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WHEN TO DRAW, and BEING PREPAIRED TO DRAW
While I worked as a correctional officer at the prison in oxford, WisconsinI belonged to the Bureau's armed escort team. We trained often, and not only on the range qualifying, with our firearms, but with profiling people and being aware of our surroundings.
You have a firearm at your side, and along with carrying it, you have a responsibility to be aware of what’s going on around you, if you’re not fully aware at all times of your surroundings, you could some day walk into a potentially dangerous situation totally surprised and that could get you or someone else killed. When you carry a firearm, you no longer have the option to just casually walk around blindly and carelessly.
The first thing the bad guy is going to assume, when you walk in on, for example, a robbery in progress, is that you’re a LEO. We have all at some point while OCing, been asked if we are LEO, and it will be no different with the bad guy, surprising the bad guy is not good while OCing, so be prepared by training yourself to be aware of your surroundings at all times.
Training yourself to observe what is going on around you is easy, most of you I’m sure are already doing it, and extensive training is not a requirement, just plain old common sense. If your carrying a firearm you’re mind is already on alert, and your already running scenario’s through your mind, and you are already more aware of your surroundings then someone who is not carrying a firearm.
I’m not an instructor or an expert by no means, but I’d like to share a small amount of what I have learned as an armed escort officer with the Bureau of Prisons.
I remember one situation while escorting an inmate to the UW hospital in Madison. We were walking the inmate to the hospital from the parking lot. Whenever we escort an inmate out in the open, most people when they see us escorting a inmate, keep a wide distance from us, but, on this day, we had a guy walking right at us.
We are always watching for a possible escape attempt, and this was as close as I want to come to that feeling of “oh shit”, what’s on this guys agenda. This guy walked straight at us at a rather fast pace, and as he did, I put my hand on my firearm and unsnapped it.
I yelled to him that we are escorting an inmate and to stay clear from us. He didn’t listen, he kept coming, and as he did, my grip was getting tighter on my firearm. I yelled again, for him to stay clear, that we are escorting an inmate, but, again he wouldn’t listen and kept coming.
To this day I remember what he was wearing, brown dress pants and a light brown t shirt, black socks and brown dress shoes and clean cut. He didn’t appear to be the type of person, who would attempt to break an inmate from custody. He still kept on walking right to us, and by now he was only steps away, as he approached, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, I was ready for anything.
I ran all the options through my head in about a half a second, should I draw my firearm but not point it at him, should I draw and point it at him to make him step aside, my mind took in all the information from his movements his demeanor, what he was wearing, and with what I observed, he didn’t appear to pose any kind of threat, his hands were empty and down by his side as he walked, he didn’t reach for any weapon as he approached, he was just walking.
He approached us walked within inches, and walked right past us, turns out, he was just one stupid civilian, testing us to get us to react, and to find out how we would react if he walked passed us up close. After getting past us he just kept walking and laughed. I’ll bet to this day he has no idea how close he came to looking down the barrel of my firearm.
Staying calm in any situation will allow you to stay in control, and allow you to make an informative decision based on facts not emotion to determine what action you should take when faced with a potentially dangerous situation. Being aware of your surroundings can keep you from walking into a dangerous situation unexpectedly.
A good example to use, pulling into a gas station, they get robed quite frequently. While driving into the parking lot of a gas station, look into the window of the gas station where the store clerk is at the cash register, are the store clerks behind the counter at the cash register? is there any type of commotion going on?
After you park, and while you’re pulling your firearm out to load it, look around, look at the type of people walking in and out of the store, what are they wearing, are they dressed for the season? Are they wearing cloths that match the climate, dress cloths, shorts, or do they have on sweaters and coats in the middle of the summer.
Notice everyone’s demeanor, are they relaxed, casually walking around, any of them look nervous, are there any people hanging out in front of the store, if so, what are they doing, what are they wearing, are they nervous and looking right and left, as though looking out for the police, is there a robbery in the planning or in progress? If you think a robbery is in progress, what are you going to do? Wait outside, and call 911, what if you’re unsure, do you go inside to find out? And if you do and walk into the middle of a robbery, what do you do? Are you prepared for this possible situation?
After checking out the outside of the store when you walk into the store, look around and notice where everyone is, what they are doing, what they are wearing, look at the clerk’s behind the counter, what are they doing, are they even behind the counter, if not where are they.
After you train yourself to constantly be aware and take in all the information of your surroundings, in a casual non-conspicuous way, and process it within seconds, to determine the potential threat or lack of, in no time at all, you will be able to effortlessly observe any situation you find yourself in, and in doing so, you will have prevented yourself from walking into potentially dangerous situations, unexpectedly.
Sometimes, I just like to find a place where I can sit and observe people going about there business, you can learn a lot about your surroundings and people’s behavior this way, and when something is not right, you’ll realize it immediately, your instincts will kick in and you’ll focus on what’s not right and react instinctively keeping you and others safe.
Don