18 S.W.A.T. JANUARY 2004 www.swatmag.com

THE ARTICLE NAME

What if you could predict mostviolent encounters secondsbefore they occurred?

Change the question into a statementand now think about being one stepahead as the event unfolds. I can assureyou this is not only possible, but alsoactually quite simple. It is called bymany names, but basically it is nothingmore than paying attention to your sur-roundings or situational awareness. Thepurpose behind such techniques can besummed up as, “Avoid being sur-prised.” If we are surprised our abilityto affect a successful response is greatlyhindered. Surprise adversely affects asuccessful response. Situational aware-ness increases our response time by let-ting us begin sooner. When we canincrease our response time by starting torespond earlier, we gain control over aportion of the event and our actions.Understanding situational awareness,the different types of environments and

pre-incident indicators can allow you tocreate contingency plans, whichincrease your level of safety.

Situational awareness starts withfocused attention. Stay focused on thecurrent situation, such as driving towork or walking to the bank. This focusis directed at your surroundings, beingmindful of what does and does notbelong. Take the time to actually look atthings and not just glance over them.Pick up the subtle differences, or thefolks who are not paying attention toyou. Remember your personal safetydoesn’t just center on violent encoun-ters, it also encompasses daily activi-ties. I see the greatest benefits to situa-tional awareness while driving. Payingattention to the road is only part of it—paying attention to the other vehiclesaround you while on the road is thekey. This situational awareness takes ona different attitude. This attitude isproactive in nature and intended to

identify potential dangers in advance.Ultimately we want to avoid dis-tracters, which can come in a variety offorms. Anything that takes your focusoff the situation is a distracter: a cellphone call, changing the channel onyour stereo, or someone asking you fordirections, etc.

An important aspect to understand isthat the environment controls the levelof awareness. In other words there areareas where your alertness must behigh and there are situations where itcan be low. Identifying these in advancewill allow you to be in the appropriatecondition at the time. It boils down tounderstanding the totality of the situa-tion—the big picture. There are differ-ent levels of safe environments and youneed to correctly identify them.

Let us talk about safe havens. Yourhome, place of work or other familiarenvironment may provide a level ofsecurity which permits less alertness.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

SITUATIONAL AWARENESSBY JEFF GONZALES

20 S.W.A.T. JANUARY 2004 www.swatmag.com

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Here you can let down your guard tosome degree.

On the other side of the equation aredanger areas. These are locations youhave identified as having a higher ele-ment of risk. In these areas you must beon high alert or an alert proportionateto the situation. Once you have identi-fied your safe havens and danger areasyou can be in more control of yourfocus and direct it better. Keep in mindthat just because you have identifiedsomething as a safe haven or dangerarea doesn’t mean it will stay that wayfor eternity—be capable of assessingand reassessing as necessary.

The next step is looking for pre-inci-dent indicators. These are the subtleclues that something is awry. There areseveral different examples, but any-thing that attempts to manipulate yourequires greater scrutiny. In the samebreath, anything that is inappropriate tothe situation should also get a closerlook. If you have your hands full walk-ing to the car and somebody asks youfor the time, it is inappropriate. Therewill be a great deal of intuitive recogni-tion, which is nothing more than honor-ing your instincts. You need to identify

some important survivor signals, suchas suspicion. Why is it you are suspi-cious of the person/event? Apprehen-sion is another. Why are you apprehen-sive and looking over your shoulder?And, the most important one, fear. Whyis it you are afraid? While some folkswill look at fear in a negative context,you should only if the fear paralyzesyou. If your fear has taken over yourbody so that you cannot respond, thatis obviously bad. However, fear canalso be used very effectively whenproperly harnessed. You really have tobe in touch with your feelings to followthrough on any of these aspects. Manypeople worry they will be judged asover-reacting, but a degree of prudenceis in order here. It is far more prudentto be cautious than careless.

Once you have obtained this directedfocus and manage to pick up somethingout of the ordinary the natural progres-sion will be developing contingencyplans. Use the, “if he does this, I will dothat” thought process. These do nothave to be elaborate or time consuming,but you should put some thought intowhat you are going to do with theinformation you have gathered. If you

had to select only one important contin-gency I would encourage you to lookfor escapes/exits. At the very least youshould be looking for cover and/orconcealment. It is at this point where Isee most folks who execute good situa-tional awareness falter. They tend toforget the information they just gath-ered.

So, the first step towards increasedsafety is knowing something bad isabout to happen. You may actually seethe event occur, but did you have anywarning? Only through consistent exer-cising of situational awareness can youavoid being surprised. Maintaining afocus on the present and not the pastwill allow you to discern the subtleclues. Adapting the level of alertness tothe environment will provide a thor-ough layer to your security measuresby selecting an appropriate focus ratherthan an all or nothing attitude. Pickingup on the pre-incident indicators andlistening to your intuition will provideyou some time to execute a contingencyplan you formulated based on the avail-able information.

In the end, you cannot do much ifyou don’t see them coming. �

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