by Gerald L. DeSalvo
In today’s global business environment tens of thousands of employees are regularly traveling outside of their home countries for their organizations. Global business travelers, especially those from countries with effective criminal justice systems and low overall violent crime rates, face a wide variety of unfamiliar risks in many of the foreign countries they visit.
In many cases, they may not be accustomed to living and working in high threat environments with weak police and security services and widespread criminality (much of it very violent). They may also lack detailed information on the nature of the risks present at foreign locations, and may not be familiar with effective techniques to reduce their vulnerability to them.
This article will address the problems mentioned above, and provide some suggestions for preventing security incidents when abroad. It begins with a brief discussion of crime in order to create an informed foundation for a discussion of the main focus of this article – Security Situational Awareness – a key personal safety concept that can help international business travelers reduce their vulnerability when traveling.
Although many of the things discussed in this article have universal protective value, it should be noted that business travelers visiting countries in conflict zones and failed states, will need additional specialized protective strategies to confront the unusually dangerous risks in those environments.
Understanding Crime and Criminals
Before discussing how effective Security Situational Awareness can reduce the risk of violent crime for international business travelers it is necessary to briefly examine some of the factors involved in a violent criminal incident. The Crime Incident Model, discussed below, will be the primary method used to guide the discussion in this article.
What is the Crime Incident Model?
For the purposes of this article the Crime Incident Model (see graphic) considers three general factors that contribute to a criminal incident: a) Place, b) Offender and, c) Target/Victim. The model is taken from a U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) study on Street Robbery, one of the categories of crime of most concern to business travelers. (Monk, K.M., et al. 2010). The three factors of the model are discussed below.
Place
Place in the Crime Incident Model primarily consists of six factors: 1) the location of incidents, 2) the types of incidents, 3) the frequency of incidents, 4) the time incidents occur, 5) the day of the week that incidents occur, and 6) the deterrence factors present at the time of an incident.
Offender
Another factor for consideration in the Crime Incident Model is the Offender. As mentioned earlier, the focus of this article is on violent street crime as the most common dangerous threat for global business travelers . According to the USDOJ robbery study (Monk, et. al, 2010) the tactics used by street robbers can be broken down into four categories: (1) confrontation robberies, (2) blitz robberies, (3) con robberies, and (4) snatch robberies. The authors describe these common street robbery tactics as follows:
Confrontations. The offender demands property or possessions at the moment of contact with the victim. The offender will usually use verbal commands to gain compliance (e.g., “Give me your money”). Violence might follow if the victim does not comply. Criminal frequently displays a firearm or other weapon. (Monk, et.al, 2010)
Blitzes. The offender uses violence first to gain control over the victim (i.e., establish “who is in charge”). The actual robbery occurs after the offender immobilizes the victim. Offender assaults an unsuspecting victim then takes their property. (Monk, et.al, 2010)
Cons. The offender uses a distraction to catch the victim off guard. For example, an offender might ask someone for the time or directions before attacking. Using a legitimate distraction enables the robber to gain contact with the victim without causing alarm. The attack might include two offenders. One distracts the victim while the other assaults the victim from their blind side. (Monk, et.al, 2010)
Snatch-thefts. This tactic occurs very quickly. Nonverbal communication occurs between the offender and the victim before the robbery. The offender typically grabs visible property (e.g., purses and cell phones), then escapes’. snatch-thefts are often combined with pickpocketing in official statistics, making it difficult to determine its true prevalence and incidence. In fact, a snatch-theft might be officially counted only if the victim is injured, even if the robber uses force not resulting in injury. This issue has important implications for problem analysis because crimes identified as “street thefts” are actually street robberies. (Monk, et.al, 2010)
The study authors also discuss the criteria that street robbers use in selecting potential targets/victims. The target/victim criteria that street robbers consider are:
Vulnerable. “Offenders prefer targets they can intimidate, subdue or overpower. For example, senior citizens or those unlikely to report their victimization to the police (e.g., drug users, prostitutes and illegal immigrants) might appear particularly vulnerable. Some targets, however, might be less vulnerable than initially perceived and able to defend themselves from an attack”. (Monk, et.al, 2010). COMMENT: Some criminals might prefer foreign visitors as victims knowing that they are not familiar with the local security environment, criminal tactics, and criminal justice system.
Attractive. “Target attractiveness is in the eye of the robber. Therefore, attractiveness is not universal. Some robbers might be particularly attracted to people carrying a CRAVED item (valuable to criminals). Other robbers, however, might associate attractiveness with less tangible features and prefer attacking people of a particular sex, racial, or ethnic group”. (Monk, et.al, 2010). COMMENT: Criminals might also target foreign business travelers because they are more easily identified by their clothing, lack of knowledge of local culture, inadequate language skills, are from a different ethnic group, are thought to be more susceptible to a street robbery, and are likely to have valuable items on their person.
Lacking awareness. “Street robbers could perceive people who are distracted (e.g., using a cell phone, drunk, and/or unfamiliar with their surroundings) as easier to approach and overpower”. (Monk, et.al, 2010). COMMENT: For example, foreign business travelers who exhibit a lack of Security Situational Awareness.
Uncomplicated. “Offenders probably consider the ease of approaching targets. A potential target seen at a distance is likely less interesting than one nearby. How complex the robber perceives completing the robbery to be depends on the form of attack (confrontation, blitz, con, or snatch-theft) the robber usually uses”. (Monk, et.al, 2010). COMMENT: One goal of Security Situational Awareness is to make the foreign business traveler a more difficult target in the eyes of the criminal, thereby, reducing the traveler’s potential risk.
Escapable. “Offenders probably consider the ease of fleeing from targets. Robbers might altogether avoid targets they believe will chase them or use blitzes to disable them physically. Robbers might care less about escaping when some targets (e.g., senior citizens and drunken people) appear unlikely to chase or resist them. In this case, robbers might use a confrontation, a con or a snatch-theft because they don’t think they have to immobilize the target”. (Monk, et.al, 2010). COMMENT: For example, a popular criminal tactic, in high crime locations overseas, is two criminals riding on a motorbike. One driver and a passenger accomplice (who robs an unsuspecting pedestrian, or a passenger in a vehicle stopped in traffic – with their windows open). The “blitz” or “snatch” type robbery occurs very quickly and use of the motorbike facilitates a rapid departure from the crime scene, even in heavy traffic.
Targets/Victims
When considering the Crime Incident Model crime analysts also study the victim’s relation to the criminal incident. The victim analysis typically looks at why the victim was at the crime location (especially if it is a “hot spot” for crime), whether there was any relationship between the criminal and victim (e.g., they lived in same neighborhood), whether the victim and criminal were intoxicated at the time of the incident, and reasons why the victim was selected as a target (e.g., obvious lack of Security Situational Awareness).
What is Security Situational Awareness?
Before we begin a discussion of Security Situational Awareness we should define “Situational Awareness”. Situational awareness is a term with a variety of definitions. In the mid-1980s and 90s, it was a concept utilized in scientific studies of the human factors in performance, primarily in the aviation safety field. Over the years since it has taken on relevancy in such areas as occupational and workplace safety, military combat readiness/effectiveness, and fire and police officer safety.
Situational Awareness
One of the early definitions of “situational awareness” is:
“Situational awareness is the conscious dynamic reflection on the situation by an individual. It provides dynamic orientation to the situation, the opportunity to reflect not only the past, present and future, but the potential features of the situation. The dynamic reflection contains logical-conceptual, imaginative, conscious and unconscious components which enables individuals to develop mental models of external events”. (Bedny, G. and Meister, D.,1999)
Security Situational Awareness
For the purposes of this article, Security Situational Awareness is defined by this author as,
“An individual’s awareness of the factors involved in the Crime Incident Model and their role in a potential security incident, and as a result of this knowledge, the individual’s level of informed and conscious behavior taken to minimize their risk to potential incidents and better respond to them if they occur”.
How Does an International Business Traveler Develop Effective Security Situational Awareness?
This article proposes a Three-Phase Approach for developing Security Situational Awareness. The three phases are discussed below:
Security Situational Awareness – Pre-Travel Phase
Using the Crime Incident Model, Place factor as a guide, you should try to learn where the crime “hotspots” are in areas you are planning to visit, what types of crime are prevalent in these areas, what times of the day are most risky for visitors, what days of the week are of most concern, and what level of police and security presence exists in the areas to be visited. Reasonable knowledge of this “Place” information is a foundation for effective Security Situational Awareness as it provides a basic understanding and local context for the risks a traveler might face.
Using the Crime Incident Model, Offender factor as a guide, you should try to learn as much information, as possible, about the tactics utilized by local criminals in the areas you are planning to visit. For example, if criminals are robbing visitors at ATMs or currency exchange offices, how are they doing it? Are they assaulting them immediately after they leave or following them to another location? Are they acting alone or with an accomplice that “cases” potential victims in the currency exchange or bank? Are they displaying a firearm? Do they generally shoot victims who resist or flee without injuring them?
Another common foreign crime (where knowledge of Offender tactics would be very helpful) is “Gypsy” taxi robberies. How do you tell a “Gypsy” taxi from a legitimate taxi? How do they carry out a “Gypsy” taxi robbery? Do they drive to an isolated area where accomplices rob the passenger(s) or does the driver act alone? Do they normally use firearms in the robberies or some other weapon/method? Do they injure victims who resist, etc.?
Knowledge of common Offender tactics in an unfamiliar overseas location one is planning to visit is vital in developing effective Security Situational Awareness.
Some Pre-Travel Security Situational Awareness Information Resources
Listed below are some information resources that can help an international business traveler obtain important Pre-Travel threat information:
a) Information provided by your sponsoring organization’s Travel Security Program (if available) and as much Pre-Travel security related information you can obtain from local co-workers, hosts, and sponsors.
b) The United Kingdom, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK/FCO) Travel Advisories: Link.
c) U.S. Department of State, Travel Advisories: Link.
d) Government of Canada, Travel Advisories: Link.
e) U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook. (Country Brief) Link.
Security Situational Awareness – Mindset Phase
In this next stage the international business traveler should mentally review their level of Security Situational Awareness (“street smarts”) before traveling. One method for doing so would be to review self-defense expert Jeff Cooper’s (Cooper, 2006) concept of self-protection awareness described below.
Cooper’s Four States of Awareness
One of the first things that an international business traveler can do to protect themselves from a serious criminal incident overseas is to increase their overall attention to their surroundings when in an unfamiliar location or circumstances in a foreign country. A good method to do this is by using a method proposed by author and self-protection expert Jeff Cooper (Cooper, 2006). Cooper pointed out that it was impossible to continuously maintain a mindset of imminent attack over sustained periods of time, in normal circumstances (non-combat), and proposed a four-state process (that he color coded) of adjusting one’s state of alertness depending on circumstances. Cooper described his process as follows:
White Awareness State
This is the lowest and more relaxed level of a person’s awareness of what is going on around them. In this state of awareness an individual is not alert for possible danger and not prepared to respond to an imminent threat to their wellbeing. Individuals who are sleeping, fatigued, intoxicated, day dreaming, distracted by mobile devices, or in a location where they feel very safe – would typically fall into this category.
Yellow Awareness State
In this state of awareness, the individual is more alert to their surroundings and what is going on around them. They are alert for suspicious behavior that might indicate a threat from nearby individuals, vehicles and activity taking place in their surroundings. In this state you are also thinking about how to respond to a threat should it occur. REMEMBER: Pre-travel knowledge of the local security threats, to include, crime “hot spots”, popular criminal tactics and common-sense security precautions for foreign visitors – will all help you identify suspicious behavior and to minimize your vulnerability. It will also help you to develop mental models of how to respond to the most likely threat scenarios in the foreign locations you are planning to visit. This is the awareness state international business travelers should remain in when overseas, especially in locations with high crime rates.
Orange Awareness State
In this state of awareness, the individual is in a heightened state of alert due to a possible threat in their environment. For example, a personacting suspiciously on the street near them, or a vehicle with darkened windows that appears to be following them as they walk slowly down a street. In such situations, a person with good Security Situational Awareness would take steps to address the threat by putting distance between themselves and the perceived threat and/or by attempting to get to a nearby safe-haven.
