Conditioned Victim? Your Choice

PROLOGUE

Passengers responsible for their own luggage

Sawari apne saman ki khud zimmedar

(Indian saying, meaning you are responsible for your own actions.)

Does anyone, ever, willingly choose to become a victim of criminal violence?

Of course not, but there are some people who, -despite neighbours nearby suffering from various crimes-, somehow seem to successfully avoid all the troubles that their neighbours experience. Is it pure chance, that their neighbours were ‘asking for it’, or is it that the unaffected people mount fully autonomous machine-guns on their roof. Just kidding.

Obviously, high visibility counter-crime defensive tactics do tend to reduce your risk profile but very few people that live in ordinary suburbs want, need, let alone can afford that kind of kit so we compiled this handbook in order to enable readers to overcome a social conditioning that often renders them too afraid to even think about how to avoid becoming a victim, so they rather just stick their head in the sand (or somewhere less polite) and hope for the best. The plain fact is, crime is not always something that happens to other people, it very well may be something that can happen to you.

Most counter-crime measures and tactics are really not that difficult, ugly, costly or even time-consuming. This book’s core philosophy centres on giving yourself options, options that you maybe wouldn’t have thought of for yourself. Its all about lowering your risk profile and also ‘hardening’ yourself as a potential target. Every person on this planet enjoys one common attribute; instinct. You will never find out what instinctively puts a criminal off of targeting you, so consider learning about what others successfully do, and what criminal psychologists have advised us works the most effectively in dissuading criminals from targeting you, based on their own inherent instinct.

Perhaps you’ve survived an ‘event’ already and you’d rather it didn’t happen again. Maybe you read about something nasty happening to an acquaintance or neighbour of yours and you’d prefer to lessen the chance if it happening to you. All you know is that you’re just an ordinary person going about your daily life in the knowledge that you just don’t want to end up as a victim. Perhaps you don’t really know where to start and you’re just a casual visitor to this topic merely looking for some simple and quick ‘tips, tricks and tweaks’.

So, assisted by some very knowledgeable acquaintances, we set about compiling this handbook to help you to help yourself. It was assembled, written and reviewed here in South Africa by a team of South African professionals including ; A senior Police trainer; Hein Gerber, a Veteran Security professional; Joe Grant Grierson, a VIP safety trainer; Richard Wesson, a veteran community crime-prevention volunteer; Martin Hedington as well as -not one but two- criminal psychology professors; Coen Marais and Herman Conradie lecturing at UNISA.

Our book was originally written for explicit use by people living in the environment and circumstances of South Africa, given the nature of the criminal activity suffered here, namely a homicide rate between 16 and 22 thousand annually (depending on who’s figures you believe), readers also living elsewhere are highly recommended to heed at least some of the advice. Given that most assaults on you or directed at your possessions usually cost you at the very least your peace of mind but usually considerably more for various reasons, the few bucks you invested in buying this book will probably be one of the soundest investments in security you’ll ever make, but only if you read it thoroughly.

Of course, Martin and I admit that implementing all of the proposals enclosed within would render you practically unassailable but then very few people -if any- would take the time or make the effort to adopt everything we’ve researched. That’s fine, pick and choose whatever you feel you find both useful and comfortable with and for now, ignore what you can’t use till you feel you need to ‘up your ante’. The fact is, most people being either too lazy or too dumb to think of employing any counter-crime measures at all, means that anyone (like you) that employs even just a few measures contained in this book, thereby reduces their chance of criminal attack by a considerable factor.

We also both readily admit that much of the content is available free from various sources but you’d probably spend days or weeks looking around for it, just think of this book a one-stop-shop for a collection of tried and tested useful strategies, all in one handy place on your reader, PC or IPhone. Then when you read or hear that your neighbour just became a victim, pull up our text onto your device and get busy making sure you lessen your chance of being targeted next. Who knows, once you find out that foiling a burglary at your place might only cost you $10 for a one-off purchase of a cheap sensor, maybe you’d actually do something about it for a change and thereby save yourself a lot of grief.

