Written by Greg Ellifritz
“Fringe areas adjacent to heavily traveled public places are where the majority of crimes occur. This includes areas such as parking lots, bathrooms, stairwells, laundry rooms, phone booths, ATM kiosks, and the like.”- Kane and Wilder- The Little Black Book of Violence
Where are people most likely to be attacked? It certainly depends on the circumstances and the type of attack, but in general, people are attacked in transitional areas. Those are areas where one is transitioning from one status or activity to another.
Here’s an example:
Man ambushed, shot by attempted robber
“Police say the gunman was waiting in an abandoned house until the homeowner pulled into his garage. That’s when the gunman jumped over a fence and ambushed the man.”
The transition occurred when the man left the relative safety of his car and had not yet entered his house. Notice that the robber didn’t attack the victim while he was still in his car. Likewise he didn’t wait until the man was safely inside his house to attack. He attacked while the victim was transitioning between the two.
Entering and leaving your home or car are the two most common transitions that people make. Most folks are not paying attention in these transitional moments and are very vulnerable. If you fall into that category, change your transitional procedures! In any transitional area, you will want to have hands free, not be distracted by a cell phone, and prepared to deploy whatever weapon you have chosen to carry.
Besides the home and car, there are other transitional areas as well. Transitions don’t have to be about physical locations. They can also be environmental conditions (like going from light to dark) or changes in status (like changing clothes in a locker room or dropping your pants in a public toilet).
Your tactical homework assignment this week is to identify all the transitional areas you commonly encounter in your daily life. Pay special attention to keeping your hands free while in transition and think about ways to keep your awareness levels high.
After you’ve done your homework, post your identified transitional areas and plans of action in the comments below. Your transitional areas are likely to be similar to other readers’. When you list yours, it may spark some thinking from other readers about how vulnerable they are in certain situations. If you have problems coming up with a plan to make yourself less vulnerable, let me know. I’ll be glad to help!
Going to my car
parking lot
going into school
getting a red box movie
loading groceries into car
leaving front door open while carrying groceries in
putting air into tires at gas station
working on car anywhere
in line at a store
I’m always trying to maintain my awareness while looking at redbox movies… but it is very hard to do so. That’s the one that scares me the most.
You need to go to the RedBox with a date! Have your date watch your back while you pick the movie!
For what it’s worth, I have never seen a robbery or an attack at a RedBox location. The robbers know that you will be using a credit card and may not have any cash. They are also placed in very public locations. It isn’t a risk-free transaction, but it’s fairly safe in the grand scheme of things.
This is something I am very aware of. It is one of the first things I learned and one that I have committed to looking for and being being prepared when i encounter those spots.
Daily, work-day routine:
Leave house as darkness begins to yield to low daylight. Hands full with coffee cup, briefcase, sometimes another bag. Door of house near corner of house that is shades by trees and shrubs. To get into truck in driveway got to go by edge of house, lots of angles, shrubs, fence on other side of truck. THE PLAN: I have Spyderco clipped to right front pants pocket (I’m a lefty, but practice mobilizing the knife with right hand). Open the house door, half-step one foot outside the door and look both ways. Then, walk widely around to get to the truck so that i am away from the sides of the house and can run away if someone comes from the shadows. Pepper spray pen and also Zebra pen (stainless steel ballpoint) clipped into left pants pocket, along with Surefire LX2. (Too many things clipped in there, hands often full, would not likely use any of that initially in a confrontation).
Arrive at work: No guns allowed in vehicle or on my person. Large parking lot, long walk inside. By now, I’ve drank the coffee and am usually just carrying briefcase in left hand (strong hand). THE PLAN: Carry the Spyderco, blade un-deployed, in my right hand/fist with my thumb in the thumb-hole while walking inside. Constantly looking in all directions as I walk inside.
On the way home: Walk outside to go to car. Usually it’s dark; parking lot lighting sucks. THE PLAN: Spyderco in my right hand/fist, and usually carrying briefcase in left hand. Constantly vigilant to look for people moving around in the dark. Often take out the Surefire and use it to scan around as I am walking, but briefcase is heavy, so hard to hold light, knife, and briefcase. At car, walk widely around it first to look for anyone who is hiding on far side or rear or in payload area. Always stop for gas on way home to top off tank. While out of the truck, I am looking around, scanning the area, have Spyderco in my right hand/fist. If anyone is moving towards me, I am moving to put the truck between us, but trying to keep my sightlines open to make sure someone else is not also coming at me from behind or a different angle. Sometimes it is not so easy to do what I just described. Sometimes I must look silly doing this stuff. I don’t really care.
