Whether you’re approaching the scene of a noisy domestic, walking into a stop-and-rob for refreshments, or sitting down in a neighborhood restaurant with your family off duty, staying aware of your surroundings is always your first line of self-defense.
John Demand Jr., an independent trainer who specializes in improving officers’ visual perception, offers a seven-point checklist for situational awareness that should be an automatic part of assessing your environment in any circumstance.
As you arrive and as contact develops, keep asking yourself:
• Where am I?
• Who is around me?
• What obvious or potential threats are there?
• Am I in a position of advantage?
• How can I get out of here?
• If things go south, what am I going to do?
• If I were a bad guy, what could/would I do?
“Developing this mindset is not paranoia,” says Demand, a former Illinois officer now based in Nevada.
“It becomes a subconscious means of being prepared in the event of trouble, of making sure you stay at least in Condition Yellow.”
Too often, he says, officers become so complacent they ignore what’s happening around them, or they get so focused on one task — like finding contraband or making an arrest — that they lose consciousness of other people or activities in the vicinity.
He cites the case of an officer who tunneled in on a stash of drugs he discovered on a traffic stop. “He even held the drugs up for his dash-cam,” Demand says, “completely missing a gun that the driver had stuck in his waistband.”
Unfortunately, he also was distracted from the bigger picture when a passenger suddenly popped out of the stopped vehicle and fatally shot him.
For training information and to contact Demand, email: jdemandjr@aol.com
