Parking lot interviews?

[teknical]

Thanks for the interest, everyone.

jeepmor- on carrying and college: I opted to get my CCW a couple years ago. I live so close to campus, home is almost as accessable as the dorm was (best of both worlds). When I'm out and about, I'm armed.

mpmarty, sacp81170a, Doc2005, Popov, and others- on telegraphing a firing grip: What you're suggesting goes contrary to my training. Nearly all the times I've been contacted in parking lots, I've been strapped (concealed) and haven't done that, because I don't have enough to escalate the situation and was taught to keep it hidden until you're ready to pull the trigger. I always look at their hands and waist, and almost everyone I've run into has had empty hands with nothing apparent at their waists/pockets (except the Indian in my first post, he had on a poncho and I couldn't see his hands, scary). If I put my hand on my weapon, they come at me unarmed, and I shoot them, I'd be screwed. Truthfully, the distances I'm talking about here, I'd have to move first or I wouldn't be quick enough on the draw if something went down, anyway. Part of what I don't like is how some of these guys get to conversation-distance, and it puts me on-edge, even more.

sacp81170a- on body language: I have rudimentary experience w/ MA, so I generally react how you describe. The aggressive guy closed w/ me much quicker than I expected and didn't keep his distance so I ended up actually backing up and doing the basic krav maga hand up defensive stance. I didn't put my other hand on my weapon, though, for the reasons above. The only reason he even got that close was because I first spotted him as he was coming out between cars as he was going down the aisle I was parked in. He was already on top of me.

Vanderbilt- on looking hard: For one thing, I've always wondered if perps see my university hat and think I'm unarmed, or make other assumptions ($$$, head in the clouds...). I think I do a damn-good job of concealing my weapon. I know I can spot telltale signs of concealed weaps, but I don't think people can see anything on me, except the bulges from crap in my pockets. The guys I'm talking about seem to be locking eyes. I haven't caught these guys flat-out checking my waist, yet. Does anyone here both open carry and concealed carry and notice any difference if the gun is visible?

RioShooter- on homeless vs perps: There are plenty of homeless around here, and the guys I'm describing are far from pushing around shopping carts full of junk. They're more like what Popov describes as the "professional type." Clean clothes, etc.

bill larry- on new people: For me, every time is a different person.

I've commanded, "NO THANKS, NOT INTERESTED" to someone that was a couple aisles away and they muttered something and turned around, which is what I want to happen all the time, but for someone that's closer to you or is moving parallel to you, it's harder. You still have to get to your car, and I'm not sure how to keep my distance in that situation.

 

[IA_farmboy]

Reading this thread reminds me of when I was once hassled outside the grocery store one evening. As I headed into the store I was stopped by a young man and asked for a ride. First I found this odd since it should have been quite obvious that I had some shopping to do and was not about to stop what I was doing to give a stranger a lift. I told him no and he comes back with, "Can you give me 50 cents for a bus ticket?" I remembered I had some change in my pocket and handed it to him and I then quickly walked off before he could say another word.

Once in the store I thought about the encounter for a bit. Maybe this guy was naive and honest and really just needed to get home. Maybe this guy was hassling people for whatever cash he thought he could get. Maybe this guy was checking out people's response to see if they were a good target for a mugging. So, on my way out to the car I paid special attention for a future encounter, fully expecting the guy to be either still peddling for money or looking to steal some food. I saw no one. I still think about that encounter on occasion and the "what ifs".

What I do now, when the weather and occasion is appropriate, is wear some of my old Army gear to ward off undesirables. I imagine people would think twice about trying something stupid on someone wearing an Army t-shirt, sweatshirt, or jacket. Especially someone that is 6' 5" and 200 pounds.

That thinking didn't work so well one day as I spent a lunch hour at the shopping mall to run an errand and get some food. I was stopped by... An Army Recruiter

I was curious what kind of story he could tell me so I listened politely for far too long and didn't have much time to eat before I had to get back to work. Oh well, I guess I can't win them all.