Almost everyone everywhere demands that their Government, by way of the police, does as much as possible about protecting them from violent crime but despite any perception to the contrary, it’s not the job or function of the police to protect any individual or household, their job is to enforce the Law, and that is not at all the same thing, frankly it’s not even in the same ballpark.

One of the most obvious clues that police seem to be losing interest in the public is the recent revelation that of 43 regional police forces in the UK, apparently 37 of them suggest to victims who phone in that they should investigate their own crimes;

Police Ask Victims To ‘Investigate Own Crimes’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdQF8yJI25Q) and: shocking (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyIkifthCEc)

Police exist to ‘keep the peace’, enforce the law by ‘serving and protecting’ the community as a whole. They are usually only required to protect specific individuals or properties for the purposes of witness protection or because of their political status, none of their normal duties require them to protect individuals within the general public from criminal violence, -unless it’s happening in plain sight and right in front of them. Roadblocks, patrols and stop and searches are all well and good but then no confrontational criminal with even half a brain is going to wait until a fine upstanding cop is present either before or during an attack.

Attacks can occur anywhere, but victims are often isolated (i.e. unprotected), either by reason of their environment (i.e. no one’s around to help), or socially isolated, i.e. everyone around you may very likely ignore the fact that you’re being attacked, (the rather-not-be-involved syndrome.) This latter attitude being even more prevalent in an almost entirely defenceless (read: law-abiding sector of) -society such as in the UK, apparently the most violent country in Europe, the parts of Europe outside of war zones that is. (UK & US statistical crime rates (http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/html/cjusew96/cpp.cfm)).

Unfortunately, many criminal justice systems can’t be considered to act as much of an effective deterrent to criminal violence either, since at the time of writing it’s estimated that (in South Africa), less than 5% of violent crime investigations result in an actual conviction. Indeed, the application of the Law is perceived by many to favour the violent criminal over the victim.

Police are required to execute and enforce the Law, as well as arrest suspects who have either attempted or actually committed crimes. The purpose of the Law is in turn to inhibit anti-social or deviant behaviour, for the law-abiding of course. So where does that leave potential victims? Or more specifically, your own protection.

In reality, -and despite so called victim empowerment rights-, we find that Human Rights per se don’t seem to be actively considered within the ‘official’ aspects of the criminal justice system because, not surprisingly perhaps, the entire system is -ipso facto- designed to deal with criminals. Therefore potential victims (i.e. the rest of us) suffer a distinct disadvantage because we’re forced to live permanently on the defensive; legally, strategically and tactically.

When it comes right down to it, i.e. at the time of an actual attack, initially, the only person that you’re forced to rely on is yourself! In other words: ‘don’t expect any help until after the incident is over because you’re probably not going to get any; you’ll be on your own!’

All kinds of so-called ‘experts’ from Government and various apologist pressure groups lecture us that we can do nothing to protect ourselves from violence, and that even if we can we still shouldn’t because even using ‘defensive force’ is considered somehow immoral or just plain ‘wrong’ in a civilised society.

Daily, we are all being increasingly conditioned to believe that the only form of protection from violence is to permit violent criminals do whatever they want, whenever they want. As a society, we seem to be subject to a conditioning strategy by various authority’s and the media into becoming uncomplaining, compliant victims.

A very well known and courageous educator Helen Keller apparently once said; "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure." Just be aware that Helen Keller was deaf, mute and blind, are you?

Apologetics seems to generate three primary varieties of potential victim, these being:

Type one, the Macho: I don’t worry about these things and anyway I can handle any situation. This type of person is not expecting anything bad to happen, nor looking out for trouble, so it’ll probably all happen so fast that they won’t be able to do a damned thing about it. Types 1’s often spending the rest of their lives spreading the Type 3 philosophy following their own pathetic experience.

Type two, the Blinder: Everything looks fine to me and anyway, nothing bad ever happened so far. This is a very common attitude of people who have little if any understanding of cultures, environments or worldviews other than their own, or who spend most of their time in apparently secure environments. Tourists often fall into this trap.

