4 prill 2024
In the professional private security world there are a lot of us former military men and women who have gone through their careers often being proactive, seeking and destroying enemy targets but a large number have often been drilled and trained in being reactive. If there was an IED explosion you're taught to get off the X, form a 360 security perimeter and return fire, tend to the injured and either fight your way out or hold for extraction by taking the fight to the enemy or digging in. It is much the same for a contact on a patrol, you return fire, seek cover, achieve fire superiority and either break contact and withdraw or push forward. These are examples of being reactive and they are not wrong, they have saved mine and numerous other combat veterans lives. The issue is you are at a major disadvantage when the enemy has taken the initiative and strikes first. Think of it this way, who has a better chance of winning a fight, the guy throwing the first punch out of nowhere or the guy being punched out of nowhere? The guy throwing the first punch, right? Now im not saying that the guy being punched can't swing the tables round and win the scrap but it's clear that with enough aggression and violence initiated you can quickly overcome the opposition by "beating the opposition to the punch", no pun intended. Now, what does this have to do with the private security industry? Recently, I've read/listened to a book by Jason A Riley & Patrick Van Horne entitled Left Of Bang and this book has forced me to change the way I and my team think as security professionals and this is what I will share with you now. The aim of the game in the private security industry and especially executive protection is to stay Left Of Bang, the bang being the incident be it an overzealous fan grabbing your principal and knocking them to the floor or something more deadly like a shooter or car bomb, we as professionals do not want to be on the right side of that and dealing with an incident, we need to stay Left Of Bang and preempting these incidents so they never occur. How do we do this? The first thing that I would strongly urge any security professional is to get acquainted with Coopers Colour Code Of Awareness, pictured above. Cooper’s Color Codes of Awareness are divided into 5 possible categories, white, yellow, orange, red and black: Level White, is one that no one should ever be in. If you are in level white, you are not aware at all in what is going on around you. You are totally unprepared in the event someone attacked. sadly the vast majority of our nations are going about their daily lives like this. Level Yellow, is simply being aware of your surroundings but relaxed and not really expecting much to kick off. Level Orange, is a level that a lot of combat vets, former military and even people that come from rougher areas in their town or city are accustomed to. I personally am always on orange and comes part and parcel with being a combat vet. You have determined that there is a possible threat and are prepared to act. Level Red, we are involved in an emergency and our focus is on dealing with that emergency. Besides the event we are engaged in, a secondary danger is that because our focus is so intensely on this event, we may not see other possible dangers approaching, i.e. secondary explosion, friend of attacker or secondary shooter. Level Black, is also a level you don't want to ever be in or experience, you panic, shut down, freeze and do nothing. How does this correlate to security professionals? We need to strive to be aware of who is around you and what is happening at all times, you, your principal and teams chances of staying out of trouble are increased significantly. LEVEL ORANGE IS WHERE YOU NEED TO BE WHEN WORKING! Keeping an eye on things and people that look out of place, not being distracted by pointless targets or the hot waitress or server that is giving you eyes. Being on the ball with your head on a swivel is a lot to process for someone new to this way of thinking but if you are or are striving to be a professional then this is a major part of it. Having a quick draw with your sidearm or being a black belt in BJJ is no good if you're right right of bang, The goal is to stay LEFT OF BANG and to be a predator in whatever environment you are in. This isn't just for executive protection operatives, this is for the door staff at nightclubs, event stewards at football matches and event security at concerts and other live events. Stay WOKE and STAY ORANGE! The goal is to protect the principal, get your team and yourself home safely with zero incidents, PEACE OUT!