Working The Pre-Conflict Phase

From my experiences, and those of other security professionals I’ve worked with, and supported by the research I engage in, most fights and incidents of social/spontaneous violence start face-to-face, and are preceded by some form of verbal communication; this may involve direct threats, or involve dialogue where the harmful intent is hidden or disguised. What we do and say, along with how we act and behave, is crucial during this Pre-Conflict Phase. In this article, I want to talk about what to look for, with regards to warning signs and imminent Pre-Violence Indicators (PVI’s), along with how and where to position yourself, and what to do with your hands. Your success in this phase of the conflict, largely determines your success in the next phase; if/when the altercation becomes physical. Whilst we may train from a position of unpreparedness, this should not be a state that we want to find ourselves in, and the earlier we can recognize the presence of danger, the more options we will have; both physical and non-physical. I have written about many of these things before, but in this article I am presenting them as a series of steps to follow.

Step-1: Control range and distance. I’ve written a lot about the importance of range control, but it is always worth mentioning and re-emphasizing it again. If you let somebody get to close to you, the chances are that their action, will always beat your reaction, even if you are in a state of readiness. In most instances, even when prepared, their movement will “surprise” you, even if that surprise is only momentarily; and if the attack involves a knife that means you’re getting stabbed to some degree – even if you are able to get your arm out to make some semblance of a block, that makes contact with your attacker’s arm, it’s probably not going to stop the knife completely (and at this range, forget about any form of simultaneous block and strike). To control range, check that when your eyes are on the center of your aggressor’s chest, you can see their forward foot, and a sliver of ground in front of it, using your peripheral vision. This should keep you at a natural distance for talking/communicating with your aggressor but will force them to have to move their body forward to make an attack; a much bigger movement to respond to than an arm swinging in to punch or stab/slash you.

Step-2: Control the “space” between you and your aggressor. I talk with my hands a lot, when dealing with aggressive and potentially violent people, using either a “static” or an “active” defense with my arms/hands. This sees me, extending my arms and putting my hands out in front of me. Sometimes, I gesticulate with them, “talking” with my hands (an active/moving defense), sometimes I have them out statically in a more passive and placatory manner, and other times they are extended more emphatically, with the palms out facing the aggressor, communicating a message of “stop”; both being more static defenses. How I position my hands is usually based on the level of aggression that is being displayed e.g. if it is fairly low-level, and I’m confident that it’s a situation that can be de-escalated, I will be more casual in my hand and arm movements as I “talk” with them, than if I’m dealing with somebody who looks like they are getting ready to cross a boundary. I may also be more active, moving my hands as I talk, if I’m preparing to make some form of pre-emptive strike; with the hands already moving, I am much more likely to get past an assailant’s flinch response, than if they suddenly start to move from a static position. One of the main purposes of having my hands out in front of me is to control/occupy the space directly in front of me, so that I can maintain my control of range.

Step-3: Step back. Whilst this is often necessary in order to control range, it is also an important action that will help you/your attorney present the incident in your favor, should the situation turn physical, and you find yourself involved in a criminal and/or civil case. For the conditions of assault to be met, you must fear for your safety, and your assailant must put themselves in a position where they can cause you harm – for an assault to take place, there doesn’t have to be any actual contact (when that occurs the assailant will have committed an assault and/with battery). If you step back, your aggressor has to actively move themselves to a position where they can cause you harm – should they wish to physically engage with you. At this point, you are permitted to strike/attack pre-emptively. By stepping back, you are demonstrating – to any witnesses – that you are moving away from the conflict i.e. you are not the aggressor, and if the other person moves in (and you have reason to fear for your safety), it is clear that they are acting in the role of aggressor. Even when I command people to “Back Off!”, I do so as I move back, in order to set these conditions, and ensure that it is clear who the aggressor is. If it looks like things are going to get physical, now is not the time to demonstrate your assertiveness, and try and force the other person to back away – if you command somebody to “Back Away” and they don’t follow your order, what is your next move/step? To hit them? If this were the case they/their attorney may be able to successfully argue, that you were the party that was guilty of assault and battery i.e. they had reason to fear for their safety, and you put yourself in a position to cause them physical harm, and then preceded to do so.

Step-4: Move slightly offline. Don’t stand directly in front off your aggressor. Your movement should be subtle enough that they don’t feel the need to turn, in order to face you, as you talk. However, it should mean that they will be forced to turn/rotate slightly if/when they make an attack. You’re maybe only gaining a millisecond of time here when they do attack, but every bit helps and adds up, improving your chances of making a successful defense. Generally, I’ll shuffle slightly to my right, away from their right hand/arm. I work off the premise that most people are right-handed, and so that’s the hand/arm that they’ll use to attack with – and I want it to travel the greatest distance to reach me (it is also likely that it will be slowing down and reducing in power, as it would have been timed to hit me, had I been directly in front of my attacker). Oftentimes, an assailant will give you a clue as to the hand they are going to use, because they will step back with the same side leg, and load weight on to it – this allows them to shift weight forward, to help generate power, when they make their attack. If somebody shifts weight on to the left in this manner, I’ll assume they are left-handed, and move slightly off-line to my left, away from their hand. All the time, I am checking for other signs, such as target-glancing, and scanning (you’ll be surprised at how many people look/glance away, and back at you when they’re planning to make an attack), which may indicate their readiness to punch/strike/stab/slash/grab etc.

Step-5: Keep your plan simple enough, to allow yourself to be decisive. I’m a strong believer in the effectiveness of pre-emptive striking. My “regular” plan, is to move back, and when/if my aggressor steps forward, committing an assault, to be the one who strikes first; because situations determine solutions this isn’t a hard and fast plan, but simply the one I generally default to. When I strike, I have only one thing in mind: getting a hand in to my attacker’s face. This is actually my “self-defense” plan in just about every situation; get a hand into my assailant’s face, and then let my training take over. Trying to think two, three moves ahead is impossible in a real-life encounter. This is due in large part to the fact that you can never predict your attacker’s response(s) to what you do. When he played IBM’s Big Blue Computer, Chess Grandmaster Gary Kasparov, stated that he only ever calculated (and was only capable of), one or two moves ahead at a time, from there he was simply responding to the situation and letting his years of experience and knowledge intuitively guide him. In contrast, the computer – and a team of programmers – calculated all of the possibilities to the millions of iterations and possibilities as a result of each move, and at the end of the day, lost. A real-life violent encounter is far more stressful than a chess match (whatever the stakes), and two moves ahead, is usually too much to think about. Keep it simple and have a go-to starting move. For me, it’s the hand in the face, to disrupt my attacker - after that, my training – my time sparring, my work on the pads etc. – leads me. Everything I do, is to ultimately facilitate safe disengagement at the first opportunity; this goal also helps me avoid the risk of using excessive force (i.e. I do only what’s necessary to give me the opportunity to get away safely).

Obviously, some of these steps happen simultaneously, rather than sequentially, however laying them out in this fashion, allows me to have a checklist of things that I need to do, if involved in some form of spontaneous social violence. It also gives me something to focus on, and have a plan that I’m working to, which is one of the ways I control my fear, and prevent my overall response from being one of panic. Having something to do in that moment, is better than trying to work out what you should do. In terms of what to say, and when and how to de-escalate a situation, use the website’s search function to look for articles on “de-escalation”. Any de-escalation process you employ should be done whilst following these steps.