Tips: How to 'Be Vigilant' in Crowds

“Be vigilant,” President Barack Obama said in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.

“If you see something, say something,” is a national campaign which certainly has been effective at getting into our heads through the years.

But what is it that we’re supposed to be looking for exactly?

Patrick Van Horne relocated here from San Diego a year ago and has since started his firm Active Analysis Consulting out of W@tercooler coworking space in Tarrytown.

Here he applies his military background (he was a behavioral profiling instructor in the Marines) to help train businesses, schools, law enforcement agencies, and security industries in recognizing threats and preventing violence.

This week, the tragedy that came to the “soft target” of the finish line of the Boston Marathon, has left many runners and regular citizens alike anxious about crowds in general and such events in particular.

Van Horne wants to offer the reassurance and power that comes with knowledge, saying that each of us can learn a few easy tips on how to detect potential danger in everyday situations.

It’s not the piece of luggage left behind on the train for instance, or the duffle bag at the marathon we should necessarily be looking for, but the person who left it. “People give off just as many indicators as that piece of luggage,” Van Horne said.

Van Horne said this recent series of public attacks—the Newtown massacre, the Colorado movie theater shooting, the Boston Marathon bombings—are each very unique. While it’s near-impossible to profile a weapon or a killer, what these incidents do have in common, he said, “is there’s a person intending to do harm.”

He teaches what this person intending to do harm might look like, behavior-wise.

Here are three things you could watch for when you’re in a crowd:

Situational Awareness:

A person who is paying attention in a crowd stands out, frankly because no one else is.

“Before someone robs someone on the street, they take a look around and make sure no cops or people are watching,” he said.

Van Horne said those attentive few are either the bad guy or the good guy (the law enforcement) but generally not...you. The “baseline” level of attentiveness in a crowd is zero.

He starts with advising people to move through the world without being glued to their cell phones. (Though he did say, as a man whose concern is stopping crime before it starts, that someone glued to their phone is at least not going to be robbing someone; this person also won’t notice when they get robbed.)

“Being consumed by the phone makes them predictable,” he said.  “They’re not aware of anything.”

An interesting twist with the marathon and the level of everyone’s personal technology attachment these says: Van Horne thought the FBI and local law enforcement in Boston calling out for everyone’s camera and phone footage was unprecedented. “The police kind of crowd-sourcing like this is new to me.”

Being unnecessarily uncomfortable:

Van Horne says a clue into a potentially suspicious person is an unusual anxiety level out of synch with the surroundings. They might be visibly nervous, jittery, “shifty.” This anxiety is our body’s way of generating energy in preparation for a flight/fight response, which perhaps this person is getting ready to do.

Finally,

Showing interest in the wrong things:

“People go to a marathon, school, theater for specific reasons,” Van Horne said. “If you see their attention focused elsewhere, then it's cause for suspicion.” Meaning, if you are in a movie theater, you might be waiting at the concession stand, waiting for your friends, looking for a theater. But if you see someone who seems to be looking at exits, at security cameras, at security guards, than something’s off.

Unfortunately, we are learning that bad things can happen anywhere. But we can't rely on law enforcement to be the only guardians of our safety, Van Horne said. "Police can’t be everywhere, they can’t search everyone," he said, adding that some of the burden is on us. "We do need people to be vigilant. The more aware and observant people can be the better."

Patrick Van Horne is the founder of Active Analysis Consulting (www.activeanalysisconsulting.com), a Tarrytown, New York-based security consulting company that provides behavioral analysis training to the military, law enforcement and private security industries.  He also works with private corporations to prevent workplace violence and schools to prevent school violence. Patrick is a former captain in the U.S.Marine Corps and served as a behavioral profiling instructor in the Combat Hunter program, a training program designed to help Marines recognize threats while deployed overseas.