Unleashing Your Situational Awareness

Michelle Cummings, Managing Director of Hedge Security Solutions, discusses the importance of situational awareness. She explains that situational awareness involves perceiving and assessing the situation, and then making decisions based on that information. She provides tips on how to increase situational awareness, such as positioning yourself to have a good view of your surroundings and identifying behaviors that don't fit the environment. She also advises being cautious of individuals exhibiting unusual behavior, and emphasizes the importance of not living in fear but taking appropriate precautions. Increasing situational awareness is the best defense for personal safety and security. For more information, visit www.HedgeSecuritySolutions.com. My name is Michelle Cummings. I am the Managing Director of Hedge Security Solutions. I'm here to talk to you today about unleashing your situational awareness. Situational awareness applies to everyone, everywhere, in all situations. We need to be aware of what's going on around us, so we can decide what our next move will be. There are three basic levels to situational awareness. The first we talk about is perception of the situation. This is simply paying attention to what is going on around you. There was a study conducted by the University of Massachusetts that showed that when we walk and text at the same time, we miss over 48% of the visual cues that come our way. The next step in this process is assessing the situation. We have to assess the information that we take in and make sense of it. If we are in our workplace, school, or church, we have to know what the normal baseline behavior is. If there's something that occurs outside of that baseline behavior, we need to pay attention to that. Last, we have to make a decision. Because situational awareness is focused on the future, we perceive and assess what is going on around us in order to anticipate what may happen and then decide how we're going to respond. So let's look at an example. When you enter a restaurant or another location where people gather, make sure that you can see the entrance or the exit, or at least are aware of where they're located. You should place yourself where you can see people coming and going. It's very helpful to seat yourself where you're facing the front entrance. In fact, that's generally what I do myself. You should then identify if there are any danger areas that you should be aware of, such as potential hiding places or ambush points. After you're settled in your seat, you want to establish a baseline for the environment that you're in. This will involve looking at how people are dressed, the general noise level, the activities that are taking place, and or the mood of the people. If you establish what should be deemed normal for that environment, then you can better determine what would be unusual behavior for that environment. When looking for unusual behavior, you want to look for someone who looks out of place or uncomfortable. Are they wearing unusual attire, such as a trench coat in the middle of summer? Are they exhibiting aggressive behavior or are they making odd sudden movements? Can you see the person's hands or does this person have bulges under his or her clothing? Is the individual exhibiting heavy breathing, sweating, or dilated pupils? So in this case, we have to remember that criminals are human too and can have reactions to stress just like we can. Stress can act as a way to make us feel uncomfortable. We begin sweating when it's not hot and pupils can dilate if we're scared or we're nervous. So just remember to look for those things in others. Finally, watch for individuals that you don't know coming towards you to make random small talk or simply to get near you. It's okay to be friendly with other people, but when combined with other unusual behavior, this can be really dangerous. So here are some final thoughts to remember. Always position yourself to maintain a good vantage point so you can see what's going on around you. Identify the behaviors that do not fit the environment. If you detect danger, warn others without drawing attention from the stranger. Move yourself and others to a safe location. But remember, you should not live your life in fear. Being hypervigilant can be worse than having little to no awareness. Just take appropriate precautions when you are not in a known safe location and pay attention to what is going on around you. This will increase your safety and security in any location. Increasing your level of situational awareness is always your best defense. For more information, please check out our website at www.HedgeSecuritySolutions.com.