The Practice Section

Identifying The Criteria For An Anchor Point

November 10, 2017 in Assessing The Environment

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In today’s exercise, you will be practicing and developing your ability to identify anchor points in an airport setting.

The Workout

  • Answer the following questions as you observe one layer of an anchor point’s defenses:
    • What is the specific anchor point being defended?
    • What is the buffer zone that exists around the anchor point? (Only consider what is visible in the video)
    • What are the security measures put in place by the airline to ensure that only ticketed passengers board the plane and what purpose do they likely serve?
  • Write your answers on a sheet of paper before viewing our answers

[expand title=”View Our Answers”]

  • What is the specific anchor point being defended?
    • The airplane
  • What is the buffer zone that exists around the anchor point visible in the video?
    • The gate entrance, which connects to the plane through the jetway.  This gives some stand off from the anchor point itself (the plane) to ensure that only ticketed passengers board (as opposed to checking the ticket at the door to the plane).
  • What are the security measures put in place by the airline to ensure that only ticketed passengers board the plane and what purpose do they likely serve?
    • The sign with the flight number in front of the attendant’s stand.  This is likely designed to make it clear which flight was boarding at this gate and minimize the number of people who don’t meet the criteria for entry (having a ticket for that specific flight) yet try to enter the anchor point.  A filtering mechanism to reduce the number of false positives – as opposed to a person who is intentionally trying to board the plane without the appropriate ticket.
    • An immovable barrier to the attendant’s left (right side of the screen) to prevent people from boarding and not getting their ticket scanned.  This is likely put in place to cover the attendant’s blind spot as her field of view is naturally focused in the direction of the line where people are approaching from.  For someone to try and jump over this barrier, it would be a clear indicator (no uncertainty) that the person was trying to gain unauthorized access.
    • The adjustable/extendable barrier to the right of the attendant’s right (middle-left side of the screen).  This is likely designed to make the choke point more narrow and force passengers to enter the jetway in a single file line and ensure that everyone passes the attendant to have their ticket scanned.  While a person ducking under that barrier, doesn’t offer the same level of certainty that exists with the immovable barrier to the attendant’s left, this barrier is still covered by observation and offers the flexibility to adjust the size of the choke point if needed.
    • The gate attendant herself. Complimented by the technology of the scanner, she is there to ensure that each person entering the jetway has a ticket and that the ticket is for this particular flight.
    • A door behind the gate attendant that can be closed and locks automatically (requiring key card access) for the times when this gate isn’t monitored by an attendant.  This allows for controlled access to the jetway when it isn’t under direct observation.
    • The gate attendant’s directions to line up in boarding groups, this puts all of the passengers into a single area, allowing for observation of the entire group, as well as to make it clear who isn’t going to follow the directions and tries to wait outside of the corrals.
    • The other passengers waiting in line to board the flight. On a SW flight, you will often hear people asking each other “what number are you?” This creates conditions for passengers to assist in the control of the anchor point, by either identifying people who are in the wrong boarding group (us A-List members are very protective of our spot in line), or helping to identify people who are at the wrong gate and trying to board the wrong plane (which, from my experience, happens far too frequently).

Add a comment with the assessments that you made, but that we didn’t make, so that we can check for those assessments and provide feedback on those specific observations.  We will add them to our answers in the post itself for future viewings of the exercise.[/expand]

Enhance The Workout

  • Repeat
    • One of the goals for this exercise was to observe how organizations establish the security around an anchor point, so watch the video again, with the complete list of factors available to you and focus your eyes on that specific assessment until the recognition of the factor feels natural.
    • For assistance, you can review the indicators for anchor points from the cluster cards.
  • Reflect
    • Take a moment to think about each of the behaviors you noted in your original assessment and which factors you missed. Why do you think you missed and made each of them?
    • Was it a factor of not knowing what to look for or was it the result of natural habits you have that guide where and what you look for?
    • If it was habits, think about deliberately compensating for the areas you didn’t consider looking so that you can develop your ability to identify all of the factors present.
  • Act
    • The video in today’s exercise is shot at a Southwest Airlines gate in Newark Airport as the “A” Boarding Group makes their way down the jetway, but the factors that they use to establish an anchor point are ones that you can observe in other settings.
    • Go to a nearby grocery store or drug store that has a pharmacy inside of it and repeat this exercise by observing all of the ways that they establish security around the anchor point behind the counter. While some factors will be the same, there will be some differences that are worth noting.
    • When you have completed your observations of the pharmacy, take a moment to reflect about the behavior you were just displaying should someone have been watching you.  Where did you position yourself to observe the security? How long were you there for? How did you try to disguise your intentions? What cluster of behavior were you giving off (think through each portion of your body and consider the body language that you were displaying)?

Related Content:

Making Time Slow Down In The Hasty Search

November 7, 2017 in Baselining


.In today’s exercise, you will be learn how to slow down time while conducting the hasty search.

