The color codes of awareness…

I spoke with a friend a few years ago who had moved to a new city. He was telling me about how great the area was and how there was “no crime” there. I challenged him on this point, but he held firm…there is no crime in my town. I decided to do a little investigative work and went to the city’s Police website. There it was for all to see: car thefts, robberies, rapes, burglaries, thefts, juvenile problems, etc…no different than Chico.

I had another similar conversation with a new friend tonight. We were talking about Chico’s SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, and he commented that it didn’t seem that there would be much of a need for a SWAT team in Chico. I understand his sentiments completely, for I used to feel the same way. I explained that Chico is a coin with two sides. I pointed out to him four residences within the immediate area where I knew drug dealers and gang members lived. I knew this because I have dealt with them all. This is not the kind of thing that people usually deal with and therefore usually don’t know about. Completely understandable.

People in general don’t want to know about the horrible things that go on in their city. I guess it makes people feel better, “knowing” that they live in a “safe” neighborhood. I remember my first house. It was in a great neighborhood and I couldn’t be happier. Then I went to the DA’s office and looked on the “Megan’s law” website. I learned that there were four registered sex offenders within a two block radius of my little house. A fifth was later arrested that year for molesting two kids. Great.

A little bit of the shiny veneer wore off my home that day and I looked at the neighborhood a little differently. The questions is this, was I better off for knowing this, or was I worse off? After all, I was a little more uncomfortable and had lost a degree of my sense of security. I personally think I was better off for knowing this. Maybe you disagree. The Chico Police Department has excellent crime analysis information available for public viewing, and will help you understand better the challenges our fair city faces.

Police Officers are blessed with the ability to see things that others often don’t. This is not a magical 6th sense reserved for those with a badge, but a skill that is bred into us from the academy. The concept is taught as the “Color codes of awareness.” Understanding these codes teaches a person how our mindset has everything to do with your personal safety.

These color codes of awareness have four colors to learn, depending on who is teaching it. I use four for simplicity. They are as follows:

WHITE: This is the code that most people spend their day in. People in condition white have very little awareness of the world past the glass in their cars, or the cell phone pressed tightly against their ears (sometimes both). Have you ever driven across town and can’t remember how you got there? This is driving in condition white.

Predators love people in condition white. Criminals have such an easy time because people do “condition white” things, like leaving their car and house doors unlocked, leaving their purses in plain view on the seats of their cars (“Surely, no one would break the window take it”), walking around late really, really drunk at night on bicycle paths alone, and a myriad of other similar activities.

YELLOW: This is the code that most Police Officers spend their time in. This is the code of the safe. People in condition yellow are aware of the world they live in. They experience more in life because they are “awake” to see it. This mindset is a choice. It takes almost no effort but to expand your five senses past the reach of your arms. Imagine a person slumping over in a chair and looking at the ground. Now imagine him sitting up and looking around. He is now aware of his surroundings. This is the difference between conditions white and yellow.

When I enter a room, I usually take a quick visual sweep to see who’s there. I know that my conscious mind may not see any dangers, but my subconscious most likely will. True fear (a life saving emotion, completely different from anxiety and worry) is derived when your sub consciousness picks up on danger indicators. Often times your conscious mind will have no clue what the danger is, but that does not mean it is not there.

RED: This is the code where you have identified a threat (real, perceived, or otherwise). You hopefully identified the threat because you were viewing the world in condition yellow, not because you looked up from your sweet little MP3 player and saw a big unfriendly person glaring at you.

This is the time to take active countermeasures: Walking, running, evading, whilst yelling or blowing a whistle, whatever it takes to get away. I have often been walking in public off-duty and saw someone I’d arrested before, or had previous “professional” contact with. Most often I am able to take another aisle and work myself to the other side of the store. The times where I haven’t been in the proper mindset have gotten me into some fairly uncomfortable situations.

BLACK: This is the code where things have gone bad. The person is assaulting you,
or an assault is imminent. Basically, there are very few rules when it comes to defending one’s safety. There are tools such as pepper spray, personal Tasers®, firearms, defensive key chains, fists, feet, teeth, (you get the picture) to deal with such incidents. Leaving the scene any way possible, before the assault is always the best option, if available.

I believe that the majority of condition black situations can be avoided by exercising the condition yellow mindset. You’ll be able to see it coming, and like G.I. Joe said, “…knowing is half the battle!”

There are some who probably will resist these ideas. In his excellent book, “The Gift of Fear”, Gavin De Becker of “Gavin De Becker & Associates” teaches us about the true nature of fear and its ability to keep us safe. Here are a few quotes to internalize:

“Believing that others will react as we would is the single most dangerous myth of intervention.”

“A woman could offer no greater cooperation to her soon-to-be attacker than to spend her time telling herself, “But he seems like such a nice man.”

“When it comes to survival signals, our minds have already done their best work by the time we try to figure things out. In effect, we’ve reached the finish line and handily won the race before even hearing the starting pistol - if we just listen without debate.”

I won’t quote the whole book, but I whole heartedly recommend Mr. De Becker’s works to anyone. I have suggested this book on several occasions in stalking cases, and other cases where “Mr. Right” turns out to be anything but. I hope that Mr. De Becker doesn’t mind me quoting his work.

I know that as we apply these principles in our daily lives, that we as a community will be a safer and therefore a happier place.

James Dimmitt

* Note: The self-defense topics described in this post do not necessarily reflect the official position of any law enforcement organization.