At home: It is dark. THE PLAN: I have several outdoor lights on timers that are already on when I arrive home. I have Spyderco in right hand as I exit the vehicle. Get briefcase from back seat and then lock the truck and walk widely around to get to the front door. This is without a doubt my most concerning part of my daily routine. I am tired, it is dark, I have a few things in my left hand, and the keys so I can get in the door.
Any other time, when not going to or from work, I have a gun on left hip in OWB (concealed) holster and Spyderco clipped into right front pants pocket. If I am going into/out of a store or walking through a parking lot, the Spyderco is in my right hand/fist, thumb in the thumb hole.
BIG MISSING PART: Lots of gun training but never had formal knife or empty hands training. I watch and re-watch any video I can get ahold of with Michael Janitch, Rob Pincus, Michael Bane, Ralph Mroz, and I have a few books, always looking for more. Always seem to find out about classes too late to be able to adjust work schedules (they are made 6-9 months in advance).
On the way home
Trevor, can you sling your briefcase over your shoulder on a strap so that you can have that hand free?
And one more question…why do you plan to use the knife with the off hand? It’s not wrong, it’s just somewhat uncommon…
Thanks for the idea about the shoulder strap. One had come with the briefcase but I took it off years ago, but still have it. Will try it out.
The knife wound up on my side (weak hand side) because the left side pocket was already full with flashlight, pepper spray pen and Zebra ballpoint pen, as well as some other stuff I use for work like a note pad, business cards, etc. Also, I like to keep the left hand free to reach for the gun when I am carrying it. I think I need to do two things: 1. Re-arrange the stuff in my pockets, and 2. Get some formal training in hands/knife transitioning to gun, because I don’t know how that is supposed to be done. I may have it sabotaged by having the knife in opposite hand that is supposed to reach for the gun.
I forgot to add that the knife techniques I’ve seen in videos assume the attacker coming at me is right handed, and that the defender (me) is also right handed with the knife in my right hand. I know it can be reversed for lefty defenders, but I need to think on it a bit more. Do you know of any books, videos, or instructors who do a specific “left handed self defending in a right handed world” class?
Your logic makes sense and you’ve clearly thought it through. For me it comes down to deciding which is more valuable…do I want my knife in a consistent place every time, or do I want me knife in my most dextrous hand? When I am carrying a gun, my knife goes on my weak side. When I am ONLY carrying a knife, it goes on my strong side because I can open it quicker with my strong hand.
As for attackers, don’t assume that your attacker will also be armed with a knife. That’s a mistake many martial arts practitioners base their systems around. It is exceedingly rare in real life. When I see defensive knife usage it is generally a knife armed citizen defending himself against an unarmed but physically superior opponent. I also see defenders using the knife against larger groups of unarmed people. In either of those locations, specific hand strategies become largely irrelevant.
Transitional areas that all folks encounter almost everywhere are blind corners… I’ve even taught my daughter since she was young to negotiate blind corners… at school, in the office, walking down hallways, coming up to the end of a building… blind corners make it easy for someone to take you by surprise… sometimes purposely… sometimes accidentally…
When approaching a blind corner… slow down… listen… take it wide, not up tight to the blind side… someone may be waiting ambush you… or it may just be a wayward shopper in a hurry who will nail in the calf with their shopping cart…
The other area of blindness that we transition through are doors and doors without windows… Do you walk straight up to a door without windows? does it open in/away from you or out/towards you? Do you walk up, but off to the side of the door do it won’t hit you in the face if someone is coming through it towards you? If ou approach it from off to the side, do you open and look before entering? Do you listen?
Sometimes its the obvious that we pay the least attention to… Doors and corners… something to think about…
Dann in Ohio
Good points! Swing WIDE on the corners. Another very important thing is looking into convenience stores and gas stations from the outside to make sure everything is OK before going in.
i have all the same transitions as a lot of others (to car, to office, from car into house, into/out of stores.
the scariest transitions for me are into and out of a home visit as a social worker. the problem is that i get clocked as soon as i enter a neighborhood, looking considerably different from the folks who live there. sometimes i have to drive slow to read sometimes missing house numbers. i park. i go up and knock on the door, typically having an appointment. sometimes people are noncompliant and i’m knocking on a door as a first contact. then i do my business in the house. then, i transition back to my car that everybody in the neighborhood knows belongs to the social worker traveling alone.
my solution has had several evolutions, but this is where i am.
1) when i first started the job, i just willy nilly drove around like a moron. now, i map stuff out exactly and do a bit of google maps streetview surveilance. i can scout out empty lots and some abandoned homes. i can plan on where to park.
