Judging by some of the posts which are made in the name of self defence, it seems some members live in very hostile (and indeed possibly historical) parts of the worlds. The realities of self defence where I live however are slightly more dull, and so amidst the posts about learning to defend yourself against attacks form Ninjas, military knife fighting special forces, or highly skilled combat sport athletes, I thought I would share with you an incident which typifies self defence for those of us who don’t live in live in a warzone or 16th Century Feudal Japan:-
Can you help to identify four youths who robbed a man as he walked along *******?
The incident happened at around 7pm on Wednesday, February 10, near the mini roundabout at the junction with ********.
The 57-year-old victim passed a group of four youths - who he said were all aged around 16-years-old – and was assaulted from behind.
He fell to the floor and his wife’s orange purse – which he was carrying – was stolen.
The suspects were said to be white, around 6ft tall and of medium build. All wore grey jogging bottoms with hooded tops in various colours. All had their hoods up.
The victim was treated for minor head injuries at ******** General Hospital.
Anyone with information is asked to call *********.
So what skills would have been most useful (not useful full stop, but most useful) to this gentleman in such a situation? If you are on the floor before you even knows what’s gone on, and if they have run off with your possession before you have been able to right yourself and give chase (not that you would give chase anyway, are you really going to risk possibly being stabbed for the contents of your purse?) then it would seem your physical skills have been effectively removed from the equation.
Whilst Ninjas, elite special forces and highly skilled combat sport athletes may indeed attempt you fight you, this is how criminals will instead chose to operate. They remove your physical skills from the equation, they do not attempt to fight you as this introduces the possibility that they may lose. They will use a combination of the four Ds’ (dialogue, deception, distraction, destruction) superior numbers, or any advantage they can get to stack the odds in their favour, or take you out of the game before you even knew you were in it.
Whilst physical skills of course have their place, what are often forgotten are the non-physical skills of self defence. Which, would have been far more useful to this gentleman.
Threat Awareness & Evaluation/Coopers Colour Codes/Situational Awareness
Being aware of what, and who, is going on around you is key. Seeing four hooded youths standing in the street should be a red flag to anyone who notices them, allowing you to either avoid them, or at the very least look over your shoulder after passing them to see if they have decided to follow you. Giving you advanced warning and if nothing else allowing you to hand over your purse standing and intact (if that is the option you chose) rather than it being taken from you while you are on the floor with head injuries.
If you don’t notice them, then there was a gap in your awareness. As Lee Morrison says, people will often say “He came out of nowhere”. But he didn’t just appear out of thin air, this isn’t Star Trek, he was there all along you just didn’t notice him (or in this case “them”).
Engaging in your environment and the people in it is key. During the victim selection stage criminals avoid people who are aware, who are looking around, people who are switched on. Instead they look for people who are disconnected form their environment, switched off, unaware, what is known in Coopers Colour Codes as Code white or what the FBI call victim state.
Of course there will be people who will reply that their art has a jumping spinning triple head kick that allows them to take out three people in one go (or some other such nonsense) but unless your art also endows you with the Spidey Sense to know you are about to be blindside from behind, then it isn’t going to hurt to add the non physical SD skills to your armoury.
Target hardening
Pretty much does what it say on the tin, and in this incident a very easy one. Carrying a bright orange purse in plain view is pretty much asking to be mugged. Keeping it out of site makes you less likely to be selected as a victim.
It’s the same reason you don’t wave your cash in the air when you withdraw it from a cash machine, or you don’t take that short cut through the woods or down the dark alley. Making yourself a more difficult target removes their opportunity to make you a victim.
Non physical skills are able to prevent situations like this occurring during the victim selection stage, or keep you form position yourself in potentially dangerous situations in the first place. Not always no, but in a lot of cases yes. It is a lot like protecting your house from burglars. If they really truly want to get in, then they will. That is not what alarms, security lights, or owning a dog are for. They are simply there to persuade criminals to go and find an easier house to burgle.
The very boring reality of self defence for a lot of people means nonphysical skills are more (not only, but more) important than spending 15 years becoming an elite fighter, that sort of skill is simply not necessary for the majority.
