Home Safe

Situations To Think About

Plan A:

In our own home, apartment, etc…, most people, I believe, would have an escape plan if a fire or other catastrophic event were to occur. Know what escape route they would take, by way of window, door or, some other way out of their homes. Some of that plan instinct, some of it by way of split second decisions to safety. The main idea is to get to safety, escape an imminent situation.

Plan B:

Suppose the situation were to be reversed, you might not be able to get out to safety. In this scenario, lets say someone has made a forced entry into your home and getting out might not be the first available strategy. This might be a good time, before this would ever happen, to take a good look at a strategy if you ever find yourself having to stand your ground in your home.
Look at your home in an objective sense, and identify scenarios if someone were to enter. Within our homes, exist tactical advantage points, strategic locations that would offer tactical advantage against an unfortunate intruder. Advantage points would offer tactical access to an intruder, such that intruder encroachment is kept to a minimum.

Example A:

Say you live in a two story home, sleep upstairs, and an intruder makes forced entry while sleeping and you are awakened from noise. You remain calm and quiet, listen for directional sounds to understand where in the home an intruder might be. At the same time, ready yourself for engagement. You might establish that an advantage point would be somewhere at the top of the steps, not in plain view or clear access by an intruder but, in a location that would offer the home owner an advantage if the intruder were to attempt access to the upstairs area.

Example B:

Say you have been out, returned home, and you are aware someone has made entry to your home, and is still in the home, as they were not able to escape as you returned home. At this point, consider the intruder has tactical advantage. There are many ways this could proceed, and it is critical that this situation proceed in a calculated manner.
Attempt to understand where the intruder is. Listen for noise and movement, keep aware of shadows, creaking floors, attributes that broadcast an intruders presence. Keeping alert to this would aid in closing down an intruders operational space, should you decide to accept an engagement, and are prepared for interaction. Say the intruder is hidden in an upstairs bedroom, the door is closed that would normally be open. You know this as you have identified noise and movement within the room, behind the closed door. You don’t exactly know where in the room the intruder is however, for some reason they left the light on and you can see shadow movement under the door. You know where the light source is in the room and you see the direction cast by shadows under the door. You have no idea if the intruder is armed but, must assume they were, I would.
How do you engage this individual? Should you decide to verbally engage, keep commands short and direct, simple, forceful yet, maintaining a position away from an intruder assault pathway, not broadcasting your location. Remember, the intruder might be trying to figure out your location outside the room. Your objective is to extract the individual in a manner that minimizes immanent danger to yourself.
There is not one conclusive way to extract or method to gain tactical advantage over an individual in this situation, other than have a calculated understanding of the intruders operational area within the room. Rushing the room would probably not be the best method since opening the door opens you to a forced engagement, where the intruder only has to watch the door open and react. You do not want to have to make a blind entry, which is basically what you do the second you open the door, until you can quickly assess the situation, and react, all this occurring in split seconds. That is a lot to think about, under pressure, adrenalin rushing, elevated heart rate, and excitement.

Summary:

As only very basic and over simplified examples, the idea is to think about different scenario types within your immediate environment, be it home, shopping mall, restaurant, etc…. Create situation based scenarios in mind and think through them as if they were real time, think through how to react. Law Enforcement, Fire Departments, Emergency Preparedness Agencies, Red Cross, all regularly do practice drills for this very reason, to practice situation based scenarios.

Simply stated, be ready before you have to be ready. By all means necessary, get law enforcement involved if you have the opportunity to do so. They are trained in tactical initiatives to deescalate situations. Be part of the resolution, not a victim.

Do not take the law into your own hands; Do not try to be the hero, get law enforcement involved where and when you can.