#1 Way NOT to Become a Target on the Street | Condition YELLOW

personal-secuirty-on-the-street

I’ve posted a number of articles on the subject of personal security and situational awareness in the past. This brief article reinforces how sensibly easy it can be to avoid becoming a target – a victim – while on ‘the streets’, out in public.

While there are exceptions to most everything, this particular advice will likely provide a very high probability of NOT being a target while out and about on the streets or public places…

Condition YELLOW

The word is,

YELLOW!

Stay in the yellow.

What do I mean by that?
I’ll briefly summarize a previous article which explained the ‘Cooper Color Codes’…varying conditions of readiness…

WHITE = Oblivious, Unaware and Unprepared

YELLOW = Relaxed Alert, Attentive, Aware, and Ready

ORANGE = Specific Alert, Focus is directed at a potential threat

RED = Fight

The fact is that most everyone walks around in condition White. I mean almost everyone! These people feel that they are “SAFELY NESTED IN THEIR BUBBLE OF BLISSFUL IGNORANCE” as they go from one place to another (said one commenter here on MSB awhile ago).

Their heads are in their smart phones. Their thoughts and minds are in la-la-land as they text, socialize, tweet, or daydream, INSTEAD of being acutely aware of their immediate environment.

They are easy targets!

If you simply remain in condition Yellow – aware of the situation and environment around you – you will NOT be an easy target!

How’s that? Because the predators (if there are any) WILL notice. And move on.

Your eyes looking forward, around, attentive, alert. Your hands are free. You’re walking confidently. Any potential criminal / predator will look elsewhere for an easier target.

They (the criminal element) generally recognize ‘condition yellow’, and they certainly recognize ‘condition white’ (the easy target)!

So, next time you’re out on the streets, just think of this one word: YELLOW.

Mrs.J and I will catch each other now and then while out and about, and will say to the other, “yellow”, if we think that the other has drifted out of the yellow ;) …

(I catch her more often than she catches me though!)

Conclusion: Once you’ve trained yourself to be ‘situation-aware’, especially while out in public, on the streets, etc., it’s easy to stay in the yellow and to stay out of the target zone…

Continue reading: Human Zombies Unaware of the Real World

21 Comments

      1. +25. The last thing you want is for something to spook a crowd (eg, gunfire) and you get jostled or trampled in the stampede for cover. Crowds also make it difficult to spot a potential predator. When it comes to crowds the rule is: stay gray and stay away.

  1. Yes stay away from crowds, but when out and about in nature stay also in the Yellow condition. Watch out fur dem hogs, gators, snakes, n’ Democraps.!

  2. I find that the best way to stay alert is always to be looking who is concealed carrying and if they are between you and the exit. It is like hunting for Easter eggs and isn’t as exhausting as always being “yeller” because it is fun.

    1. Half the time I can tell just because they sit and move like they’re swaggering. “I’m bigger than you are because of this thing on my hip. Yeah, this thing you’re not supposed to see. See? This lumpy thing, right here. You don’t see it? Let me swagger some more so you can see.”

    2. Through specific training I’ve received over the years from a couple of the alphabet groups (LEO based), I learned SO many tells as to who is carrying. And then in real life experience on the job for many years, I saw exactly what we were taught, over and over again. Now, for me, it’s so easy it’s a joke lol. I can’t turn it off or forget it in fact. I am subconsciously looking for those obvious signs, non stop. With that said, here is the most obvious “tell” that someone is carrying concealed. 90%+ of those carrying concealed WILL continually touch the gun through their clothes. Each time they change positions significantly, they will. If walking, they will do so 2 or 3 times in a 5 minute timeframe. If standing dead still, they will atleast once every 5 minutes. Just watch, you’ll see lol. It’s kind of a “make sure it’s there” kind of movement/touch, or it’s a clothes adjustment to make sure it’s still concealed or lastly it may have shifted slightly and they want to adjust it. But more often than not, it’s a subconscious check to make sure it’s still there. Just watch, its hilarious once you know. There are MANY other signs, like the suspect having a slight lean toward the gun side, as if their mind is telling them the gun is pulling that side down. Or watch the arms as they walk. Gun side arm will swing out slightly as if it needs to go around the concealed weapon. But the main one will always be the “touch”, as described above. I hope this info is helpful to someone, somewhere. Watch your six during this pandemic. Consider one or two trusted neighbors, ones who have also prepared on their OWN, to become a 3 home self defense team with you. Secure SEVERAL sets of 2 way radios for each of the three homes, back ups to the backups. When you have enemies approaching your home, use the 2 way radios and let the perps be the surprised ones by your teammates. And if your teammates have teenagers in their home, urge those “teammates” to NOT tell their kids about the radios and security agreements that have been made… at least until it’s time to pull the cord and Bug In. Because kids talk, they just do, and that could be bad for ALL. Take care all. STAY in YELLOW OR HIGHER through the entire event.. you can rest later.

