In times of civil unrest, people often feel like they ought to do something. Trouble is, they don’t have any idea of what would be beneficial or even well advised. And troubled times are not the best times to make big mistakes. Here are some ideas to think about and develop your own personal plans and response.
I would begin by having a family meeting to discuss the situation and to develop ideas for dealing with it safely. And I would suggest that the first order of business is to emphasize the importance of establishing increased awareness (Condition Yellow). With a heightened awareness we might choose to cancel our trip to a large public event. If we have to go out, we might make sure that there are at least two of us on each trip to multiply the ability to observe our surroundings. And this is especially a good idea if the partners have done some practice and training as a defensive team. And we make sure that everyone has their cell phone in order to maintain communications.
The suggestion to shelter in place is a good idea, especially if that place is your home. No one knows your home as well as you do and no one else knows the defensive potential of that home as well as you do. In addition, if things were to get really bad, you have a ready-made location to stockpile food and defensive equipment. Keep in mind that, in most cases, the defender has the advantage over any attackers. Give some thought to how you can harden that target.
In some cases, you might even consider communicating with your neighbors with a thought to mutual assistance. I know of one group of country folks who have established a neighborhood email group to share information of mutual interest and concern. It helps you establish a plan for how you can legitimately help each other.
Finally, I would not go out with a thought to helping law enforcement unless law enforcement specifically asked me to. It is simply too easy to become part of the problem instead of the solution. Often times, the best help that we can give law enforcement is to just be a good witness or simply stay out of their way. It is far easier to tell the good guys from the bad guys when the good guys just aren’t there.
In short, when there are problems in your community, it is time to increase your awareness, do some planning, and stay out of the way of our officials who are sworn to deal with such things.
