"Remain Calm"

Remain Calm

Over the years I have taught officer survival and safety classes to a lot of officers ranging from different criminal justice professionals such as: police, probation, parole, corrections, court security, etc. I have also been fortunate enough to attend many different officer survival classes from a variety of sources. One thing that generally comes up is that one should “remain calm” during a crisis. I was recently teaching an Active Shooter class for a large metropolitan court. My co-facilitator told the participants to, “remain calm during a crisis but you probably won’t.” Why tell them to do something that they probably won’t be able to do! I was a bit disappointed in his approach and really decided to give it some thought. I too have been in a lot of training classes as a student where the instructor tells us to remain calm. But, the reality is that in a crisis most people feel fear and some even panic although trained individuals have the ability to control their fear better than others. So what does “remain calm” really mean?

In giving this apparently simple question some though I have developed an idea that I hope you find useful. Remaining calm is not what most people would think. It isn’t about relaxing, chilling out, disengaging, or giving in as these are not options.

Remaining calm is about maintaining your focus in an emergency so that, despite fear, you are able to conduct your response at peak performance.

In a crisis almost everyone will be nervous. This is a normal response to a crisis. What separates the trained person from the untrained is the ability to perform effectively under stressful situations that are often very dynamic, violent, and potentially life-threatening. It is known that panic is contagious but so is calm. So, how do you remain calm during a crisis?

When a crisis occurs do the following:

First, you must immediately recognize what is happening and accept it. Don’t rationalize or minimize the danger. Don’t get into the mindset that this can’t be happening. This is the time to get your mind and body in the fight! Going into Condition Black (freezing) will lead to severe injury or death. 

Second, your body will respond with both physiological and psychological responses. This is normal. The best way to overcome these normal responses is to breathe commonly referred to as combat breathing or autogenic breathing. Whichever name you call it the key is to NOT hold your breath during a crisis or you may pass out or feel numbness or tingling in your hands, feet, or lips. 

Third, stay or get focused on the threat and respond appropriately.

Going from step 1 to step 3 can happen in a very short amount of time and actually should as you don’t have seconds to spare in a crisis or emergency. Failure to appropriately respond can lead to your untimely demise.

So, the next time someone tells you to “remain calm” during a crisis remember what they are really saying is stay focused on the task at hand and respond appropriately. 

TC

(C) 2013