Initial Responders

First Responders are good but they can’t do it all

FBI Lends a Hand

It was reported by USA Today that the FBI is going to deploy 200 agents across the nation to train local police departments in the latest tactics for responding to active shooters.  This ambitious effort is aiming to deliver training to some 30,000 police officers who may have to protect schools, businesses or other public places from these actors.  

Review and Study

The impetus of the training is in part due to the horrifying events at Newtown in 2012 but it is also the result of a 14 year study that indicated a definite uptick in the number of active shooter incidents across the United States.

More than target practice

The training is two days in length and has been developed in partnership with Texas State University. It includes tactical content as well as emergency medical response skills.  The overall desire is to get officers to run toward gunfire as quickly as possible and neutralize the threat.

Odds are against

While this effort is no doubt beneficial and someday may save lives, it must be understood that most shooting incidents end before law enforcement can intervene.  The FBI’s study revealed that the shooter either kills himself or is stopped by a bystander two-thirds of the time.

Life saving skill

This ratio was not lost on CSI when it was developing the Sensible Solutions school safety program. Included in the program is the concept of Initial Responder which is based on the premise that bystanders were likely going to bear the burden of effective action against a shooter.

Know your role

Dr. David Benke - Initial Responder
http://www.dailycamera.com/

In every institution where Sensible Solutions is deployed, the Initial Responder has a job.  That job may be to do nothing more than hide.  However, this is critical because it creates an orderly response to a chaotic event.  The program identifies other Initial Responders who have the capacity – mental and physical – to carry out jobs that not everyone can do.  Some may be tasked to intervene while others lead the herd to safety.  It all depends upon the individual and the inherent characteristics of the venue that defines the role of the Initial Responder.

Plan on stepping up

Fortunately, in the United States, we are blessed with top flight First Responders.  And programs like the one the FBI is rolling out will undoubtedly build upon their preparedness.  However, First Responders have limitations and one of those is the time they need to react.  The gap must be filled by those who are caught in the crossfire.  It would seem that given the percentages, bystander preparedness training must also be included in any security program.  

Bent Minds

A criminal psychologist identifies traits of psychopathy and asserts some characteristics may be useful

Secret Looking Glass

One of the best skills an investigator can have is an innate ability to read people.  And what reading a person is exactly may be debatable.  Suffice to say, this ability affords some with being able to see through disguises or to unconsciously detect unseen clues about the true nature and motivations of people. Sure, some skills related to understanding the behaviors and intentions of people can be taught but when it comes to this so called sixth sense, it is truly a gift.

Advantage for the good

The investigator who can capture some hidden essence about a subject, whether it be a client, witness or suspect, gains an invaluable upper hand. With this feeling or intuition, the investigator realizes a great vision which allows for maneuverability when aptly applied.  The investigator is able to avoid pitfalls and dead ends and it may help with quickly finding the truth.

Advantage for the not-so-good

Interestingly, persons diagnosed with psychopathic tendencies may also possess the characteristics of someone who can effectually read people.  In a recent article about the work of Professor Robert Hare who is a criminal psychologist, he identifies a set of attributes psychopaths typically possess. One of which was the ability to be cunning and manipulative.

Tables turned

Dr Hare’s research indicates psychopaths somehow know what you’re feeling, but are unable to feel it themselves.  And because of this, psychopaths can understand what you’re thinking and can use you against yourself because they don’t care.  This begs the question: What does the investigator do when confronted with someone who is more cunning and manipulative than you?

Test yourself

According you Dr. Hare, you or someone you know could fall on the psychopathy spectrum.  The characteristics of a psychopath, as identified by Dr. Hare are listed below.  Score it 0 if it does not apply, 1 if it partially applies or 2 if it fully applies.

1. Glibness and superficial charm  

   

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2. Grandiose sense of self-worth 
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning/manipulative 
5. Lack of remorse 
6. Emotional shallowness 
7. Callousness and lack of empathy 
8. Unwillingness to accept responsibility for actions 
9. A tendency to boredom 
10. A parasitic lifestyle 
11. A lack of realistic long-term goals 
12. Impulsivity 
13. Irresponsibility 
14. Lack of behavioral control 
15. Behavioral problems in early life 
16. Juvenile delinquency 
17. Criminal versatility 
18. A history of “revocation of conditional release” (i.e. broken parole)
19. Multiple marriages 
20. Promiscuous sexual behavior

According to Dr. Hare a “pure, prototypical psychopath would score 40. A score of 30 or more qualifies for a diagnosis of psychopath.”

Use it to your advantage

Dr. Hare goes on to assert that some psychopathic traits can be beneficial.   For example, being cunning and manipulative can certainly a desirable attribute, especially if you are a professional investigator.  But is being cunning and manipulative the same as having the ability to read people. From an intent perspective, both afford the ability to gain the upper hand. The difference lies in how the person being read suffers from the encounter.

