How You Are selected for an attack

There is a selection process when a bad guy is picking you. If the attacker is someone you already know, there is a different selection process. But we’re going to talk here about random selection. Let’s just say the individual who is going to attack you does not currently know you. There is a major selection process, and it’s called “Opportunity.”

I’m going to dip into the animal kingdom for an example. We’ve all watched Animal Planet or Discovery Channel or what have you. You’re watching one of these shows, and the lion is the king of the jungle, the strongest and the meanest and the most ferocious. Well, if he’s so tough, let’s talk about his selection process for a second, because it is the exact same process which is used by the criminal that walks our planet.

They don’t know you, so they really don’t care about you. They want you as an easy opportunity. If you ever watch one of these lions hunt, what they do is they wait for an animal to fall behind. He’s going to catch one drinking, not paying attention. He’s going to catch one injured and limping. He’s going to catch one that is newly born and is a soft target and just can’t keep up with the herd.
He does not want the fastest, he does not want the strongest. You don’t ever see this lion running to the head of the pack, passing up all the other gazelles to try to take down the biggest and strongest one. Why? They want an easy opportunity. They’re not going to work hard when they don’t have to. There are a ton of easy opportunities out there. So, the easier the opportunity, the more likely we are to become a victim.

Constantly think in the mind of a bad guy: What would I do? How would I victimize myself right now? Am I making myself an easy opportunity? Am I not around a lot of people? Is it dark outside? Does anyone know where I am? Am I jingling my keys? Am I sitting in my car too long? Am I taking my time when I should be speeding up? Have I given myself an out in traffic with my vehicle? Have I ever had any kind of training? Am I putting myself in a poor time, in a poor place, around individuals who do not have my best interest in mind? Do I understand pre-attack indicators? All these things add up to either becoming an opportunity or not becoming an opportunity.

And right off the bat there are a lot of us who are already opportunities. Soft targets. Females, children – we can go as deep as individuals who wear glasses, people who look down at the ground, older men who have gray hair or may be balding.
Why? A lot of individuals, a lot of attackers, they might see this as a sign of weakness. Gray hair? Guess what, maybe not strong enough to defend themselves as much as a young guy, a 25-year-old or a 23-year-old.
A female. Females are inherently smaller and weaker than males. A lot of people don’t like to hear that, but it is a biological fact, and once we recognize it’s a fact, we can do something to make a difference.

We teach our females in the C.O.B.R.A. Defense Program how to ultimately bring down any male attacker, and it’s not by out-punching and out-kicking him, because that cannot work very well.
If you understand what a soft target is, which is already an opportunity, and if you amplify that opportunity, that is a recipe for disaster.