According to the FBI, in 2020, 73% of violent crime outside the home occurred on streets, sidewalks, convenience stores, gas stations, and parking lots.
How can we improve our awareness, especially in and around vehicles?
I like a particular parking lot protocol, taking a “checklist” approach. Once you have done it enough, you no longer need the checklist, but for the person trying to be more aware, it is helpful to develop specific habits and look for specific things.
When pulling into the parking lot, take a general survey. Is there anything that looks out of place, anything that makes you uncomfortable, or anyone sitting in a car or standing around for no apparent reason? If so, don’t park. Continue driving. Is there another lot or entrance you can use? Is there another time you can make this stop? Is there a security patrol? And does it deter the activity you are concerned about?
If the general survey is good, where do you park? Most people gravitate to the parking closest to the entrance. This is usually better-lit and has more pedestrian traffic. If you can park there, it is usually the most secure. But if it is unavailable, it is better to go to a row where you can put two or three empty spaces between you and the next vehicle. This gives you a little standoff space to see if someone is approaching your vehicle before you get out.
When you park, you want to be able to pull forward from the space when you leave. If it is a double row, you may be able to pull through so your vehicle is pointed out. Otherwise, you need to back into the parking space.
The time you spend sitting in the vehicle is when you are most vulnerable. My casual timing of people in my grocery store parking lot was about 30 seconds before they got out of the car, and about 40 seconds from the time they got in until the vehicle was moving. Our goal is 5 seconds on each.
Once the vehicle is parked, remove your seatbelt with the hand closest to the door, allowing you to look through the rear window, then look to your right side out the window and start a 180-degree scan back to your left. As you open the door and step out, face the rear of the vehicle and continue to finish the 360-degree scan. You get back in your car and drive away if anything dangerous is identified. If you must wait for someone else to exit the vehicle, stand at the bumper instead of between cars. This may give you a better field of view and more room to move if you need to address a concern.
As you start walking towards the entrance, at some point, make a 90-degree turn and cross over to the next row of cars. When you make the 90-degree turn it allows you to casually see if anyone was behind you. You are looking for anyone in the lot who changed their direction of travel to follow or intercept you. Once you cross over to the next row, another 90-degree turn will have you traveling toward the entrance again, and you make the same observations. With a little practice, you can make these turns look natural.
Once you get to the door, take note of anything concerning going on inside the building. It would suck to walk into a robbery in progress or a fight. This is a casual one-to-two-second look. If you are walking with someone else, open the door for them. This becomes an opportunity to casually look behind you while opening the door, and then follow them through.
If you are dining, try to get a table away from the door. Something far enough away to give you time to react if trouble comes in. Where are the bathrooms? The emergency exits? Where is the access to the kitchen? The kitchen usually has a back or side entrance to bring in deliveries, and the fire code often requires a kitchen fire exit.
As you approach the exit of the building, you first do the same general survey you did when you first pulled into the parking lot. Anything out of place, anything that makes you uncomfortable, any loitering? If there is, step back inside. See if the situation changes, raise concerns to security or management personnel, or ask for an escort to your vehicle.
Once you exit the building, don’t walk directly to your car. Walk down an adjacent row of vehicles. Just like on our vehicle exit, we will make two 90-degree turns, each time allowing us to see if we are followed or if anyone changes direction based on our movements.
We should already have our keys in hand when we get to the car. If your vehicle uses a FOB, it should be programmed only to open the driver’s door. If we need more doors opened, we should have the FOB in hand as we approach the vehicle.
We open the door and immediately hit the lock button before we even start to get in. Once our butt hits the seat, we immediately start the vehicle and get it rolling within 5 seconds or less.
Once rolling, you put on your seatbelt with your left hand. We want to use the right hand for driving, and do non-driving tasks with our non-driving hand.
It may seem a little paranoid to do this every time. However, when you are in a situation such as stopping in an unfamiliar area or at night, you must be well-practiced. Additionally, even in broad daylight in a well-known location, you can’t anticipate what may happen when you exit the building. Your quick getaway will be hindered if you do not correctly set up when you arrive.
If you are exiting the building with bags in your hand, try to keep one hand empty and be able to manipulate the keys, FOB, door, or trunk. If you are using a shopping cart, try to position your bags or items to allow them to be transferred to the car quickly.
If you have children, try to make getting in, seatbelts on, and be ready to roll into a game. Try to beat your best time. If you have to put a child in a car seat, you will need to practice looking around first, then smoothly moving the child to the seat. If you put kids in the car and have to move to the rear of the car to put something like a stroller or packages into the trunk, lock the doors while you do so.
While pumping gas, leave all the passenger side doors locked. Criminals open the doors to snatch purses or backpacks. I even saw one video where the criminal crawled through and stole the car while the owner pumped gas.
I was recently asked what to do if you make it to your vehicle and notice the car next to you has a person or people in it that make you concerned. In the example, they had a van parked beside them. My first answer is to go back inside and relay your concerns to security or management or ask for an escort to your vehicle.
However, there may be a situation in which entering your car from the passenger side and locking the doors is appropriate. You could crawl over to the driver’s side and leave. However, in my experience, most people would never even consider this option because they do not want to look foolish or paranoid, they don’t want to hurt someone else’s feelings, and they don’t want to look sexist or racist.
I recently had a client who told me once she started implementing these specific steps in and around vehicles, it made her more aware of threats in other situations. For her, having a good starting point for situational awareness was all she needed to develop the skill further. Start with a few of the habits, then add one or two at a time until they are all second nature and no longer look or feel unnatural.