Type three, the Defeatist: There’s nothing I can do so why bother trying. Besides, it does no good to anger a criminal by making his lifestyle more difficult. There’s really not much to say about this attitude except to label them as simply ‘prey’.

By accepting conditioning that persuading them to accept their victimhood, people inadvertently become a major contributing factor in the encouragement of violent crime but despite this ubiquitous brainwashing, you can reject this philosophy. Minor changes to your lifestyle and general attitude can permit the re-acquisition of control over your life, your self-respect and your personal safety and security. That’s what this book is all about.

THE LOGIC BEHIND THE PRINCIPLES

This book doesn’t teach you how to eradicate bandits as some masked avenger, or how to destroy roving bands of thugs. Nor is it an idiots guide on how to become a ‘Rambo’ or ‘Lara Croft’.

Our book frequently encourages you to develop more awareness and how to employ simple drills that should keep you unharmed and alive. Its main purpose is to make you think, plan and to help avoid situations which are potentially violent.

This is for You, The Prospective Victim, Joe or Jane Ordinary who’s probably never done anything very aggressive in your entire life; no doubt you are the sort of person who enjoys an ordinary living and working environment and has normal hopes and vision for your own future along with your continued wellbeing.

Everyone is of course unique, as are the situations within which any person may find themselves; therefore it is basic principles that are described. We couldn’t possibly contain examples of every possible situation that you might encounter.

Our book is based on the most common situations researched in the South African context compiled from no less than seven highly experienced experts in their respective fields, you’re simply advised to think about the principles herein and consider applying some of them to your own unique lifestyle, because they were designed around advice from individuals who -one way or another- know criminals very well indeed.

In the final analysis of course it’s all up to you. Therefore when considering the protection of yourself and your family, the order of priorities in defending yourself from violent attack should be ‘ADD’: [As in ADDing to your life-expectancy]

AVOIDANCE, (Part I)

DISCOURAGEMENT, (Part II)

DEFENCE. (Part III)

INTERDEPENDENCE i.e. ‘Community Security’ is covered in Part IV.

By far THE most important of these is AVOIDANCE because it’s the easiest, cheapest tool and it usually works most of the time.

Unfortunately for some, some concepts that are outline within this handbook are perhaps politically incorrect, at best politically dubious, but then as Confucius said, Reality Is Rarely Politically Correct. I’ve occasionally been told that I’m pompous, arrogant and offensive but then it’s no fun to criticise an author unless he’s at least one of the above, is it. (That’s because you often are, Richard. - Martin)

Some concepts herein are cross-referenced (or overlapped) in different sections. This is not only because of their considered importance, but because they are utilised from different perspectives and various situations. This handbook doesn’t deal with domestic violence or child abuse. The causes of, and remedies for these forms of violence are considered outside its scope.

Readers are strongly advised that they confirm with their attorney in order that any theories, actions and/ or responses developed from advice in this handbook (or any other source of ideas) are legally acceptable to ensure that any defensive actions taken are consistent with current legislation within your particular territory.

For those whose religion, philosophy or political ideology doesn’t allow them to defend themselves from criminal violence, the reader will also discover various non-aggressive pro-active and re-active principles for protecting themselves.

Some of the principles outlined in this handbook may be of use in countries with a different social and legal tradition to South Africa. They may also be a starting point for different environments to SA. Thus, always check with an attorney.

So to get things rolling, let’s first cover the premier level in the ‘A.D.D.’ system of personal protection.

PART ONE – AVOIDANCE

"There is nothing more frightening than ignorance in action."

Johann Von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Chapter 1

PRINCIPLES OF AVOIDANCE

Regarding the ‘A.D.D.’ concept of protection, Avoidance is probably the most fundamental and effective form of protection. Successfully avoiding trouble means there is obviously no way you’re going to get hurt! Avoiding a confrontation is not running away from trouble; it’s a Positive decision to avoid being a target for violent attack; it’s the thinking person’s option. Confrontations can very easily and quickly lead to unexpected and unpleasant results.

The very first principle