Tips-n-Tricks for the vigilant!

[Fate]

I reek of piss and alcohol, never shower, dress like a hobo and mutter to myself. I also ask for spare change. It must work. Haven't been mugged since.

[duenor]

I reek of piss and alcohol, never shower, dress like a hobo and mutter to myself. I also ask for spare change. It must work. Haven't been laid since.

there, fixed it for you

[Fate]

there, fixed it for you

Been married for near 20 years, too...so you're right.

[5968]

I don't really go out too much, but when I do, I am looking at people's hands. I find myself sizing people up where ever I go, but always back to the hands.

The hands are what usually kill you (or what is in them).

[SchooBaka]

In restaurants, I keep additional silverware at my setting - butter knife and fork, to be used as improvised weapons in case the need arises.

You can also use the extra silverware to perform an emergency tracheotomy if needed.

[bigthaiboy]

Outside the home, I don't do anything special, apart from avoid potential confrontation. If I'm walking past a group of potential trouble makers, I avoid eye contact if I can. If I see someone staring, I'll give them a friendly nod as to say "Hi." I've even had a hardened gangbanger types even nod back with a "Hey, Bro".

It is amazing how many confrontations start with a wrong look or stare. This of course doesn't mean you can replace vigilance with a friendly hello, but avoiding potential flare-ups is better than walking through the middle of it. After all, It's not like I think I'm John Wayne or Chuck Norris.

A couple of years back, my car was broken into outside my home. My dog tried to alert me and I looked out of the window, but my view of the car was blocked by a tree, so I didn't see the perp in my car. I learnt an expensive lesson. $1500 worth of damage for a $100 CD player.

Since then I have been much much more vigilant about protecting my home, wife, dogs, and property. I make sure doors and windows are locked, strange vehicles or people on the street, etc. I always have a couple of go-to guns loaded for SD. To me, my home and family is the most important thing that must never be violated. As I've grown older (and hopefully wiser), I've become more and more convinced that people are too damn lazy or messed up to work and that there is a fair size of the population, who would steal from you given half a chance.

[BillCA]

Vigilance does not need to be complicated, fancy or anything at all. A lot of it is common sense.

Restaurants - I do prefer sitting where I can see the entrance, especially the register in places like Dennys or a Lyons. I often give entering customers the "once over" look.

Dirtbags dress like dirtbags and act accordingly. If someone around me dresses "gangsta" then I try to determine if they're real or wannabes. Real ones often sport tattoos, have a hard look around their eyes and other cues.

In a parking lot or outdoors, if one or more people head towards you for no apparent reason, it's time to relocate. I had to walk past a group of loitering thug types and I could see them whispering as I approached. That's a danger signal from hell. As I got closer, before they started to split up, I called out, "Hey guys, d'ya know what happened around the corner? There's about six cop cars over there." FUD for them... there were no cops, but THEY didn't know that.

Bait wallets are fine if you fatten them with a $5 bill and ten one's. Expired credit cards have your account number on them and can still be valuable. A hole-punch to remove a one of the last 4 digits works though. Do NOT put your expired ID inside as it provides them a valid ID number, your DOB and address. Some thugs have been known to rob folks and then drive to the victim's house to burglarize it before he can get home.

Watch the hands... Good advice. The hands are usually what kills people. Objects in the hand are threats. They might be used for distraction (thrown or tossed at you) or weapons. Hands disappearing out of sight are potentially dangerous too. Is he reaching for a weapon or just a lighter?

But just because his hands are visible and empty does not mean they aren't a threat. If you see them clench into a fist, you have about 1/2 to 3/4 of a second to act. Likewise if you see a person's strong side turn slightly away and down he's preparing to throw a punch. Act accordingly.

[retired]

I pay attention to the details around me.

Ditto. Same thing I did while in le. I'm careful where I sit in a restaurant and the family knows after all of these years, where I sit.

[Matt P]

Tuesday night (wednesday AM) a car alarm went off below our window, and my wife and I immediately jumped up and peeked out our window and unlike other times this has happened, there was actually someone rifling through a nice Altima parked there with 20" bling wheels and gobs of goodies inside.

My vigilance kicked in in the form of not revealing my position (just above the perp's position) for fear of later reprisal crime on us. So as fast as I could, I called Antioch PD dispatch and reported "I'm witnessing a 'four-five-nine auto' in progress at twenty-four-ten Starlight lane. Subject is a bma with black hoodie, blue jeans, and he's going through a neighbor's newer model silver Altima with a small led flashlight and i hear him tearing and thrashing inside.." It was perfect! Being a slow Tuesday night, the quick response from beat 3's own officer Fortner and his code 3 cover had 4 cars there within the duration of the 4 minute phone call. Yes, they got here in minutes, when minutes counted!!

Anyway, the dude was snagged as he fled the scene..and the dispatcher came back to me proudly declaring "one in custody..thank you for your call!"

It was soooo liberating and delightful to finally catch one of these [fill in your favorite colorful epithets] lazy mofo's. THey almost never catch one so these cops were also beside themselves. They weren't the best at clearing the nearby areas looking for an accomplice, nor did they notice the wire cutters on the ground beneath the neighbor's car or other things...things their pathetic flashlights could not reveal. So naturally I had to give them flashlight envy as I light up the parking lot with my Fenix P3D...uh huh. Think I sold at least 2 that night. lol


ANYWAY...add to list of vigilance tactics:
1) Have babies! That way, you'll be a real light sleeper and actually hear and wake up to car alarms in your parking lot. THe owner of the car is actually closer to the car than I was, and there were two other neighbors in the same proximity..none with little ones, none woke up! Be a light sleeper and respond to car alarms since nobody else does!

