In the world of personal safety, professionals speak of the color code system, Implemented by the Grand Guru of Gun Fighters, Col. Jeff Cooper, that represents a state of awareness of someone as they go about their business. Originally developed for the military in World War II, it is now used by the Department of Homeland Security to indicate the level of threats from terrorists. The color codes are White, Yellow, Orange, and Red. There are variations, but this is the most commonly referred to code.

Almost certainly, you have heard of someone, usually a jogger, who while outside wearing headphones, steps in front of a moving car to receive terrible, or even fatal, injuries. Amongst the street smarts gurus, this is known as being in Condition White. When you are totally oblivious to the world around you, you are living in living in this condition, and if you stop and look, you’ll see that this is the most common condition in the world. We like to be isolated from each other, it helps us deal with the overwhelming crowding in we all feel at times. For exercise buffs, listening to music or talk radio helps pass the time, allowing them to “zone out” while exercising. However, headphones eliminate one of your senses you can use to detect threats in the world around you. Lions or crocodiles stalk and surprise their prey, in a quick rush of violence they take their victim down using surprise. This is why they are referred to as ambush predators. Human predators are ambush predators well. They want the biggest return (money) for the least amount of effort expended. Obviously, someone who is zoning out will be much easier to ambush than someone paying attention.

When you were a little tyke, you were trained in how to cross the street. You look both way and then you walk. Later, when you got your driver license, you learned the proper way to make a right turn onto a street was to look left, right, left. This is an example of being in Condition Yellow. Some people might mistake Condition Yellow for paranoia, but that is far from the case. It is simply paying attention to what’s going on around you. It is the most important condition of them all for as street fighter turned author Marc MacYoung states so profoundly, “Awareness is self defense. Everything else is just details.”  The body language of their victims plays an important roll in the criminal’s decision making process. People who are aware are much harder to surprise and thus much harder to ambush. Remember, criminals tend to be ambush predators. Even if you are armed to your eyeballs, if you are taken by surprise, then you lose, probably. Like crossing the street, there are some habits you and skills you can develop that will go a long way in helping you to maintain your personal safety.

1. Look behind you when you exit a store, especially if you have a large amount of cash on you or you have just purchased a high ticket item like a video game console. Someone may have noticed you flashing your cash or they want something they can pawn quickly for drug money. You should be especially wary during the holiday shopping season.

2. Look for two, maybe more, people whose group breaks up to start a circling motion. Think of a pride of lions stalking a wildebeest herd, it’s the same for human pack predators. Let say you just bought the above mentioned video game and you’re leaving the store with a wallet full of cash. You glance behind you as start to exit the store and notice two men staring at you. You exit the store and begin walking toward your car. The two men follow, but one of them moves to walk down the other side of the line of parked cars while the other follows on your side. This is a classic circling movement where the bad guys are going to try and get you from both sides when you have to pause to get in your car.

3. Be wary of people who match your progress. This is called stalking. A predator cannot attack unless he is in a position to do so. Speed up or slow down to see if someone is matching your speed. If you feel you are being followed in a car, then make three left turns or better yet drive to a police station. You don’t have to necessarily go in and talk to the police, but it should scare off the people who you felt were following you. If you are sure someone was following you, go ahead and talk to the police about the suspicious activity and give them the best descriptions of the people and the vehicle that you can.

4. Look for people who aren’t going with the flow but are staying stationary and watching the people go by like the lion watches herds of prey animals looking for the weakest to hunt. This is a harder situation to read. A lot of folks like to people watch, especially if they are bored and are being drug around by a significant other during a shop-fest. But combined with the behavior listed above, that is matching your speed, you get a red flag situation.

5. Another red flag is when someone impedes your forward motion. Let’s say you’re walking down the street, and someone steps in front of you and asks you what time it is. I get this a lot from homeless people begging for change. My preferred action is to step back and turn sideways to them and look for someone coming up behind me. Remember the circling movement mentioned in the second paragraph? The person who impeded you might be working with someone else.

These are five habits that are very unobtrusive that can, if learned, help keep you safe by spotting criminal behaviors.

Condition Orange refers to state of mind that you have when something actively attracts your interest and you perceive it as being possible dangerous or at least highly abnormal. An example of this would be hearing the sound of a window breaking as your lying in bed about to fall asleep. Something is wrong, but you haven’t identified the actual threat. Dealing with Condition Orange effectively requires skills, knowledge, and training you’ll need to receive from a professional trainer. It’s not rocket science, but it’s definitely a learned skill.

Condition Red is the state of mind that exists when you’ve actually identified the threat. Continuing with the example in given above, you hear a window break and you get up to investigate to find a man in a ski mask has entered your house. Again, how you handle this depends on your training, but also on your personal beliefs and feelings toward violence. No one can make and no one will accept the responsibility for your decisions or actions.

I hope you have learned some useful things in this article, and I hope you decide to put them into use. Please understand, I’ve only scratched the surface on personal safety in this article. Do some research and find reputable professionals who can expand on what has been written here and who can help train you in case the worst should happen.