The Workout

  • This video was used in an earlier exercise and taken on the Pearl Street Mall (an outdoor mall) in Boulder, CO, during the middle of the afternoon on a weekday in the spring. We recommend you do that exercise first.
  • Watch the video 3 times
  • The first time: watch the video titled “Slow Motion” to observe each person that comes into the frame and note each behavior that you observe on them as you assign them to one of the four clusters.
  • The second time: watch the second video, titled “1x Speed,” and make the same assessments about each person in the clip, except this time it is at a normal speed.
  • The third time: watch the third video, titled “2x Speed” and try to note all of the same gestures, postures and expressions that you made in the first two videos at the fast pace.

Slow Motion: 1/2 Speed

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1x Speed

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2x Speed 

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Enhance The Workout
  • Repeat
    • The goal for this exercise was to become comfortable making observations at 2x, so that when observing people at the speed of life (1x), it will appear slower and more controllable than it would otherwise.
    • Repeat as many times as is necessary to make all of the same observations about the people at 2x speed as you can at 1/2 speed.
  • Reflect
    • What factors of the hasty search (both the “other indicators” and the behaviors) are you comfortable making and which are observations that don’t come naturally to you?  List these out.
  • Act
    • Identify an area where you can practice focusing on the elements of the hasty search that you are least comfortable making, and only those indicators, until you can recognize them through effort alone.

Related Content:

Rules of Behavioral Analysis: The Dominant Cluster

November 5, 2017 in Assessing Individuals
  • What the Dominant Cluster is
    • The dominant cluster is one of the four primary assessments used to assess individual people.
    • It reflects the body’s manifestation of the fight response to stresses and threats.
  • The criteria for assigning someone to the dominant cluster:
    • People who are using their body language to make themselves look larger.
    • People who are making territorial displays.
  • Application notes
    • Dominance is not limited to physical confrontation as part of the fight response, but includes the posturing that could be used to make a person back down.
    • Includes bullying, intimidation, and the giving of direction.
  • Indicators listed in Left of Bang that apply to dominance
    • Lower Body
      • Seated: Feet planted on the floor and legs splayed out, taking up space.
      • Seated: Legs crossed and with their hands holding their ankle or lower calf, demonstrating confidence in one’s view.
      • Standing: Legs should-width apart, taking up more space.
    • Torso
      • Seated: Leaning back with hands clasped behind head, taking up more space
      • Standing: Hands on hips in an authoritative way, with their arms akimbo they are taking up more space
      • Standing: Leaning forward in an aggressive manner, attempting to look bigger or intimidate others
      • Standing: Stretching torso and making oneself look taller by standing upright and erect
      • These can be complimented by observing the chin up and thrusting the chest out.
    • Hands and Arms
      • Arms spread out on an object (table, counter, etc.) taking up more space – a territorial display
      • Hands clasped behind back as if judging or evaluating
      • Wrist and palm facing down when shaking hands or greeting
      • Pointing with hands while talking or lecturing
      • Steeple gesture with hands (perceived as intellectual and confident)
    • Other Indicators
      • Maintaining one’s gaze for a longer period of time or not averting one’s own gaze
      • Dominant people can breach another’s intimate proxemic zone
      • Touch other people to demonstrate control
  • Selected research articles, and books that discuss dominant behavior:
  • View Exercises With The Dominant Cluster

Assessing Groups In Emergency Conditions

October 31, 2017 in Assessing Groups

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In today’s exercise, you will be practicing your ability to assess groups of people under conditions that were a “lesson learned” following the 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, CA (see “enhance the workout” section for explanation).

Click the “More” button to view the exercise. Continue reading »

Mapping A Restaurant

October 27, 2017 in Assessing The Environment

In today’s exercise, you will be practice mapping the environment in a restaurant.

The Workout

  • Identify a restaurant that you have been to the past and will go to again in the next week.
  • Sketch a layout of the building. Be as detailed as you can be about what is inside.
  • Once you have a layout of the building and what is inside, identify if the area as a whole is a habitual area or an anchor point.
  • Identify the areas within the building as permanent or temporary anchor points and identify the criteria for access.
  • Once you have your sketch, visit the location
    • Check to see how accurate or inaccurate you were. For example, did you have the correct number of tables? The right number of barstools and booths? What about windows?
    • Add a comment with the types of errors you made (numbers, layouts, windows, etc.)
  • We would love for you to send us your sketches as well – if so, attach a picture or a scan from your phone to training@cp-journal.com

[expand title=”View Our Answers”]

  • My sketch of a nearby brewery is the picture above.
  • I missed 2 tables in the middle of the restaurant and was off by 4 bar stools.
  • I also didn’t account for the windows or where the vantage points were of the parking lot entrance.[/expand]
Enhance The Workout
  • Repeat
    • One of the goals for the exercise was to help you identify what elements of a building you naturally note, and which you don’t, so:
      • Identify a second area where you can practice this skill to see if the things you missed were unique to that particular location or a trend that needs to be corrected.
    • Be very detailed in your notes about where you were right and where you were wrong, and re-draw the areas until your map of the restaurant is accurate.
  • Reflect
    • A second goal for this exercise was to improve your ability to anticipate environments and minimize the amount of uncertainty or unfamiliarity you experience when walking into an area.
    • How often do you take a moment to visualize the areas you are about to walk in to? As this act is what forms the first impression of what you expect (the baseline) and will be your point of comparison to everything that is occurring once you enter the area, how detailed are you expectations and how can you improve them?
  • Act
    • Create a system to map the environment that works for you, that allows you to track the various anchor points, natural lines of drift and observation points.