2) Have a badass Fenix P3D light or other light with at least 200 lumens so you can outshine the cops when they need to investigate a crime.

3) When you're able to, keep your identity concealed from baddies. If you're observing a crime in progress that you can't stop physically, nor shouldn't stop physically, keep on the down-low and let your tax dollars stop it. And when you get asked to ID the baddy, like I did, refuse to reveal your identity or face, and they'll yank the chode from the patrol car with bright lights in the perp's face so you can ID him from a concealed position behind a neighboring car 20' away! And make sure not to yell obscenities at him like I wanted to! lol

Were you listed as a witness to the above event? Did you make eforts to conceal your home address, or ask the LE how you could avoid listing your home address on his report? The subject charged, will certainly have access at some point to the Police Report if he so desires.
If they took him into custody after the fact, then they should have needed your statements as that put him at the scene.

Just be careful on that type of detail as it relates to your address.

Great story, and your the type of neighbor we all would love to have. Awesome you acted and made a difference.

[mrChiBai]

I played a lot of counterstrike and quake3 in my college days. I have walked every floor of my apartment building many times and identified many different angles that people can see my door / apartment. I try to give them a quick scan most of them very briefly when I walk in and out.
In addition I have identified the critical places to guard against a SHTF scenario. I picked the two places I feel would be best to guard against a big influx of hostile targets. Ideally 3 would be better but hey, its just me and my woman vs the world.

[Ironchef]

Were you listed as a witness to the above event? Did you make eforts to conceal your home address, or ask the LE how you could avoid listing your home address on his report? The subject charged, will certainly have access at some point to the Police Report if he so desires.
If they took him into custody after the fact, then they should have needed your statements as that put him at the scene.

Just be careful on that type of detail as it relates to your address.

Great story, and your the type of neighbor we all would love to have. Awesome you acted and made a difference.

I could be listed. They asked if I'd be ok testifying to the DA "if" it went to trial and I said yes, but with full privacy. Officer Fortner got the clue..as he did when I wished to keep myself out of view when IDing the perp. The PD know my address of course. If it gets into public record, fine..we're moving in a month or two anyway and we're as ready as we're going to be for any such reprisal. It's the price I was happy to pay given the outcome and satisfaction of seeing him do the frog walk. And frankly, we realize that it's better to do something and be put at some risk, then be like everyone else and keep their heads in the sand and not give a crap about their neighbors.

[cactus]

There is some real use full information in this thread. One thing I havent read though is incorporating once spouse into your regiment. I was always taught two sets of eyes are better than one. I recently have been teaching my wife proper handgun handling, mach home defence and positioning, as well as other aspects of protecting ones family. Ive had to answer so many questions it really made me realize how much I had left her out of the loop. As my wife is a stay at home mom that could have been a dangerous thing. Just last night we were at the range and I had her shooting with the flash light on, we got some weird looks but I wanted her to try it just incase she has to at home. The best thing I think we ever learned in a class was if you here a sound in your home turn the lights on. I know im far from a ninja but it makes sense to be able to see who you may be potentially shooting at. Personally id rather scare some on from my home than have a shoot out with three kids down the hall. Im proud my wife now understands defensive positions, keeps pepper spray with her at all times, a small folder,and has become one hell of a shot. Ive also learned my wife is like allot of other females in that shes better with a revolver. As a side note pre kids we had a attempted break in my wife armed herself with a pistol and long story short they never got in the house and they were arrested. A police officer cleared the weapon for here and explained to her to pic a defence position and dont let anyone pass it. I told her that was good advice and asker her what she was going to do at the time. Her response was "I was going to shoot his *** in the back yard but the cops came". She has come a long way!

[PatriotnMore]

There is some real use full information in this thread. One thing I havent read though is incorporating once spouse into your regiment. I was always taught two sets of eyes are better than one. I recently have been teaching my wife proper handgun handling, mach home defence and positioning, as well as other aspects of protecting ones family.

This is a good thread, I hope everyone teaches situational awareness to your family as well.

Its been brought up.

[Bishop]

Always try to know what's around you. I'm always casually looking around whenever we're moving. Just like when I drive; I want to know what and who is around me. All the preparedness in the world doesn't mean a thing when you fail to recognize the guy walking behind you quickly closing the gap.

To condition yourself to spot the people that don't fit, look at everyone. Look at what they're doing, where their eyes are looking, how they look when they talk on the phone, etc. After a while you'll get a pretty good feel for how people look and act when they're at the mall, at the market, pumping gas, etc. After you pick up on the body language associated with most functions, the people who don't fit stick out like a sore thumb. Try to put yourself in the person's mind, and think of how you would act.

The market we go to has a very popular japanese place across the parking lot, so there are usually a lot of 20-somethings hanging out, waiting for a table. When I look at them, they are usually talking, joking, or looking at their phones. One time I saw a group of three standing in a circle, and two were talking, and looking around a lot. The third had his head bent down to look at his phone, but his eyes were very clearly scanning the parking lot even though he appeared to be texting. Were they evil terrorist kidnappers? Probably not, but I was going to keep an eye on them, and not park near them.

If you do it right, sometimes you can spot the other people in condition yellow.

Do it at gun shows where people are usually walking around, looking at the hardware, and you can spot the undercover cops!

Oh yeah, and always go to condition orange whenever someone asks you for change or the time. Seriously. It's an easy way to get close to someone, and hold their attention in one direction, and criminals seem to use it a lot.

Be very protective of your bubble.

[rivviepop]

The first thing I do when a sketchy character/situation is perceived through vigilance is place my body and presence between my GF (or any female I'm walking with) and the target. Call me old fashioned, but that's what guys are supposed to do.