami to visit friends and spend an evening on South Beach. I remember one night looking at a few of the waiters. I noticed they had on a type of soft-soled shoe common with people who practice martial arts, and looking closer, I could see a few had calloused knuckles from what I assumed was boxing heavy bag work. Although they looked normal to the average person, to my law enforcement brain, I realized these guys were more serious if you had to deal with them than the way they first appeared.

The next question to ask yourself is, “How do I present myself to others?” Do you appear to be someone in command, someone who has a positive mindset? How is your posture? Do you stand tall, walk with purpose, and look people in the eyes as you walk through that parking lot? How do you address people? A more formal form of communication when talking to strangers, instead of “I’m sorry to bother you, this is a stupid question,” will show someone who has self-confidence. I will often point out that coyotes look for the weak deer in the herd. Criminals do the same thing; they are also predators looking for that weak individual. Carry yourself confidently. Always check your posture and mindset!

The last thing is recognizing what, in fact, your actual condition of alertness is. One measurement is using colors. When you go about your day in public, ask yourself what color describes the condition you are in: white, yellow, orange, or red? White is asleep, napping, sitting at home, so engrossed in a TV movie you don’t hear the phone ring, NOT while walking through a parking lot while texting. Yellow - calm and aware of your surroundings - is what you should strive for. If you see something that alarms you, changing from yellow to orange or even RED (RUN!) can only happen if you're in a yellow condition to begin with.

So, visualization - what we are talking about here - is reviewing in your mind and having a discussion with your family and/or friends on what you should do if this or that happens, when orange or RED occurs. The most common conversations are about mass shootings or public shooting events. I always go nuts when people are interviewed after a shooting occurs and the witnesses say, “Gee, I thought they were fireworks.” In your mind, your conversation should be “IT’S NEVER FIREWORKS!” And if you hear what sounds like fireworks, you should immediately be walking fast or running away from the sound. But that great lifesaving technique, RUN NOW! will only work if you have in the past visualized finding yourself in that situation and asked what would I do, what should I do? GET AWAY!

Scams and fraud - do you know that a simple wrong number phone call with you saying, “Sorry you have the wrong number, who are you looking for” etc. is enough to record your voice and use AI do make a phone call to someone in your circle to ask for help i.e., send me money. You, your family, and friends need a security word, such as Everglades. When little Junior calls Grandma asking for tow truck or bail money, and it sounds just exactly like little Junior's Boston accent, a security word can stop a lot of problems. Be aware and know about fraudulent acts, text message scams and email scams where they try to get you to click on a link. Tech support and impostor scams. Watch for scams that criminals use AND discuss them with your family and friends. Your best defense against someone who approaches you and engages you in conversation is time. Slow things down; distraction thefts work when the criminal can confuse the victim, distract them so they don’t notice what is happening. Your best tool is number one, your commanding voice. Practice so it becomes second nature to say clearly and loudly, “I’m sorry I can’t help you” or “Stop, don’t come any closer.” These commands can stop the action long enough for you to take the time to look around to see who else might be watching you and assess what is going on. Not comfortable confronting a stranger like that? OK number two - use your phone. Stop the action by reaching for your phone as you hold up your hand to the stranger in a STOP hand sign, fake answering the phone, and talk on the phone while you again slow things down and assess what is really happening.

One last conversation is the one you need to have with your family and friends when you travel. If you are going on a trip, it really doesn’t matter where; you really need to have a discussion with everyone on how you will react if a disturbance or a crime occurs in your area, or even worse, to your group. Is everyone carrying a photocopy of everyone’s passport if you’re traveling abroad? How about local emergency numbers? If you are going to be out of the country, does everyone know how to contact a United States Embassy? Simple preparation, reviewing possible problems and solutions, AND having a plan can save you a world of problems or worse.

Our safety is very simple; we need to be aware of our surroundings and what is happening, along with having a plan in our minds if something goes wrong. Simply ask yourself WHAT WOULD I DO before some day when you really do need to act.