Including ...Safety in Unfamiliar Environments • President’s Message • Attorney Question • Book Review • Editor's Notebook • About this Journal
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Safety in Unfamiliar Environments
An Interview with Greg Ellifritz
by Gila Hayes
More and more we hear from people who avoid going unfamiliar places because they’re scared. The concern goes beyond choosing to stay out of dangerous areas because, for example, one may need to drive through a poorly patrolled, lawless neighborhood between the freeway and the medical center designated by our HMO, or maybe a cancelled flight strands us overnight in a big city where crime is rampant. The unknown makes personal safety a bigger topic than not going to the 24-hour supermarket at 2 a.m. or not drinking in a bad part of town.
In search of commonsense coaching that’s more nuanced than just “don’t go where it is not safe,” I turned to author and instructor Greg Ellifritz who travels extensively. Who better to teach about staying safe in unfamiliar environments? I’ve long been a regular reader of his blog at ActiveResponseTraining.net, and I enjoyed his 2020 book, Choose Adventure (https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/february-2021-book-review) which addressed safety in less-developed countries. Mixed in with details about overseas travel, I found a lot of material that was imminently applicable to navigating unfamiliar areas in the U.S. In the years since Choose Adventure was published, Ellifritz has retired, built up a busy teaching schedule and continues to write and travel.
Earlier this month, I caught up with Ellifritz when he was home briefly between trips and took advantage of a great opportunity to explore applying the lessons of Choose Adventure to staying safe in unfamiliar areas into which we may be thrust without ever leaving the U.S. I think members will enjoy the discussion as much as I did, so we switch now to Q & A format. A less formal video version of our talk with Greg Ellifritz is available at https://youtu.be/N1c0ja58qOs .
eJournal: Thank you for speaking with me. Could you give us a little bio about your career, your many travels, and what you’re doing now as a busy retired guy?
Ellifritz: I’m a retired police officer. I worked 25 years as a police officer in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. I spent thirteen of those years as a full-time tactical training officer for the police department. I had a chief that was very pro-training, and he sent me off to any kind of training I wanted, so long as I brought the skills back to the officers. I amassed about 90 different instructor certifications, mostly use of force related. I retired about three years ago and now I spend about 40 weekends a year traveling across the country teaching gun and knife and empty hand and medical classes.
President’s Message
The Police Are Not Your Enemy!
by Marty Hayes, J.D.
It is very popular in the self-defense after action assistance industry (read self-defense insurance) for attorney pundits on YouTube to scream “never talk to the police” from the rafters. They tell horror stories about how their clients talk themselves into prison, when the police use their statements against them in court.
In our Network member education programs, we have discussed how we think armed citizens should act towards police if they have to use force, and I see more and more well reasoned, logical people using Massad Ayoob’s Five Point Checklist to teach or advise armed citizens how to handle the interaction with police.
Attorney Question of the Month
The question of obstructing an investigation or tampering with evidence arises about what one may do with alternative weapons and other personal effects after self defense and before police arrive and search. We are told of instructors advising students to divest themselves of knives, pepper spray, second or back up guns and entrust them to another person before police arrive. We wonder whether divesting oneself of other weapons would likely result in obstruction or tampering with evidence charges, so we asked our affiliated attorneys —
How does your state law or case law address removing weapons that were not used in the self defense act but that were carried on one’s person?
Book Review
Legion of Michael: Defending the Flock
By Paul G. Markel
Independently published, 128 pages, Paperback $10.99 or $3.99 eBook
ISBN-13 979-8649331784
Reviewed by Gila Hayes
Paul Markel, a life-long Christian, writes a compelling introduction to his book about church security in which he relates his experience as a young man choosing a use-of-force profession while staying true to his faith. In the Marine Corps, he encountered many who misunderstood the Biblical injunction to turn the other cheek, and the sixth commandment, which, if translated from the Hebrew correctly, should actually read “thou shall not commit murder.”
Editor’s Notebook
Broken Windows
by Gila Hayes
I was interested to hear an echo of the old broken windows theory in Greg Ellifritz’s discussion about staying safe in unfamiliar environments. I couldn’t help but think about doing trash pick up and other community improvement projects now that spring is here after reading his comments about the prevalence of crime in run down neighborhoods.
In the 1980s criminologists suggested that damaged, abandoned buildings encourage crime because it is clear no one cares enough to prevent, stop or punish crime in that part of town. (Kelling and Wilson, 1982) While the fallout from applying what came to be called the Broken Windows theory was much broader than mere urban revitalization, there remains a lot of truth to the underlying belief that hard work to maintain a tidy, well-repaired living and working space communicates residents’ commitment to order and lawful behavior.
About this Journal
The eJournal of the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc. is published monthly on the Network’s website at http://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal. Content is copyrighted by the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc.
Do not mistake information presented in this online publication for legal advice; it is not. The Network strives to assure that information published in this journal is both accurate and useful. Reader, it is your responsibility to consult your own attorney to receive professional assurance that this information and your interpretation or understanding of it is accurate, complete and appropriate with respect to your particular situation.