Once again I apologise that I live in a very boring part of the world, and am not prone to attack by bands of masterless Ronin looting and pillaging, MMA fighters starting bar brawls, or special ops forces slitting my neighbour’s throats as they sleep
Can you help to identify four youths who robbed a man as he walked along *******?
The incident happened at around 7pm on Wednesday, February 10, near the mini roundabout at the junction with ********.
The 57-year-old victim passed a group of four youths - who he said were all aged around 16-years-old – and was assaulted from behind.
He fell to the floor and his wife’s orange purse – which he was carrying – was stolen.
The suspects were said to be white, around 6ft tall and of medium build. All wore grey jogging bottoms with hooded tops in various colours. All had their hoods up.
The victim was treated for minor head injuries at ******** General Hospital.
Anyone with information is asked to call *********.
So what skills would have been most useful (not useful full stop, but most useful) to this gentleman in such a situation? If you are on the floor before you even knows what’s gone on, and if they have run off with your possession before you have been able to right yourself and give chase (not that you would give chase anyway, are you really going to risk possibly being stabbed for the contents of your purse?) then it would seem your physical skills have been effectively removed from the equation.
Whilst Ninjas, elite special forces and highly skilled combat sport athletes may indeed attempt you fight you, this is how criminals will instead chose to operate. They remove your physical skills from the equation, they do not attempt to fight you as this introduces the possibility that they may lose. They will use a combination of the four Ds’ (dialogue, deception, distraction, destruction) superior numbers, or any advantage they can get to stack the odds in their favour, or take you out of the game before you even knew you were in it.
Whilst physical skills of course have their place, what are often forgotten are the non-physical skills of self defence. Which, would have been far more useful to this gentleman.
Threat Awareness & Evaluation/Coopers Colour Codes/Situational Awareness
Being aware of what, and who, is going on around you is key. Seeing four hooded youths standing in the street should be a red flag to anyone who notices them, allowing you to either avoid them, or at the very least look over your shoulder after passing them to see if they have decided to follow you. Giving you advanced warning and if nothing else allowing you to hand over your purse standing and intact (if that is the option you chose) rather than it being taken from you while you are on the floor with head injuries.
If you don’t notice them, then there was a gap in your awareness. As Lee Morrison says, people will often say “He came out of nowhere”. But he didn’t just appear out of thin air, this isn’t Star Trek, he was there all along you just didn’t notice him (or in this case “them”).
Engaging in your environment and the people in it is key. During the victim selection stage criminals avoid people who are aware, who are looking around, people who are switched on. Instead they look for people who are disconnected form their environment, switched off, unaware, what is known in Coopers Colour Codes as Code white or what the FBI call victim state.
Of course there will be people who will reply that their art has a jumping spinning triple head kick that allows them to take out three people in one go (or some other such nonsense) but unless your art also endows you with the Spidey Sense to know you are about to be blindside from behind, then it isn’t going to hurt to add the non physical SD skills to your armoury.
Target hardening
Pretty much does what it say on the tin, and in this incident a very easy one. Carrying a bright orange purse in plain view is pretty much asking to be mugged. Keeping it out of site makes you less likely to be selected as a victim.
It’s the same reason you don’t wave your cash in the air when you withdraw it from a cash machine, or you don’t take that short cut through the woods or down the dark alley. Making yourself a more difficult target removes their opportunity to make you a victim.
Non physical skills are able to prevent situations like this occurring during the victim selection stage, or keep you form position yourself in potentially dangerous situations in the first place. Not always no, but in a lot of cases yes. It is a lot like protecting your house from burglars. If they really truly want to get in, then they will. That is not what alarms, security lights, or owning a dog are for. They are simply there to persuade criminals to go and find an easier house to burgle.
The very boring reality of self defence for a lot of people means nonphysical skills are more (not only, but more) important than spending 15 years becoming an elite fighter, that sort of skill is simply not necessary for the majority.
Once again I apologise that I live in a very boring part of the world, and am not prone to attack by bands of masterless Ronin looting and pillaging, MMA fighters starting bar brawls, or special ops forces slitting my neighbour’s throats as they sleep
