Ask the Street Fighter

Even though it is hard for a normal sane person to know how criminals really think, understanding the science behind their pitch for a “prey” is actually not that hard. To tell the truth; being chosen by a criminal can be prevented in most cases. I’m going to try to look in the mind of a criminal and show you what I’ve seen.

Since the very beginning of ages people are trying to deal with violence being done to them and their loved ones. Some by avoiding it as best as they can, some by standing ground and dealing with it face to face; trying to actively protect themselves or others.

You can learn from that experience and create for yourself some kind of blueprint of behavior and habits that may prevent you from having to deal with violence like the people mentioned above had to.

First of all you have to understand, what motivates the criminals to begin the search in the first place.

From the logical point of view, it is sane to state, that criminals would choose someone, WHO APPEARS TO HAVE WHAT THEY WANT.

What criminals want

We distinguish among these categories:

1. Property

   This can be your money, your watches, clothes, a car, even your house. Basically all the financial and material goods that you posses.



2. Body

   Here for example we talk about dealing with rapists and kidnappers, who may want to use your body for sexual activities, exchange you for money, or to perform other types of violence like torture or demonstrational actions of some type at a different location – taking away your freedoms from you.



3. Health and/or life

   Criminals in this category will want to hurt and/or kill you. Their aim is to cause you whatever physical or mental harm that may even lead to your death.

Now that you know what criminals may look for when they search for sources of satisfaction for their wants, it is time to bring up the things which make the selection process a bit harder for them.

Criminals fear and DON’T want

1. To be caught

   The least desirable thing for a criminal. He won’t get what he wants and loses his freedom, what is a big NO NO for guys like that.



2. To be recognized

   In many cases it happened that the victim recognized the attacker and was able to report the criminal to the authorities… if they survived of course.

   It can also happen that by drawing attention to your situation, the criminal can get scared that someone else will be able to identify him.

   For example taking of his disguise during a fight can force him to flee from the scenario.



3. To get hurt

   No one likes pain and the damage you may cause him by fighting back can create a need for him to seek medical treatment and going to the hospital is risky. The wounds you cause may slow him down, even mark him or leave tracks of DNA what can lead to his identification and capture.

   Fact is that many attackers fled as soon as their potential victim started to fight back.

   Fighting back also causes the act to take longer time.



4. The act to take longer than needed

   By prolonging the time in a smart way (effective offense or communication) it may happen that someone will see you and recognize the situation you are at.

   Such person can then call the authorities to come to your aid or even choose to help you personally (or at least film it and share it on facebook as this is becoming trendier nowadays than helping the poor soul out).

If you happen to break at least one of the points in this list which may lead to capturing the criminal, chances are that you force him to stop and run away from the scene.

Why you may be chosen

Knowing what is desirable and not desirable for criminals, I believe that you can tell now, which people will most likely be picked to mug, rape, kidnap or murder over others and why.

To tell the truth, in majority of cases, people bear big amount of their own responsibility for being picked as a victim of a criminal activity.

Why? Because they subconsciously create an opportunity for a mugger, a rapist, a kidnapper or a murderer to effectively perform his act of violence.

How? By your gestures, postures and other non-verbal communication and also due to lack of awareness.

If you are not paying attention to what is happening around them so people can easily get close to you without you noticing. By acting weak or sick; scared, alone and lost, uncertain … every time you look and act vulnerable, you fit in the criminal prey formula.

When you don’t look like you care about your surroundings; when it does seem like you are not gonna fight back; like you will not see through the plot; when you look vulnerable, withdrawn and subservient – you may be chosen by someone, who is looking…

The best thing you can do is to:

• Make yourself look strong and confident – straighten your chest (what may be harder for some people as the age of computers deforms our bodies and make us all slouch) and walk briskly. There is a whole science behind postures, types of walks etc., so give that a thought.

  WARNING: Distinguish between strong and confident, and stupid. By acting like a moron at a hostile environment, you may draw attention of violent people to yourself as well.

• Embrace habits and practices of situational awareness.

• If you have to fight, try to leave marks on your opponent – cuts, bites, snatched hair etc., for better identification later on.

• Become confident in your expressions.

You have to give the impression of confident, strong, firm and even person with no troubles at all, who is aware of what is happening around him and who is not easily accessible by strangers.

Simply put, don’t show any kind of weakness if possible.

Take a look at this video, made by BBC, where Lee Morrison and some other bouncer assess people’s walks and postures in relation to a victim behavior.

Even though there are some factors you can not affect (especially if the criminal has a specific focus like older people, race intolerance and alike), the less weaknesses you express to your outskirts the better for you.

Keep working on signals you send out to the world and make sure you include this into your training.

Now, let me invite you to read an article very closely related to this topic, called: How to avoid being chosen by a criminal.

RECOMMENDED READ

INFORMATION SOURCES

• Raw Combat International Online Learning Centre - Luke Holloway
• Rage attacks: How to intercept the ambush DVD - Tony Blauer
• Anti-ambush training DVD set - Lee Morrison
• Anti-ambush training part 2 DVD: Introducing Spontaneity - Lee Morrison
• Street Safe (3 DVD set) - Lee Morrison