Related Content:

Conduct A Hasty Search In An Outdoor Mall

October 24, 2017 in Baselining

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In today’s exercise, you will be practicing how to conduct a hasty search in an outdoor mall while establishing a baseline and looking for anomalies.

The Workout

  • As you watch the video, immediately conduct a hasty search of the area to establish an initial baseline and evaluate each person as being part of the baseline or an anomaly worth investigating.
  • Be able to articulate why your baseline was what you determined it to be and why anyone identified stood out from the baseline.
  • If you identify anyone, determine what you would do about the situation.
  • Write your answers on a sheet of paper before viewing our answers

View Our Answers

  • The baseline:
    • The area has positive atmospherics.
    • The area is clean (the delivery guy is concerned about having a mess in the walkway), the noise level is conversation (not confrontational and there is music playing), and orderly as people are walking at a relaxed pace and staying to the right side of the walkways.
    • I confirm that the baseline is positive atmospherics by assessing that most people are displaying the comfortable cluster of behavior.
  • The anomalies:
    • Because the baseline is positive atmospherics, I am searching for high intensity dominance and high intensity discomfort as anomalies.
    • The only display of anomalous behavior that I identify is the man that is observed on the left side of the frame at around the 0:30 point displaying dominance.
    • It is the man at the water fountain wearing a yellow tee-shirt, with a red long-sleeved shirt underneath, wearing the yellow or tan baseball hat.
    • His display of dominance is assessed as his left foot drops back into a fighting stance, as his elbows spread out and as his hands move into a knife hand/karate chop motion.
  • The decision
    • As this display of dominance is only directed at the water coming out of the drinking fountain, I assessed the person as not being a threat, despite the display of dominance.
    • The display of dominance, despite being outside of the baseline, was a false positive and no action was required.
  • Follow Up:
    • Add a comment with the assessments that you made, but that we didn’t make, so that we can check for those assessments and provide feedback on those specific observations.  We will add them to our answers in the post itself for future viewings of the exercise.
 Enhance The Workout
  • Repeat
    • Note the assessments that we made that you didn’t make, and re-watch the video to build your file folder for that specific behavior.
    • The goals for this exercise were to allow you to practice the steps that go into the hasty search and to make the search for anomalies within the baseline established through a hasty search more intuitive through repetition.
    • Repeat as often as needed to become comfortable with each step of the hasty search.
  • Reflect
    • What was easy for you and what was difficult in this exercise?  What did you do correctly and where do you need to improve?
    • Write these down to see progress made over time spent practicing behavioral analysis.
  • Act
    • This video was taken on the Pearl Street Mall (an outdoor mall) in Boulder, CO, during the middle of the afternoon on a weekday in the spring.
    • Identify an area where you can practice this exercise in real time to solidify today’s exercise with personal experience both in your professional life and personal life.
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Personas At The Movie Theater

October 20, 2017 in Baselining

Photo Credit

In today’s exercise, you will be practicing and developing your ability to conduct the deliberate search in a movie theater.

The Workout

  • Using the photo above as something to jog your memory of a movie theater, identify all of the baseline (non-violent) personas present inside of a movie theater and what their purpose/intention is for being there.
  • Write your answers on a sheet of paper before viewing our answers
  • Add a comment with the assessments that you made, but that we didn’t make, so that we can check for those assessments and provide feedback on those specific observations.  We will add them to our answers in the post itself for future viewings of the exercise.

View Our Answers

  1. Movie Goers: People in the theater to attend a scheduled movie showing.
  2. Movie Theater Staff: People there to run the theater’s operations: take tickets, work the concessions stand or clean the theater.
  3. “The Peruser”: The person seeing what movie titles are available and what time shows are, but without having decided what they will watch.
  4. “The Ride”: A person not attending the movie, but waiting near the lobby area for a movie goer once their movie ends.
Enhance The Workout
  • Repeat
    • The goal for this exercise was to improve your ability to conduct mental simulations for places you are about to visit, so for each of the personas you expect to see in a movie theater, go back and picture them doing their jobs.
      • Where are they standing?
      • What are they wearing?
      • What is their behavior like?
  • Reflect
    • Consider any personas that you missed and diagnose why you think you made the error.
    • By conducting a self-driven failure analysis, you can:
      • Identify gaps in your understanding of what types of people make places “work.”
      • Identify if you have natural trends towards rushing through simulations and missing key components through lack of attention.
  • Act
    • Identify a movie theater where you can make this observation in real time to solidify today’s exercise with personal experience both in your professional life and personal life. Go to that area and practice making the assessment.
    • When you are walking into another store this week, spend a moment in the parking lot to repeat this exercises before entering and check for similarities.
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