When you are out, be aware of what is called “baseline behavior”. This means the type of behavior that is normal for any particular situation or environment. For instance, at a cafe, the baseline behavior would be people chatting, reading, working on a laptop or tablet, etc.
Someone sitting alone, perhaps not even having tea or coffee, watching the room instead of reading or talking on the phone or texting; or someone constantly getting up from their table and moving in and out of the room, switching from one table to another, etc; these constitute non-baseline behavior. This does not necessarily mean that the person is a potential threat, but it is unusual, and should cause you to heighten your awareness.
Whenever someone is behaving in a manner unlike most of the people in an environment, it should be noted and monitored. For example, in the CCTV footage of the attack on the sister at the London Underground; her assailant was not strolling on the platform as the other passengers were. He was standing with his back to the wall, appeared tense, looking back and forth and so on. When I first watched the clip, I didn’t know what it was, but I immediately noticed this man, and literally thought to myself, “Ya Allah, is someone going to be pushed in front of the train?”
Often a potential threat can be diffused by simply demonstrating that you are at a higher level of awareness, that you are not oblivious and vulnerable. Any sign that you are alert can cause someone to back down
#الوعي_لظرفي
#Situational_Awareness