situational awareness – Page 6

Church Security: Most Church Attacks Occur During Activities Other Than Sunday Morning Worship Services

A three-year study by Concilium Inc. concludes that criminal attacks during church services and in church buildings, not motivated by robbery or theft, are usually foreshadowed by warning signs—erratic behavior, severe mental health symptoms (hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, depression, and suicidal thoughts), a major life stressor, communicated threats, or the harboring of a grievance against a church or member—which are visible to people the assailant knows.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of DE-ESCALATION ]

When these observable warning signs are reported, law enforcement and the potential assailant’s family members, friends, and peripheral contacts stand a good chance of preventing violence.

Self-Defense and Church Security: Breathing and Mental Techniques to Reduce Anxiety

When stress and anxiety take hold during life-threatening criminal or terrorist self-defense and church security encounters, your body can feel like it’s working against you—your heart races, your chest tightens, and your mind starts spinning. But one of the most powerful tools for calming your body and mind is breathing.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Concealed Carry Daily Prayer ]

Spiritual First Aid^™ has created two complimentary resources to help you regain your composure in critical incidents.

1. Breath-Based Grounding Techniques: 3 Evidence-Based Exercises to Reduce Stress and Restore Calm introduces three evidence-based breathing skills to help bring you back to a state of calm and focus:

Box Breathing — a structured method used by Navy SEALs to regulate stress.
Resonance Breathing — a rhythmic pattern to balance the nervous system.
Coherent Breathing — a slow, steady technique that promotes relaxation.

For example, here are the steps in the Box Breathing Pattern:

Practical Situational Awareness Training: Prepare for the Ambush

Situational awareness is often described by suggested methods of observation in color-coded categories of perception: observing surroundings to avoid trouble; locating exits in a room to quickly escape trouble; or achieving advance knowledge of travel routes to change course in the event of sudden trouble.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Jeff Cooper’s Principles of Personal Defense ]

The familiar color-code is White for “totally unaware,” Yellow for “relaxed but aware,” Orange for “potential threat identified,” and Red for “threat verified, engage self-defense action.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Simple Chart for Situational Awareness ]

Professional firearms trainer, author, consultant, and executive director for PersonalDefenseNetwork.com, Rob Pincus, identifies one area that might too often be overlooked; he calls it the “fantasy of situational awareness.”

Organizing, Training & Running a House of Worship Armed Congregant Security Team

Emanuel Kapelsohn The Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network (ACLDN) is a membership organization that helps members in the legal fight after they justifiably use force in self-defense by paying for the services of attorneys, expert witnesses, private investigators, and more. It also educates members in the law governing use of force in self-defense and how armed citizens can protect against unmeritorious prosecution.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Church Security Review: House of Worship Firearms and Use of Force Policy ]

Attorney, court expert witness, and ACLDN Advisory Board member Emanuel Kapelsohn, president of The Peregrine Corporation, and author of the House of Worship Firearms Use of Force Policy Bundle (as a service to SemperVerus readers, Emanuel Kapelsohn is making this computer-fillable formatted policy bundle available at a $25 discount from the regular price. Order the bundle here. Then, on the checkout page, simply type in the discount promo code SEMPERVERUS25.), is interviewed in the ACLDN Journal on the subject of “Organizing, Training & Running a House of Worship Armed Congregant Security Team.” Below are the complete 2-part video interviews, links to the Journal print articles, and bullet points of salient information from the interview: