I had a great conversation (via email) with one of the higher belts, whom I both respect as an individual as well as valuing  his thoughts and thinking regarding self-defense and self-protection. It concerned the idea around handing over your wallet to a mugger/robber rather than immediately making a physical response, such as a disarm or an immediate “counter assault”. I realized as our conversation developed that there were things I hadn’t necessarily emphasized or things I’d not drawn enough attention to; things I now realize need to be spotlighted in order for us to have a coherent approach to handling these real life incidents, whatever the particular situation we’re dealing with.   

Firstly, handing over the wallet when asked is not a passive act. When confronted with an armed assailant (gun or knife), you will be surprised and freeze –never underestimate the effect of this. Having a covering line, which buys you time and confirms to the mugger that you are going to comply (whether you eventually do or not) is an essential strategy. At this stage you will probably be unaware if your assailant is alone or not or where your potential exits and escape routes are etc. All criminals from the moment they initiate the crime are time constrained; slowing down the assault gives you time to understand the situation however you need to do this without provoking your aggressor to act. Agreeing to hand over your wallet etc allows you a moment to try and understand and assess the situation.

When I talk about taking time to understand the situation etc, I am not talking about devoting thought process or conscious reasoning to assess and evaluate what is going on rather I am creating a “moment” for you to confirm what your “gut” is telling you. Your fear instinct will direct you as to what to do. If it says take the knife do it, if it says hand over the wallet do it. However both responses can be covered by handing over the wallet i.e. much easier to go for the knife when an assailant is focusing on the wallet than when they are focusing on the knife…If your instinct tells you that you need to physically control the knife, give yourself every chance by acquiescing to your muggers demand and giving them every impression that you are the perfect victim.

If they walk away: good. However you will know before they do this if you have to act i.e. You are not waiting for them to walk away before you start to act. A financial predator’s/mugger’s greatest fear is getting caught; they want to be moving away from you as soon as they are handed the wallet. if there is any hesitation or pause on their part you will need to fill that space by attacking. Again your fear instinct if you give it space (by going through the motion of handing over the wallet) will tell you when to act. You will know if they are intending to walk away before they walk away.

                In training drills we specify two different responses of the assailant. In a drill we will have a person pull a knife and make a threat e.g. they ask for a wallet at knife point. Sometimes when the “target” gives them the wallet they walk away other times they stay and attempt to cut them. These drills are not aimed at conditioning a response but to prevent you from going to take/control the knife at every opportunity  - in many situations that would be the worst thing to do – a third party could cut/attack you. Your “potential” response should always be to take/control the knife or gun but recognize that there are times when you shouldn’t. The “freeze” phase everyone goes through should be turned into an assessment phase. I am not waiting to see what happens when I hand over the wallet but looking to confirm my assailant’s response/intent and then have this trigger my action. This should be happening instinctually not consciously.

                If your gut tells you to grab the weapon do it; if it doesn’t don’t. My only concern is that you are able to understand the situation first. If you overcome the freeze phase of being accosted with the knife and are able to act immediately and take control of the situation/environment do it without running through any verbal script however if you need time to compose yourself and gather more information run the script.