 

[kaizer]

I always try to give to the homeless if I have cash. Most of the time now I carry very little if any cash on me due to the fact that everybody takes plastic now.

I have been harrassed a couple of times, and it is alright as long as these people do not get inside of my personal space. As far as I am concerned, if someone is getting aggressive enough to get that close to me then they may be up to no good. If they achieve this position rapidly then we are going to have one serious problem and there will be no warning from me.

 

[AJ Dual]

If they think you can't understand them or speak English, they leave you alone (in theory) confused. It was funny when I read it the first few times but the "speaking in tounges" thing actually works.

LOL!

My mother lives in the D.C. Metro area, and as such has a lot of opportunities for "verbal judo". She was an opera singer, and classical choral singer, so she has a passing knowledge of German, French, and Italian, at least in opera and classical music lyrics.

I've witnessed the initial phases of "the Interview" with her when I was younger, and she'd just blast out with what sounded like a cross between a severely P.O.'ed Italian grandmother concealing a razor, and something from The Exorcist.

It worked almost too well. Instead of leaving, the guy usualy just froze in terror. And afterward as we were leaving the area, my mother would give me the translation, and it was usualy some "sweetness and light" lyrics about love or angels etc. (snort...)

Another awsome deterrent is to have a two-way radio. (Not some cheap FRS talkie, but a real repeater rig) It really does not work well if your're extremely overweight and your outfit screams "HAM geek", but if you're reasonably proportional, and dressed either in dress casual or business attire, it screams "COP!" to low-lifes even more than "blading" or anything else could.

In the early 90's I worked for an independant computer consultant, doing service calls, preventative maintenence etc. His dress code for any client contact was full business attire. Cell phones were still a luxury for lawyers etc. back then. Besides computer work my boss was also a communications provider for some small companies leasing repeater time on hand-held radios and provided me with one to keep in touch on my calls I did for him throughout Milwaukee.

Because of his low-overhead he was cheaper than lots of other places, and as such had lots of service contracts with businesses, government offices, and social service agencies in some of the less-than-desireable areas of Milwaukee. I was this scrawny 19 year-old kid, wearing a suit, trying to find hole-in-the-wall offices in the lousy parts of town. And every few seconds that Motorolla on my belt would let out the occasional blast of static or chatter, as either my boss, or one of the clients on the shared repeater with the same squelch code would key up. If someone was truly paying me specific attention, I'd just key the squelch myself, or give my boss some meaningless call on purpose.

It was amazing, it was like a personal force-field. I suppose it could have backfired in the truly wrong situation, but that never happened. It even made perfectly normal people minding thier own business jump with that "speed trap startle" on occasion.

 

[Sharps-shooter]

Once when I was in Germany, I tried speaking Irish (a slightly different gaelic from what Tallpine uses) to someone to ward off his panhandling. [Ni labhraim i nGermanais, Labhrionn tu i nGaeilge?] He then pantomimed his sob story/request to me. I gave him marks for sheer determination.

I was homeless once, for a few months during college, and was a refugee with political asylum for a few days once. Never needed to panhandle, though. For a mentally sound person, it's easy enough to get out of the situation. People who panhandle are usually doing it because they are too mentally ill or addicted to function at a job, or because they are professionals. It's quite possible to make $400 in a day panhandling. The first situation makes people unpredictable, the second makes them dangerous, the third makes them contemptible.

 

[sacp81170a]

What you're suggesting goes contrary to my training. Nearly all the times I've been contacted in parking lots, I've been strapped (concealed) and haven't done that, because I don't have enough to escalate the situation and was taught to keep it hidden until you're ready to pull the trigger.

The way I reacted was the way I've been trained because I'm an LEO. I wasn't reaching back to put my hand on my weapon, I was pulling my strong hand out of reach of a grab. One way you keep someone from drawing their weapon is to grab their strong hand before they can draw. It's an old trick, so I've been trained to get that hand back while using the other hand to fend off or direct. Just goes to show that you revert to your training without thinking about it.

