Situational awareness is being aware of your physical surroundings, the people around you and your ability to assess and then act if shit goes pear-shaped. You need to train your mind and use your senses to detect anything that is out of the ‘ordinary’.

Keeping yourself, your family, friends and girlfriend safe should be a constant thought in your head. Away from your home environment you lose a certain amount of control as you interact with strangers. Be wary of the wolves of the world. Like a lamb separated from its flock, the bad guys are looking for someone who is vulnerable, an easy target.

Make sure you are always alert and put your smartphone in your pocket when you are walking.

Observe

Always sit with your back to the wall. This position means no one can approach you from behind in a surprise attack and you can observe people as they enter the establishment. You can scan them for abnormal behaviour and potential threats. Keep a calm demeanour and don’t swivel your head as you scan the room or you might invite unwanted attention. If you have no choice and are placed at a table in the middle of the room, take a seat that observes the exits. Make an excuse to go to the toilet to observe the people in the room.

Always know where the exits are and try and position yourself to see them. If something serious goes down you want to get the fuck out of there as quick as possible. Take note of any nearby objects you can use as a weapon if something serious goes down.

What is abnormal behaviour? If it is stinking hot in the middle of summer and a guy enters a service station wearing a thick jacket this should raise a red flag as he might be hiding a weapon. If you are at a fast-food restaurant you expect people to be calm and enjoying their food. If a drunk enters who is looking agitated and trying to make aggressive eye contact this is abnormal behaviour and you need to assess the threat and act.

Assess the threat

Once you have identified a potential threat you need to quickly assess the situation. A guy barging into the restaurant with a sawn-off shotgun will pose more of a threat than an angry drunk. Your action needs to be proportionate to the threat.

Look behind you when you are walking at night. An attacker’s best weapon is the element of surprise. Don’t be afraid to look behind you and give the stranger a good hard stare. This lets them know you aware of their position and ready to react if required. Don’t be afraid to look back again and again if you feel uneasy. The threat is less likely to attack if they know you have spotted them.

Act

Every situation is different but to keep you safe often the best option is to escape or avoid the situation. If someone is following you at night, you might sprint to safety. If an agitated drunk is at the fast food counter walk away until he has got his food. If he becomes a problem staff can call the police.

Avoid potential threats. If you see a large group of boys in the distance you can avoid trouble by changing your route to miss them. Don’t make it look obvious, just confidently take a side-street to avoid them. Carry a torch when walking at night, this allows you to scan for threats, temporarily blind an attacker and use as a weapon if required.

Use your other senses

Scanning the environment with your eyes is the best threat detection but also listen for violent activity or footsteps following you. Smell the alcohol on a person as they approach you, or take note of the smell of smoke or leaking gas in a room. And listen to your gut. If you feel a tense atmosphere get yourself away before it erupts.

Practice

Being situationally aware is a skill and you need to practice it. Test yourself to try and remember details about a room and the people you saw. What colour hair did they have? What clothes were they wearing?

Being situational aware will give you precious seconds to react to a threat and protect yourself and your loved ones.