After James Holmes opened fire during the screening of Batman – The Dark Knight Rises last July, a lot of people (including me) were nervous about going to see the movie. This probably due to the fact that following an attack, there is always the risk of copycats or someone becoming inspired to take action similar to what occurred in Colorado, which causes us to become more alert when we are out in public.  As we go into a heightened state of awareness and begin attempting to consciously scan each and every person in our vicinity, we can quickly become overwhelmed by the amount of gestures, postures, expressions, walking styles, clothing choices, and every other observable facet that is available to us.  If there isn’t a mental framework that allows an observer to structure what they are seeing and quickly make sense of what they are looking at, increased situational awareness could lead to an observer becoming frustrated in the endeavor.  This leads to security professionals either giving up their search for criminal behavior or becoming too slow in the decision making cycle to be effective at preventing violent acts from happening.  But this doesn’t have to be the case.

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The Cues To Look For While On The Move

Making assessments about people while walking is a challenging exercise, as the amount of time that you have to make decisions is extremely limited.  As the distance between you and others decreases, the consequences of making incorrect assessments go up dramatically.  Think about a time when you were walking down the sidewalk or through the mall and because you are on the same level as everyone else, you aren’t able to observe many of the people around you.  Take a look at this video clip. How many people are you able to actually observe and assign to a cluster?  At what point are you able to actually assess each person?

Considering the fact that proximity negates skill, the limitations of being on the ground level make the need for informed judgments even more important. To overcome the challenges of being so close to so many potential threats, we need to understand which observations are the most important when observing on the fly, and which observations can be reserved for situations where you have time for more detailed analysis.

We don’t have time to do a detailed search while walking because by systematically scanning the area in overlapping layers, we would quickly become overwhelmed as people moved rapidly through our view.  Even attempting to analyze each and every person in a detailed way would ultimately cause us to miss most people.  Instead, we have to rely on a series of continuous hasty searches to ensure our safety.  A hasty search is conducted by doing quick scans of the area and look for a limited number of cues to determine if a person is an anomaly or not.  The number of potential observations is intentionally limited so that the number of people nearby doesn’t overwhelm us, facilitating quick decision-making.  This supports a yes/no decision based on this very restricted amount of information.  We do this because our baseline is constantly changing with every step and every corner that we turn.  The brain will naturally look for easily confirmed indicators that have proven to be effective in the past to overcome the complexity of this rapidly changing baseline. This can prevent the subtle indicators and the anomalies below the baseline from revealing themselves. While on the move or profiling at very close range, you are going to have to rely on the anomalies above the baseline, the extra indicators that are present, to alert you to a person requiring further attention.

While on the move and observing at close range, I begin by relying on indicators such as mission focus and dominance as two of the cues in my hasty observations.  These indicators allow me to focus on those moving with a purpose or those whose body is preparing the fight response.  Once I am done searching for those who have made their intentions clear, I begin looking for quick indicators of a person trying to conceal their violent intentions.  Factors such as situational awareness, extreme discomfort, and patting or touching of areas are the cues that I am continuously cycling through as I am looking to orient on anomalies as quickly as I can.

The reason these five observations (mission focus, dominance, discomfort, patting, and situational awareness) are the ones that we rely on is due to the fact that they are anomalies in most areas and for most people.  This is because recognizing these observations are a good enough reason for us to focus our attention on specific people while at close range. While there may be culturally specific situations where dominance and discomfort are common, these five behaviors reflect typical fight or flight responses, making them reliable regardless of where I am.  When there isn’t enough time to develop a thorough baseline, these five observations are reliable to bridge the gap until that norm can be established.

Watch the video above one more time, and determine how deep in the screen you were able to focus.  Often times, people are focused on those people closest to them.  While this is a dangerous range as your ability to respond would be limited, it is common when learning a new skill.  Think about where brand new drivers often focus their attention their first few times on the highway. More often than not, they are focused on the cars that are right in front of them and aren’t yet able to look far enough down the road to steer clear of bad drivers or objects in the road until it is too late.  However, with more time and more experience behind the wheel, drivers become comfortable assessing the intentions of other drivers that are both nearby and those further ahead.  This is no different when learning to consciously analyze the behavior of those around us. By continuously practicing these five reliable observations and making them a habit, your ability to quickly recognize them will improve, allowing you to shift your focus further back in the video, ultimately gaining the time needed to take proactive action.

This video is taken on the ground level (directly below the point) from where the video used in this issue’s Video Training section was shot from.  If you watch the baseline video, notice the difference in how far out you are able to observe when in an elevated position compared to when on the ground.  In a situation where there is a high quantity of traffic and people can only be observed for a few seconds at a time, whether you are on the ground or elevated, the observations are still limited to these five basic behaviors.  It is for this reason that Marines, Soldiers, Police Officers and security professionals should always employ the Guardian Angel concept, keeping a team of observers in an elevated position to observe further out than the patrol on the ground can.  When you have the comfort of time and space, each additional domain of behavior observed will provide additional insight. However, since more time will be spent on patrol or walking a city’s streets, begin by ensuring that these five reliable cues are ones that you can make in any situation to improve your ability to orient on anomalies despite the inherent difficulty.