 

[thegriz]

No Thanks

Some pistol fighting video I watched suggested briskly putting out your hand like you would if you were commanding somebody to stop and firmly stating, "No thanks". The tone of your voice should vary according to the threat.

I do this a lot and it works great for me. I don't give them a chance to talk, just hit them with a no-nonsense "No thanks".

I usually go with my gut feeling of people and it has served me well so far. I don't mind helping people who I feel compassion for. All others get the hand.

In addition to all the great tips about body positioning and protecting your shooting arm I would like to add positioning yourself between the interviewer and your family or other passengers. I've had to stride out to intercept guys who decided to walk up to my wife or kids. They get to see my really serious side.

 

[sacp81170a]

In addition to all the great tips about body positioning and protecting your shooting arm I would like to add positioning yourself between the interviewer and your family or other passengers. I've had to stride out to intercept guys who decided to walk up to my wife or kids. They get to see my really serious side.

Great point!

 

[ravencon]

I find that listening to German dance-metal (eg. Rammstein - it's all about the testosterone) very loudly in the car is an excellent deterrent to stoplight panhandlers.

Hilarious! I guess you have to weigh the deterrent factor against the hearing/brain damage factor and determine if this is a worthwhile approach to the problem.

Being 6'1", 200lbs, skin headed, closely cropped beard and able to put on a menacing scowl almost always is enough to keep the panhandlers and crazies away from me on the street. Around here the traffic island panhandlers are usually quite sedate compared to the sidewalk panhandlers. Just as well, my Subaru Outback with Thule roof rack would otherwise seem to be a moocher magnet.

 

[revjen45]

I must have a pretty good drop dead look because the kids soliciting donations for their soccer team in front of the markets don't hit me up. My favorite lines for panhandlers include "Get a job." "Sorry, all I have is 20s." "Spare change is an oxymoron." and "Phn'glui M'gl wna'f, Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgha Nagl Ftaghn." The last two seem to confuse them. I was in Seattle in about '02 for a medical visit and walking along the sidewalk in an area where people had been attacked by bums and injured at various times. Two young men approached me, one carrying a skateboard and the other hitting me up for money. The one with the skateboard flanked me to my left while moving the skateboard onto his shoulder. I recalled that someone had been smacked with a skateboard and killed in that area a couple of weeks before and immediately went from yellow to orange. Other threads have discussed interpreting body language as part of threat assessment. I turned to give me a Weaver stance on either one and reached into my back pocket with the weak hand across my torso and ready to present and they must have picked up on my body language because I wasn't bluffing. The one one who wanted money mumbled something like "All right then" and they moved off. They never saw the gun, but any closer and they would have because the one with the skateboard was already within Tueller distance. I don't know if they were preparing to jump me or not and I'm glad I didn't find out.

 

[Rocksurly]

I have never been interviewed. I feel so left out

 

[kungfuhippie]

That's cause Mrs. Bill Clinton has worked so hard to keep you "safe"

 

[Zundfolge]

My technique is to reach into my pocket a grab hold of a few dollar bills. Then I hand the person the money before they have to beg for it.

Problem with that technique is that you allow them to get close enough to touch you. Touch may be take the money, it may also be to clock you and take more of your money or it may be to stab you.

Treating the homeless like human beings is a respectable course of action. Just because someone is begging isn't a reason to go condition orange or red on them.

That sounds nice when you say it fast, but if you're wrong you're screwed. Mistakenly telling a homeless person to bug off doesn't get anyone killed, mistakenly letting a killer within striking distance gets you killed.

The one time I was robbed its because I let the guy get close to me ... all because he was black and I didn't want to appear like a racist.

There are people who are truely in need of a helping hand.

Fine. Let them go down to the mission and get a hot meal and maybe a dry place to sleep.

That may sound heartless, but if I let some street criminal kill me, then who's going to support my family?

Besides, I give plenty of money to professionals that take care of these people (and not just through the taxes that are taken by force, but by the money I give to the Salvation Army, my church and a few other charities).

Besides, how can you tell the difference between panhandling and an interview?

It doesn't matter. Don't let either get close and its a non issue.