2) i limit the time transitioning to the house from my car. i call while i’m travelling so that people now i’m coming and this eliminates being exposed on a porch waiting to explain that i’m there for an appointment with so-and-so.
3) i take a computer bag with me into the house, as i can’t leave a laptop in my car safely. this means that before i open my car door, the bag strap is already over my shoulder, ready to go. that way, i don’t have to stand outside of my car, throwing the bag over my shoulder with my possessions all in disarray. it also gives me some cover in case of a shooting as a laptop and files and other shit gives me some protection against low caliber rounds. i practice drawing and shooting while position the bag over center mass with my off hand.
4) i sometimes travel up or down a parallel street, searching out house numbers, only to cut over to the correct street knowing better where the house is that i’m looking for. in grid cities, neighborhoods often have similar street numbers running south to north, east to west, or vice versa as other parallel blocks.
5) i do not hurry good byes when i end an appointment. i always ask the kid to get his parent to ask questions before i leave, so they’ll let me out of the house. 90% of the time, the parent will look out the window of the door and scan their porch and immediate area before letting me out. i trust their knowledge of the community to warn them of dangerous people on my behalf and to shoo away undesireables.
5) unless it’s freezing cold, i don’t wear a coat. i typically wear a heavy wool sweater, but a coat gets in the way of my pistol draw. it limits my movement in hand to hand. my work badge is always pinned to my chest. stay away from lanyards and neckties unless you like being choked.
6) i wear boots. i don’t wear dress shoes, loafers, or sandals, especially if they have smooth soles. keep your toes covered. make sure you can run.
7) i have a lcp as a backup gun. when i leave my office, i wedge it in it’s holster between the center console and the seat for fast draw against a carjacking. upon arriving, it goes into front left pocket. on exit of house, hand is in pocket ready to draw. once in car, pistol goes back to wedge spot for egress carjacking response.
It sounds like you have it all planned out! Your “driving around like a moron” may actually be a good thing. As a cop, I’ll often drive right past the house I’m going to. My little “driveby” gives me a chance to check everything out and make sure someone hasn’t set up an ambush for me around the corner.
I have a few other transitions I want to talk about.
First is I work on Buckley Air Force Base each day I need to wait in line to show my ID to the (armed) guard at the base entrance. I am not worried about getting car jacked here. My biggest fear here is terrorism, as this is also the commercial entrance there are often big rigs waiting to get searched, so I can envision a situation where someone with an axe to grind against the US or the AF might touch off a car/truck bomb at the entrance. Not sure what I can do to reduce this risk. – thoughts?
2 – When picking up my kids from school (this is a pre-K) school so wearing a gun is not an issue I have even talked to the owner/teacher of the school and she is cool with it BUT I work on base so I am rarely not coming from work. When leaving I have a surly 4 year old and an infant in a 25 pound car seat If accosted her I think I would scoop up my 4 year old and run into the dry cleaner (next door) because I would not have time to enter my code into the door. of the school and take a defensive position there (with my knife) and call the police. It’s a decent area but near a High School so it could happen.
3 – Getting out of my car at the house – I live on a cul-de-sac in a nice neighborhood but close enough to trouble that I need to watch. There is one entrance/exit to the cul-de-sac I know the cars which should be there and would notice anything out of place. I have to walk the same kids to the door – I think this is my biggest vulnerability. I look around for trouble before I shut off the car. If not coming from base I usually have a pistol but given the closeness of the houses not sure I could ever have a clear shot of ANY attacker without jeopardizing my neighbors (all of whom are great)
Bill, I think your concerns are valid. Here are a couple of thoughts…
1) is there an alternate entrance that you could use to get on base? Preferably one without long lines and big trucks? Unfortunately, other than armoring your car, there isn’t much else that you can do here.
2) That seems like a very logical solution. Also remember that most dry cleaners are staffed by women who are probably trustworthy enough to care for you child for a couple minutes while you go get the infant. Remember that dry cleaners have rear doors as well…
3)Make sure you look out a window for strange cars before you go outside. The best prevention to avoid poking a bullet hole in a neighbor’s house is better accuracy! Practice enough to keep your bullets in the bad guy!
Thanks for your comments. I’m sure you helped other readers think of some things they hadn’t yet considered.
There is another entrance the south (truck) side of base is a nicer area, the north side is a rougher area and 10 minutes further away. I think the likelyhood of a truck bombing is fairly slim but still something I think about.
I have made a point of taking Billy into the dry cleaner just to say hi from time to time just so they recognize him a bit. Good thought on the rear door didn’t think about that
Good point I will go to the range this week again.