Are You Ready?
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” In life-and-death situations there is no time to “get ready” you must be ready! From wildfires to active shooters, riots and terrorism our world is beset with threats that can affect your family and your personal safety. Being prepared starts with a preparedness mindset that allows you to go from prepared to action.
Over the course of several blogs, we will discuss how to be prepared, in simple snippets. These snippets are designed to allow you to start developing a preparedness mindset and make rudimentary plans for you and your family. This is not an end-all or panacea, but rather a primer. In the space allotted we will talk about threats in general rather than discuss specific threats.
First and foremost, some basic vocabulary. A threat is something that “could happen to cause loss” to you, while “risk” is the value placed on what you have to lose: for example, money or your life. The last vocabulary distinction that we will need to know is that “prevention” and “preparedness” are different! If we could prevent something bad from happening, we would. Preparedness is the preplanned actions that we take so that we can respond in a manner that lets us prevent as much loss as possible. One of the easiest methods to use when preparing is using the P.A.C.E. planning system. This system was originally designed for communication preparation but has since expanded to include all types of personal preparedness.
The acronym “P.A.C.E.” stands for:
Primary
Alternate
Contingency
Emergency
In any type of an emergency planning, consider all four of the P.A.C.E. elements. Let’s ponder a scenario where self-defense and escape are the tools required to avoid loss:
Imagine that there is an active shooter alert in your building. Everyone moves to a space that can be locked or secured in some manner. Once in this space you must be prepared to move again or fight back if the gunman gets too close. Here is where P.A.C.E. planning can come into play.
- What is your primary weapon? It may not be a firearm if you’re in a public-school building. A primary weapon may be a pair of scissors that you could attack the assailant with if they enter the classroom.
- What is an alternate weapon? It could be a chair or an object in the room, that can be used for bludgeoning your enemy. An alternative should be close to the same quality as your primary if possible. This concept is like police officers having a backup weapon. Both are comparable in that they can create devastating injuries and death to an assailant.
- What is your contingent weapon? The contingent choice is something that is not necessarily ideal. A small desk that is a little harder to wield but could be a serviceable weapon if it wasn’t too large. The contingent is used when your primary or alternative weapon is not available.
- What is your emergent weapon? In our scenario there might be empty-handed fighting i.e. There may be no time to access the other options, if the attacker is already upon you. The emergent weapon is the last choice, or option and often carries more potential risk of failure.
Likewise, P.A.C.E. planning would apply to escape routes. What would be your primary escape route be from a familiar location (granted we may not be in a familiar location)? What’s an alternative escape route, contingent and emergency escape route? For example:
- Primary– climbing down a later and running away.
- Alternative– climbing down onto a lower ledge of the building from a window then jumping onto a trash receptacle, and then the ground and staying out of site by running away.
- Contingent – climbing down onto a lower ledge of the building and hiding until you could drop the rest of the way to the ground. Maybe not the best solution, but viable.
- Emergent– escape via jumping from a third story window for example! You are likely going to get injured, but this may be the only chance of surviving!
Thinking in terms of P.A.C.E. allows you to have options when the situation comes up. Consider scenarios that you are likely to be in e.g., your car breaks down in cold weather, fire, flood, carjacking, identity theft, etc. Ask yourself what 4 options you could use to help your situation. Remember…having a plan is better than not having one. You will be surprised at what you can do to prepare to protect yourself and those you care about by taking these first steps.