Match of wits

Not every interviewee will be a game of high stakes chess like Clarice versus Hannibal in the Silence of the Lambs.  But, if Dr. Hare’s assertion is true and there is a spectrum of psycohpathy, then it would be incumbent upon the investigator to seek out these signs in the people they encounter.  While only a professional can label someone a psychopath, the astute person can certainly read the tea leaves and leverage that information to their advantage.  Is that psychotic or what?

A Most Dangerous Game

Guest blogger and Personal Protection Expert Sam Rosenberg explains the rules of the Knockout Game and how you can win it.

The Set-Up

By now, you've likely heard of a phenomenon called the Knockout Game. The rules are quite simple.  A single member of a gang of juveniles blind-sides an unsuspecting passer-by with a sucker punch, the goal being to knock the victim unconscious in a single blow. Typically, these attacks occur from behind, or as the victim is distracted by other members of the gang.  No target seems to be off limits.  Pregnant women, children and the elderly have been included among the victims.  This most dangerous game has resulted in serious injury and more than one death.

To police and most people, knockout game attacks are random and unpredictable.  Yet, as with all human violence, it is neither random nor illogical—even if this logic is pathological.  To understand, predict, and prevent this manifestation of violence requires an understanding of predatory logic in general.

Human Predators

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Human predators are opportunists, who fundamentally prey on the conscience and goodness of decent people. They live in a world devoid of decency.  A world ruled, rather, by a perversion of the notion of respect.  To the predator, aggression and dominance equals respect, and respect is everything.

The predator’s notions of right and wrong are also corrupted: “if I can get away with it then it is ‘right’, if I can’t then it is ‘wrong’.  Further, the conscience that governs decent people is absent or thoroughly corrupted in predators.

Predator’s Weakness

Those who seek respect through aggression are in fact some of the biggest cowards, with the weakest psychology.  They never achieve respect, only fear. And when they run into someone who isn't afraid they collapse like a house of cards. This is why even the most desperate predator is careful in how they select their prey.   Because they know – deep down – that they can only succeed if the target is unable or unwilling to fight back.  They are fundamentally cowards lacking the confidence and resilience to challenge someone who could fight back.  For them to succeed, the attack MUST be one sided.

The Prey’s Strength

Imagine, if you will, encountering a wolf while walking in the woods.  It locks eyes in a hard stare.  The hair on its back stands up; it bars its teeth, and begins to snarl.  If the wolf attacks, would you be justified in saying afterwards “but I never saw it coming”?  The warning indicators of predatory humans are not quite as obvious…or are they?

Now, imagine you are walking down the street and you see a person or group that causes you to feel fear.  Are you not being warned?  Are your instincts not telling you to avoid that situation, just as it would tell you to back away from that wolf?

Trusting your hardwiring for survival

Fear is good.  It is a messenger that wakes you up and is not something you need to overcome in your life. It is simply an impulse to be understood.  But most people try, at all costs, to override this impulse, or they mistakenly believe that experiencing fear somehow means that they lack courage.  But intuition allows you to know, without knowing why, and when safety is at stake, intuition communicates through fear.

Denial, however, is the exact opposite.  Denial is seeing the facts, yet choosing to disregard them.  Denial could flat-out get you killed, and it will always leave you vulnerable.

Situational awareness 

Attention is the active embracing of your primal instincts.  It is something that must be cultivated.  It must be practiced, and done so consciously.  Pay attention to your environment and trust your instincts no matter what the person looks like, and no matter how your logical mind desires to interfere or make excuses.

Recognize that all violence is situational.  When you allow yourself to be preoccupied, particularly with technology, you shunt your senses to such a degree that your mind cannot do its job, and you create a situation of vulnerability, even if you wouldn't otherwise have been perceived as vulnerable by a predator.

Winning the game

As predators are inherently cowards, you don’t have to be bigger, stronger, faster, better to deter them, you just have to be willing and able.  Willingness comes from ability.  Train the body, the mind follows. To recap in 4 simple rules:

1. Accept, first and foremost, that there are predators out there who will prey mercilessly on those whom they perceive as vulnerable.
2. Your first objective is to cultivate situational awareness, and to trust your intuitive threat recognition software.
3. If you perceive threat, move.  Get off the “X”, as we say in protection terms.  Take decisive action to avoid the situation and remove yourself as a target of opportunity.
4. Training is invaluable as it tunes your awareness and makes you a less inviting target, but remember that there are no silver bullet techniques if you don’t follow rules 1 through 3 above.

Sam Rosenberg is an internationally recognized expert on personal and institutional security.  A former Marine officer and close protection specialist, he is the director of global protective services for CSI.  His Pittsburgh based company INPAX | Academy of Personal Protection, provides comprehensive training and consulting services for individuals, families, corporations, and schools nationwide.  Read Sam’s full article on the knockout game here.