Red Awareness State
This is the highest state of awareness and alertness and comes to play when an attack on an individual’s personal safety is underway. In this state the target/victim takes appropriate self-defense actions to defend themselves from the criminal act(s) directed against them.
Security Situational Awareness – International Travel Phase
During this last phase the international business traveler uses the pre-travel security information that they have collected to inform themselves of the security and crime risks that are present in areas they are visiting. Armed with this information they then mentally prepare themselves for the trip by reviewing Cooper’s four-state levels of personal security awareness. Upon arrival at their destination, they practice effective Security Situational Awareness, as follows:
a) Always maintain good Security Situational Awareness (At a minimum, Yellow state of awareness) when overseas and especially when on the street. Use the Crime Incident Model information you gathered before your travel to increase your knowledge of local criminal tactics. If you come into contact with suspicious persons and vehicles put distance between yourself and them as quickly as possible. If necessary, get to a nearby safe-haven such as a police or fire station, hospital, open government building, or busy business location and call for help. Also avoid crime “hot spots” and risky locations.
b) In high crime areas overseas be especially alert for criminal surveillance of such places as: ATM locations, currency exchange offices (Casas de Cambio), banks, luxury hotels, and expensive restaurants. Armed robbers frequently watch these locations overseas for potential targets. On many occasions they work with accomplices who discretely follow a potential target into the location to determine if they have large amounts of cash on them when they depart. ( Link. For additional information on Surveillance Detection and Avoidance).
c) Always keep a low profile and avoid ostentatious displays of wealth. Do not bring or wear expensive jewelry, watches, or display large sums of cash when overseas, especially in high crime areas. Be discreet. Try not to attract attention to yourself.
d) Do not leave valuables such as cell phones, purses, cameras, and laptops, unattended in hotel lobbies, restaurants, vehicles, nightclubs, or at the beach.
e) When you arrive at your overseas location ask your local coworkers and/or hotel concierge what high crime “hot spot” areas to avoid in the cities/areas where you are visiting. Avoid marginal communities where violent crime is high, rural or isolated areas where there is little police presence, and areas of a city where street prostitution and drug sales are highly visible.
f) Avoid adult entertainment establishments such as strip clubs, massage parlors, and bordellos. These are typically run by organized crime members and patrons are routinely overcharged, robbed, drugged and assaulted in these locations.
g) Avoid dark, poorly lit, desolate and isolated areas at night. Once again, ask local coworkers about areas of the city/country you should avoid or be especially cautious.
h) Avoid using public buses and “gypsy” or unmarked taxis. Only use your business provided vehicle and driver, registered taxis or hotel vehicles, if possible. Ask your local coworkers and hotel how to arrange for these services. Make sure to keep all vehicle doors locked and windows up, especially in heavy traffic.
Conclusion
As previously mentioned in this article, with the rise of globalization tens of thousands of business travelers are being required to conduct business in a broad variety of countries with different crime and security threats. Many of these travelers will be unfamiliar with the serious threats from violent crime they might face, and the actions they should be taking, both before traveling and while in high threat environments.
This article attempted to provide them with a basic understanding of criminal behavior by using a Crime Incident Model for reference. It then discussed the importance of practicing effective Security Situational Awareness by using a Three-Phase Approach when planning international travel to, and while in, high risk overseas locations. Hopefully, the guidance will prove helpful for international business travelers.
Author: Gerald L. DeSalvo is the Managing Director of WGSG. He has more than 40 years of international security management, law enforcement and military intelligence experience. He has lived and worked overseas for 15 years, including 10+ years in Latin America.
Copyright (c) 2018. All rights reserved.
References:
Bedny, G. and Meister, D. (1999). Theory of Activity and Situation Awareness. International Journal of Cognitive Ergonomics, 63-72.
Cooper, J. (2006). Principles of Personal Defense. Paladin Press, Revised Addition
Monk, K.M., Heinonen, J.A., Eck, J.E. (2010). Street Robbery. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington D.C.
Disclaimer: The Wellington Global Security Group is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of information contained in this website. All information in this site is provided “as is”, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information. Any action you take based on the contents of this website is strictly “at your own risk”.