Home Invasion (Part 1)

Gershon Ben Keren

Thu 28th Jul 2016

Every 6 weeks, our school puts on a seminar, that focuses on a particular situation or type of violence, such as active shooter incidents, mugging and street robbery scenarios etc. Last Saturday, we conducted a Home Invasion seminar, looking at Home Invasion Robberies (HIR), and Home Invasion Homicides (HIH). Although these types of crime may not be the most common in the US, compared to a country such as South Africa, they are on the increase, especially within certain populations (the elderly, certain immigrant communities etc.), and despite the fact that we may not see ourselves as prime targets for...Click To Read More

Terrorism & Mental Illness

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 25th Jul 2016

N.B. This is not a blog about politics, immigration policies etc. It is about mental health issues, terrorism, and security. It is intended to spark debate, and conversation, and a search for real solutions to these problems, and is not intended to be divisive. Late last night, a 27-year old Syrian refugee, detonated a bomb he was carrying in a backpack, outside a music festival in Ansbach, Bavaria (Germany). This was the third attack, against the public, that Germany has faced within a week; a 17-year old had attacked Chinese tourists on a train with an axe and a machete, and...Click To Read More

The Benefits Of The Freeze Response

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 18th Jul 2016

I have written fairly extensively in this blog about the five different ways you can respond to an aggressor (e.g. Wednesday 23^rd April 2014), and the difference between physiological and social responses e.g. if fighting is consciously chosen as a solution to dealing with an aggressor, it is not the same as “fight”, as an automatic, physiological response, as in the fight/flight response mechanism – deciding to run away, is different to finding yourself running away from a threat/danger. However, I’ve not written a lot about the freeze response, it’s purpose, and how to utilize it. This is the purpose...Click To Read More

Nice Truck Attack

Gershon Ben Keren

Fri 15th Jul 2016

Although we don’t yet know the motives and reasons behind last night’s attack in Nice, France (where a lorry was driven for 2 kilometers along the town’s promenade, killing at least 84), whether it was an act of “Leaderless Jihad” (both IS and AQ have talked about using vehicles to kill), a hate crime, an act of revenge upon the town due to a personal dispute, etc. there are lessons to be learnt, concerning the type of future we can expect concerning mass killings and violence directed towards groups. Violence rarely stands still, and criminals/terrorists are adept at educating themselves...Click To Read More

Synchronization Of Movement

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 11th Jul 2016

We are often advised by police, self-defense instructors, and others, that we should be more situationally aware i.e. that we should check our environment, for suspicious behaviors, and things that look out of place etc. Whilst this is good advice, it doesn’t help us much, unless we know what we are actually looking for – how we actually become more situationally aware. This is one of the reasons that I have little use for personal safety “tips” e.g. when jogging, don’t run with your headphones/earbuds in. Unfortunately, following this advice doesn’t by default make you safer, because if you don’t...Click To Read More

Blocks As Attacks

Gershon Ben Keren

Thu 7th Jul 2016

A block should only really be used as a block, if you’re caught by surprise e.g. sucker punched – and if you are sucker punched, you should be aware of what that makes you i.e. a sucker; your situational awareness, threat recognition, and understanding of pre-violence indicators, should have alerted you to the potential danger you were in, and given you the time to create distance, control range, and prepare yourself for the attack, so that you’re not taken completely by surprise (if your de-escalation or disengagement strategies are unsuccessful or unworkable). It is worth remembering that most assaults happen...Click To Read More

Specificity of Violence

Gershon Ben Keren

Fri 1st Jul 2016

Self-defense and personal safety is specific to the individual; something which can easily be forgotten, when teaching different groups. A good example of this is the difference in the nature and types of assaults experienced by men and women e.g. men are most likely to be subjected to assaults which predominately involve striking, whilst women are much more likely to experience attacks, where their movement is controlled and restricted, etc. This is not to say that women shouldn’t learn how to block and protect themselves from strikes and punches, but rather that if we look at the way women are...Click To Read More