  3. Headphones, hoods, and anything else which blinds a key sense are also signals to attackers, because they make you easier to sneak up on. Even if you avoid these there will always be people you don’t notice. You can further increase situational awareness by traveling in a group (more eyes).

  4. DW was giving me a hard time because I didn’t notice when someone got up and left a family function. I knew everyone at this gathering. Kids were running and playing. At least 4 maybe 5 or 6 of us were armed. I was relaxed but alert and there were no threats around. Maybe a light yellow condition. I also have a dark yellow when traveling. I’m on high alert even if there is no threat detected because I know I will be seen as a tourist.

    1. car guy…sadly…Am with wife on this…
      Have heard this statistic many times…

      “You’re more likely to be killed by someone you know than by a stranger”

      it is not always a “purposeful” act of violence. Sometimes it is accidental. but…..

  5. “Since 1950, 94 percent of mass public shootings in the United States have taken place in gun-free zones, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center.”

    Enough said, I get it.

  6. I am currently training my young ones on situational awareness by turning it into a game.

    When we travel on the road I make them count people talking on the cell phone, people texting while driving, how many motorcycles, bicycles, scooters they see on the road ( this will be good for when they are old enough to drive to subconsciously spot potential issues on the road)
    It is a work in progress…

    Also when we go on 2 mile forced road marches once a month. I am always calling out I spy for odd and unusual things also people standing inside a garage car in drive with engine running stuff like that. Ken gave me the ground work for this idea to train them young while reading another situational awareness article..

    Even if you are over the hill and have grand kids you can take them out and practice with an I spy game while walking.

  7. Here’s a question–how many of the people in that picture are aware they’re being filmed? I count three.

    1. Lauren, I only see a few too. But everyone in that picture including whoever took the picture is being filmed. If you go into any metro area you are filmed. If you drive into most small cities (5000+) you are being filmed. If you drive down any interstate, toll road, or major US highway you are being filmed. It would shock most people to know how much they are being recorded on video.

  8. – Driving around, I occasionally see people carrying (nothing like the print of a big ol’ .45 in someone’s coat pocket down in the red light district) { For that matter, do you know where the red light district is?} Thankfully, I no longer live where that is an issue! I would have to agree, it’s more fun than trying to remember to stay in the yellow. I hadn’t thought to compare it to Easter Eggs, but yes, it is exactly like that.
    – Papa S.

  9. I just visited Walmart, was in condition White, then, due to clues (people in my proximity) went immediately to condition Yellow, great post, Only You, can prevent, Forest Fires!

  10. It is true that the elderly, because of their perceived weakness, are more targeted.
    Being now a ‘Senior Citizen’, I have been confronted 3 times in the past few years, from which I hastely retreated. Now, taking the Israeli mantra, “Sheep No More”, I ALWAYS have readily accessible in my pocket, a Box Cutter, for effective slashing at extended arms. No more retreating for me. I have become extremely situation aware.

    1. Retreating is still the best solution. Having to cut or shoot someone should ALWAYS be a last resort.

  11. ok i have a kind of off the wall question do we have any aussies that go to this site reason i ask that is they having REALLY SERIOUS wild fire problems

    1. You should take this over to the Open Forum for off-topic conversation. Thanks

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