Color Codes & The Timeline of Violence

Violence is a process; in most instances, an assailant has to, determine a motive, become emotionally ready to make an assault, and position themselves physically to do so. This process can off course take place in seconds, but it is a process nonetheless, and it takes place in time. How we experience and recognize this process also happens a long a timeline, and how quickly we recognize a potential threat depends upon our level(s) of situational awareness.

The late Jeff Cooper, created a color code system of “Situational Awareness” that has long been taught to police officers, civilian and military personnel as well as civilians. His system identifies four main categories/levels of alertness (it is worth noting that this was originally developed in relation to firearms usage). The first code he identifies is code white, where an individual is completely switched off and unaware – most times we are naturally in code white is when we are either asleep, or so engrossed in a particular activity, that we have switched off almost all of our senses, so that any change in our environment will go undetected e.g. if you walk with headphones on, or talking on your mobile phone, your focus will be switched from what is going on in your surroundings, to what you are listening to, or whom you are in conversation with. In Code Yellow, you are not anticipating a threat, but aware that it is possible for one to present itself, regardless of the environment you are in – even in the relative safety of your own home you should be in code Yellow e.g. you are able to pick up on any strange noises that might occur. In code Orange you have identified a potential threat, not necessarily a real one, but something that could possibly signify harmful intent towards you – something worse investigating. In Code Red, you know the threat is real and has to be dealt with.  

Firstly, it is worth noting, that most of us are not police officers or security personnel, and so are by default in different situations to these individuals and engage with our environment differently e.g. we are not actively looking out for criminal behavior etc. but simply going about our daily business. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a level of awareness about what is going on in our environment but that is more on the subconscious level, than on the conscious – that is we should be aware enough to identify other people’s emotional shifts and movements, but this comes more from our fear system, identifying these threats and dangers for us, and then alerting us by means of adrenalizing us, than from us actively enquiring about them, and thus identifying them. As civilians, we naturally slip into Code White, from time to time e.g. if you are working on something as part of your job, which requires your full concentration, you will be default slip into a code white state – however your workplace is probably generally a safe place, and there is little risk when this happens. When you leave work however it would be advisable, to free up some of your mental bandwidth, so that you can properly interact with your environment i.e. move to code Yellow.

Maybe as you pass somebody, they start to follow you, and your fear system identifies the person’s movement synchronizing to yours, as being a potential threat. To alert you to the possible danger, it adrenalizes you, shifting your emotional state. Before this you were in one what we refer to on the “Timeline of Violence” as being in a Non-Conflict state (there was nothing in your landscape that indicated a threat or danger), however you have moved along the timeline, into the Conflict-Aware stage; you have also shifted from Code Yellow to Code Orange – there is something worth you actively investigating i.e. what are the intentions of the person behind you? In this phase and at this stage you don’t know if the person’s movement directly relates to you; it could be simply coincidence that they choose to start walking as you passed them. As you make your dynamic risk assessment, you should determine whether their behaviors and actions represent a high risk, or an unknown risk (as you are in Code Orange, it would be wrong to assume their actions as being “low” risk – that will only serve for you to lower your guard at a time when you should be actively determining what their intentions are).

You may decide to alter your direction, crossing the road, and re-crossing it, or possibly taking a detour, such as turning right on to a street, turning left, and then turning right again to bring you back out on to your original street (a detour nobody would make unless they were following you). As you do this the person behind you aggressively shouts after you, “Stop! I need to talk to you!” at this point their movement and their behavior, indicates that they have harmful intent towards you, and you enter the Pre-Conflict phase. The Pre-Conflict Phase differs from the Conflict Aware Phase, in that you now know the threat/danger you were aware of is definitely directed at you. You have also moved from Code Orange to Code Red – your mental shift should be that the person is not a potential threat, but a potential target. It maybe that you are able to de-escalate or disengage from the situation, without physical action, however you are now actively prepared, and planning to move to the Conflict phase on the Timeline.   

Jeff Cooper’s color code system is great way to understand how we mentally move gears both up and down (we should know when not to be in heightened emotional states, as well as when we should), depending on the environments we are in, and the behaviors and actions of those within them. When we place them on the Timeline of Violence, they tell us how we should be thinking and what we should be doing in terms of threat identification and decision making.