Post #2 Situational Awareness - Home and Work

So in Post #1 we gave a very general and brief definition of Situational Awareness (SA).  Now a little focus on how you can start building your SA.  Obviously if you are reading this you have begun the process.  This is good.

The next step is simple...stop and think.  Decide that from this point on you operate with a plan.  It doesn't have to be elaborate planning.  Planning is the key for special operations, for tactical operations, for emergency operations, for corporate business operations, investment operations, for teachers leading students in class and for doctors before a surgery.  So why wouldn't they be good for you in your daily life before going out into that challenging urban jungle.

So what do you do?  Some basic ideas:

You are taking the kids to school.  They have to be there at 8am.  Your tendency is to always try and leave the house at 0730.  Vary slightly your departure time.  You always travel the same route.  Have more than one route option and change it between route periodically.  You always drive directly home after.  Try that tendency and take a different route sometimes.

You tend to go to the same coffee house each day on your way to work or other regular location.  Start varying the times you go there, and better still, also try and have more than one regular location to go to.  Regular, along with "tendency" being key concerning concepts here.  Those regular and tending habits are what make you most vulnerable to the bad guys who might be watching and profiling you.

So that is brief and focused on you and home, but what about you and work, here are some concepts:

Some ideas are naturally the same, considering and using different travel routes before leaving.  Also, changing some of those tendencies during your route, as in places you often go to on the way.

But how about at work.  For women, do you always place your purse in the same location..."walk-in" thieves know those tendencies and will often easily find your purse in the top left desk drawer.

Do you always leave your cash/credit cards in your wallet and in that purse that you put in that top/bottom, left or right desk drawer?  How easy do you want to make it for those bad guys?  Change it up.  Have a locking drawer available, or just as good, have an alternate secure storage spot.

Do you have a regular out of the office location for lunch?  Convenient and comfortable for you...convenient for the person profiling you.

Do you have a set or assigned parking spot at work?  While that is great and convenient, it needs SA attention for your safety.  You need to employ attention when arriving, exiting  your vehicle, returning to your vehicle and beginning your travel,away from work.

Any fixed location makes you easy to find.  Any fixed location make you easy to follow or surveil.  Any regular tendency or habit make you easy to profile and target.  And all of these things are without question, things that you and most everyone does, to their peril.  It may not have happened to you yet, but...

More to come, more details, specifics and recommendations to follow.

A last note for today.  Some one or more of you may be reading this and thinking that there is nothing complex or genius about what you have seen so far.  You are correct.  And yet someone, somewhere, right now...is being victimized or profiled by bad guys.  So I recommend that you read on as I continue these posts.