Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Improving Your Odds


"But I will defend my house against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch." (Zechariah 9:8)

My research for the topic I’m going to talk about today comes primarily from law enforcement.  But believe me when I say that whether you volunteer on a church security team or regularly carry for self-defense, this can be important information for you.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2013, an FBI agent was stabbed during an interview with a triple murder suspect.  The suspect, who was then fatally shot, was reportedly friends with one of the Boston Marathon bombers. 

Early news accounts lay out what happened.  Ibrahim Todashev, 27, was being questioned at his home in Orlando.  The interview was being conducted by the agent and two Massachusetts state troopers.  Several Orlando PD officers were also present with the MA-based LEO's at Todashev’s townhouse.  

Details are still unclear, but early reports indicate that law enforcement officers had been following Todashev since April and that they had a lot of intelligence on the guy.  This wasn’t one of those “unknown risk” field interviews, the troopers and the agent knew a lot about Todashev.  They knew his history of violence.  They knew about his prior arrest for Aggravated Assault.  They knew about his skill set with his hands, and they knew he had used an edged weapon to cut the throats of his three victims. 

While they didn’t know where Todashev retrieved his edged weapon from in this case (on his person, from the kitchen, or off a table), they know he somehow got close enough with it to stab the agent and inflict injuries serious enough to put that agent in the hospital. 

Prior to the late 1980s, being close was always equated with being in control.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  In fact, the closer you are to a suspect, the more dangerous that situation is for you.  One of the most common mistakes made by private security and law enforcement officers was the failure to realize the importance of maintaining adequate distance (the reactionary gap) between them and the suspect being questioned.   

Reactionary gaps are defined as “the minimum amount of space needed to ensure that you can properly react to whatever threat may be presented by a suspect being questioned or detained.”  

The first concept to remember when considering the reactionary gap is the Interview Stance

The Interview Stance was developed to ensure that law enforcement officers performing field or street interviews position themselves close enough to speak to their subjects in a normal voice and be able to hear the subject’s responses, yet far enough away that they don’t become vulnerable to a physical attack posed by certain weapons.  

Here are some numbers to keep in mind:

Firearms Threats:
Generally your safety zone is defined as “line of sight unbroken by cover.” 

Edged Weapons:
A 20-25 foot zone of safety is generally acceptable, depending on the circumstances and the level of your response.  If you have information that the suspect may have skills in edged weapons then that distance could be more.

Impact Weapons:
Bludgeons, pipes, baseball bats, and the like require a minimum reactionary gap of 10-12 feet plus the length of the object — sometimes more, depending on the situation.

Empty Hands:
For most empty-hand situations, you’re going to want at least a 5-6 foot reactionary gap between you and the subject you’re dealing with — maybe more, depending on your prior knowledge of the subject. 

There are no guarantees in this world.  There never are.  Providing security for yourself, your family, or your church is risky business.  Sometimes you need to question people that can turn violent.  But maintaining an adequate reactionary gap during those times can at least stack the odds in your favor. 

Be safe!



I have developed and made available to anyone interested, for FREE, a series of Security & safety forms that can be printed for your use:

1) A Safety & Security Risk Assessment Form
2) Church Security Plan Template
3) Church Emergency Plan Template
4) A General Fire Safety Checklist
5) A Bomb Threat Checklist
6) A Bomb Threat Distance Chart:  Includes various types of explosive devises and to be referred to in an event of a bomb threat evacuation.  These are minimum distances to evacuate away from the area of explosion.
7) Facility Lockdown Checklist
8) Child Protection Covenant Template

These MS Word documents can be adapted as necessary to fit your church size and needs.  I will be adding new forms as time allows.

For a copy of any of these FREE forms, or if you have any questions, you can contact me at:

Integrity Security Consulting

Russ Sharrock

405-762-2471 | integrityseccon@hotmail.com





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