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Observing and Orienting In Conversation

The basic principle of “contact and cover” has been a mainstay of law enforcement training for decades.  The idea of one officer initiating the contact with a person and another officer(s) providing the cover for the contact officer has served law enforcement well in regard to force protection.  Savvy officers however, those trained in the art and science of behavior analysis and threat recognition, know that the cover officer’s role goes far beyond a simple show of force.  A properly trained cover officer can be a tremendous asset in observing the cues that are often indicative of a threat.

The purpose of the contact and cover approach is simple in nature.  While one officer (the contact officer) is conducting questioning, a pat-down or search, evidence collection, such as a breathalyzer, or taking a suspect into custody, the cover officer is positioned to view the suspect and take appropriate action as necessary to aid and protect the contact officer.  A suspect is less likely to launch an offensive attack on an officer when outnumbered.  In the event that a suspect does go on the offensive, either in an attempt to escape or do harm to the contact officer, the immediate presence of another officer keeps the odds on the side of law enforcement.  This, however, is only one dimension of the cover officer role and responsibility.

Experienced officers acting in the cover role realize that aiding and protecting the contact officer is more than simply standing by in the event that a physical confrontation develops, then providing the necessary use of force to overcome the resistance.  While that role is certainly important and should not be understated, that is only a part of the cover officer’s duties.  The contact officer, while concerned with a number of tasks such as questioning the subject, recording information, handling radio traffic, and a host of other duties, is not always capable of making the shrewd observations necessary to determine the subject’s true intentions.  The cover officer, while being offset from the contact officer and not bridled with the same responsibilities, can more closely observe the subject for critical cues associated with threat.  The cover officer can observe and assess subtle behaviors of the subject that the contact officer many times simply cannot.  A good cover officer recognizes their role in threat recognition based on the profiling domains of Kinesics, Biometrics, Proxemics and Iconography.

Many law enforcement contacts involve mere questioning of persons with no preconceived intent on the part of officers to take the subject into custody.  During this process, however, a skilled, well-trained cover officer will often times observe those biometric cues triggered by the limbic system associated with “flight or fight.”  With the rush of hormones such as adrenaline (epinephrine) norepinephrine and cortisol, the body displays visible signs of stress and prepares itself for action.  This may include increased heart rate, respiration, sweating, shaking, pupil dilation and blushing or paling.

These Biometric Cues are important observations for the cover officer to make.  Something has triggered a fight or flight response in the subject that calls for further examination.  Perhaps it was a “hot button” question or questions posed to the subject.  A careful review and follow-up of the questions asked (and the subject’s response) would clearly be in order.  The subject may have answered untruthfully, heightening his consciousness of guilt.  It may also mean the subject is preparing to launch a physical attack against the officers, or perhaps the subject is preparing to flee.

By continuing to view the subject through the remaining lenses of Kinesics, Proxemics and Iconography simultaneously, a clearer picture begins to emerge as to the subject’s true intentions.  Is the subject displaying Kinesic cues associated with flight or fight?  Are the feet oriented toward the officer, or facing slightly away, as if prepared to flee?  Is the subject attempting to pacify himself through the rubbing of his hands, running his hands through his hair, rubbing his neck or forehead, or engaged in repetitive movements such as bouncing his leg(s) or tapping his feet?  Is the subject slowly closing the distance with the contact officer, knowing that proximity negates skill?  Or perhaps he is slowing moving beyond the prescribed “arms length plus a foot” distance, hoping to advance his lead should he decide to run.  Has the subject taken on a look of “mission focus,” or is the subject looking past the officer as he scans for a likely escape route?  Finally, are there any signs, symbols, emblems, icons, tattoos or other markings that may give an indication of the subject’s affiliation, social standing, political, or religious views that may be consistent with anti-government, anti-law enforcement and/or general criminal behavior?

An astute cover officer who is properly trained can make these observations and far more, and can make the correct assessment of the subject’s intentions.  This allows for proper action on the officers part before the contact turns physical or the subject flees.   The aforementioned cues sometimes manifest themselves in very overt ways, thus not requiring special training to notice.  However, many more times the cues are far more subtle and varied, and must be viewed in the proper context only after a baseline of behavior has been established.

While it is always reassuring to have a cover officer present who has the physical strength and skill to overcome resistance or give foot chase when necessary, in my own experience, I always wanted more in a cover officer.  I’ll take the street savvy officer, well-trained, with all the accouterments of patrol work, including solid profiling skills.  Give me the cover officer who can keep me left of bang.

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