Threat Profiling - Telling the Good Guys and Bad Guys Apart
Spotting them out before they smoke you out
Author : Steve Hanafi (Silat Sharaf Practitioner, Malaysia)
Imagine this, you’re walking out of a convenience store, heading to your car with a plastic bag in one hand and your phone in the other. But something just doesn’t feel right, something feels off. From a distance, you see 3 guys: 1 walking back and forth, one looking at his phone (or his he?) and another one is staring into blank space. Your gut tells you to walk around those guys, avoid walking through them, but why? Should you trust your gut? Is it telling you to do the right thing, or should you just ignore it? If one of them are going to do anything, which one would be first?
Welcome to threat profiling 101 – civilian guide to identifying a threat and getting your ass out of trouble before it happens
The unaware prey is marked from afar by the predator, waiting for the time to strike
Why the need to identify?
As an early preventive measure from threats and from those who have ill intentions. Ranging from muggers to active shooters- the type of people who intend to harm others. The thing is, unlike in movies, they don’t dress all-black, with long cape and creepy looking tentacles. These people they dress and look like everyone else.
This is where this skill comes in, to differentiate between the good average joes apart from these ill-hearted MFs intending to do harm. You want to be able to catch them before they commit the attack or criminal activities. Prior to doing so, these people will give little clues or cues that can be spotted / picked up by those who are aware. You don’t want to be living in a state of constant fear to the state of living in paranoia because this will burn you out really quick.
How to id
Clothing
Are they dressing appropriate to the environment? Are they wearing hoodies when it’s 38 degrees outside? (I’m not sure in other places, but it’s damn hot here in Malaysia and anyone wearing hoodie or extra layer of clothing will be frowned upon). Are they wearing extra clothing to conceal something? Or are they dressing to conceal their identity? They could be wearing shades when it’s not even hot, or wearing cap / hat inside a building, indicating that they are trying to conceal their face from the crowd or looking eyes.
Look at the people around, observe their dressing pattern and try to see if anyone is dressing above the baseline.
Trying to conceal their face, avoiding from being identified
Behaviour
We’re looking at those whom behaviour doesn’t look right – where it doesn’t belong or fit in the environment or situation.
· Heads up. Their heads are up and they’re scanning, searching for something, at the same time while being sort of panicky. As if they’re worried someone will catch them in the act.
· The face. Like mentioned, will do their best to hide their face, shrugging their shoulders, hiding their chin, covering the face with their hands or book or phones, or slightly tilting away their body from others. They’d also avoid eye contact in fear that the intended victim can detect their stare before they initiate an assault.
· Signs of anxiety. Fists clenched, fidgety hands, sweaty palms or face, rocking sideways or walking back and forth, fiddling with something, having their weight balls of their feet (a sign that one is ready to charge forward or take action), avoiding eye contact and pretending to do something else be it playing with their phones or reading a poster on a wall, etc.
Looking down, avoiding eye contact and walking back and forth are telltale signs of nervousness
· Mission focus. Focused on an individual or a place, on a person’s wallet, bag or vehicle. Also, the 1000-yard stare where they have their chins dipped, looking up the brow and staring into a particular target.
Note that it isn’t just any one of these traits that makes one a possible threat, but a few of these indicators strung together which makes them a possible threat, planning and waiting for the right time to strike. When it comes to stringing up these people, it’s easier to have an early mental image of who these people are and how they dress, how they behave – in simpler words, stereotype them. Put them into the orange category, if they look fishy, suspicious, weird, like a threat, then stereotype them so it is easier to identify.
… and when you have confirmed, be prepared to run the hell out of there or take immediate actions
Conclusion
Your job is to understand the clues and pick it up first and fast, use it to predict who, when and where will the crime be done. Understanding these and practicing it will help you to do so naturally and instantaneously. It’ll help you to be proactive in public situations and environments. Remember that action is ALWAYS better that reaction. Before they are able to catch you off guard, you’re mentally prepared of what you’re going to do and where you’ll go. Early preventive measures can go a long way and help save a lot of people from harm. If anything, trust your gut. A lot of victim said they KNEW that these MFs were bad guys even before they initiated their move. If your gut gives you a bad feeling, be it a person, situation or place, then get the hell out of there. Don’t wait until it’s too late.