Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
We don't want you paranoid, but as prepared as possible.
This is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly and Brett Keita,
the founder and president of Secure Environment Consultants, back on
the Live with us Jason Russell, thanks for doing this today.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yeah, thanks for having me, Jason, former.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Secret Service agent. As we look at and not to
deconstruct what happened in Traverse City, because all situations are unique,
but talk to us a little bit about the conversation
that maybe we can have with our kids, or maybe
we as adults should have with ourselves, about being situationally
(00:40):
aware should something like this happens. How do we go
into a large place like a Walmart with our eyes
as wide open as they can be.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, I mean that's the challenge, right, because we're so
kind of into our own worlds. People are staring at
their phones, We're not really paying attention to what going
on around us. And what was really interesting about the
Walmart situation is they talk to a kid who actually
because he didn't have a phone and because he was
paying attention, notice that this guy was acting scared and
acting a little bit strange, right, So paying attention to
(01:15):
what's going on around you kind of you know, being
critically observant, not being paranoid, but just being regularly kind
of paying attention to people, people that are acting strangely,
you know, and trying to make sure that you're kind
of keeping an eye on that. And then truthfully, the
big issue people have is once something starts to happen,
people's brains tend to kind of go on to a
(01:38):
delay almost If you remember those old computers are spinning
to trying to find a file. That's kind of what
your brain does when you experience danger. It's trying to
really kind of identify what's even happening. And that kind
of delay from when you see it to when you
start to respond is one of the reasons that often
people fall victim because they're just too slow to respond.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Said once again, we see an example of superior training
and some of the people that are first responders or
maybe have military training, how their brain works and to
your point, you know goes in action. Now, you can't
always rely on someone being there that's going to be
with that experience. But Steve brought up a great point
and to your point about awareness. When we watch that
(02:21):
video together, here in the studio of how they utilize
when they were out in the parking lot, something like
just a shopping cart for safety, to keep distance to
corral him in.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, I mean, I think what you saw there was
people that believe bad things can happen because they've experienced them,
they've been trained. Most people believe that bad things happen,
they just don't believe that they'll happen to us. So
people that tend to that are trained, that have maybe
experienced emergencies before, their brains process the information a little
bit faster, and obviously they make generally will make better decisions.
(02:56):
But even simple things like creating distance or using things
that you have around you, you know, whether it's a
shopping cart or the you know, the lane at the
checkout as weighs a great distance, anything you can use
around you as a weapon or a distraction. You know,
people just don't think in those terms because we're just
mentally not prepared.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, I mean, it's easy to see a jogger late
at night with the earbuds in and think, well, now
that's just as silly a thing as I've ever seen.
But to your point, it's a fine line between paranoia
and being prepared. We all know that it could happen
at any minute.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, you're right. I mean, you don't want to go
through life thinking, oh my gosh, today is the day, right,
But even some simple things like just kind of scanning
your environment when you're coming into rooms or when you're
in an area where you know there's just a lot
of people, trying to position yourself in the best possible
places to be able to respond. For some people like
(03:55):
me and you know, others, it just becomes kind of
second nature. It just happens because I'm so used to it.
But for other people, it really does take some training.
And you know a lot of times workplaces now are
investing in training for their employees on workplace violence, and
those trainings help people when they're kind of out even
in their own personal lives, just be better more situationally,
(04:16):
where better prepared now?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And you guys do it right. You go to schools
and you go to businesses, and you have these seminars
that sort of help at Secure Environment consultants. What are
things that people are most surprised by when they learn
it from you?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I think the physiological response, right, because if you haven't
been involved in a lot of emergencies. You don't really
know how your body is going to respond. But there's
things like loss to find motor skills, so your body
will tend to you know, not be able to do
little things with your hands. Auditory exclusion, which is you
might not hear everything, you might get tunnel vision, so
(04:54):
little tips like how to control your breathing and how
to kind of work faster through some of these brain
processes so that you're responding quicker. Even responding a split
second quicker can make all the difference between you know,
somebody being injured and escaping without anything. So I think
just the tack. It's a ninety minute training that we
(05:14):
do and it's it's hugely impactful on people. We've had
multiple people that have used the training in real life
situations and it's just a good overall awareness.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Former Secret Service agent now founder and president of Secure
Environment Consultants, Jason Russell, thanks for your time again today.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Thanks guys,