I wish I could train myself to do this.

Many of us can relate a story of suspicion while in a particular establishment, being retired Police I tend to see “situations” a little faster than Joe Shopper. One bright, warm and sunny day I was visiting my local gun shop (actually a town forty miles away) along with a fellow retired officer, the shop had only one elderly worker behind the counter.
Not to stereotype any race in this case a low riding POS pulled into a space near the front door and four young blacks in typical “ I am bad” attire leisurely exited the vehicle and separating into twos, with a deliberate space between groups, entered the store one group moving to the left counter and the second two to the counter on the opposite wall.
Both Fred and I used eye signals and each took a group as our main concern. The groups each asked to see a firearm...shotgun on one wall and hand gun on the other. The clerk, also retired LE, was very calm displayed one weapon at a time and remained right with the pair having a weapon in hand. The two groups were very vocal about wishing to see a weapon right then in order to separate one side or the other from the clerk and casting suspicious eyes at Fred and me standing near cover and obviously watching them intently.
Fortunately in this case the gentlemen made a few slurs about bad service and staring at Fred and myself exited the store and back to the POS where they conferred before leaving.
1. They dressed the typical gang attire
2. Even the POS looked gang related
3 Obvious separation out of the store and taking opposite sides sides in the store
4. Were visually concerned with Fred and myself and our positions of cover and blocking
The exit
5. Both Fred and I were sending out body visuals that we were not simply store Decorations.
I followed the young men outside at a distance and while Fred covered the door I walked to the lot wrote down the plate number and returned to the shop.
I fully feel that the three of us expressing defensive body language and locations covering gun counters and front door caused a planned “Grab and Go” to be abandoned by the four young gentlemen.
This was a situation that during its course of threat I felt I would soon be taking a young life, thank heaven they moved on.
 
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In my LE days I use to do a lot of stake outs. Its interesting to say the least, to watch people in stores. Esp. Liquor and Convience stores. People do wierd stuff. Not just the customers, but the clerks, esp. when they are alone.

As to sweeping clothing, etc. When I was an FTO, (Field Training Officer) I told my rookies to ALLWAYS assume EVERYONE is carrying.
 
I'll say this about that: If I walk into a store and I see someone furtively looking around, not paying attention to the merchandise before him, looking at me and sizing me up, etc, it indicates that he is not there to shop and is likely a threat to me. I would have my eyes glued on that person- AND THAT PERSON WOULD BE YOU!
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Why this popped into my cranium, not sure. During my CCL classes, instructed by a LEO that normally worked under cover / plain clothed, he told this story. Before CC was legal in Illinois he got a call to a Walmart. The report was a customer there that "brandished" a handgun. Two police responded. As they were walking the aisles looking for the person, his partner said in the ear piece radios that they use he spotted someone that was printing. Said he was in the next aisle, and was going to meet him at the end cap, to kind of get the "jump on him". He turned the corner and came face to face with the plain clothed LEO, thinking he was the bad guy brandishing.

Moral of the story. The guy you see in a store obviously carrying, just may be a law enforcement officer. So don't jump to conclusions too fast.
 
I don't really care if people are armed. I do care if they're acting weird. Once I see someone acting weird, then I either leave or take a little more interest in trying to determine other things about them--like whether or not they're armed.

It's not generally necessary to carefully look people over, just keep your head up and pay attention to what's going on. When something piques your interest, then you can start doing the careful looking--or just GTHO depending on the circumstances.

Most of the time, people either just don't pay any attention at all, or they notice things and dismiss them. It's rarely a matter of missing a small detail. By the way, it seems that not dismissing things is harder than noticing them in the first place.
 
Some of you folks have lived charmed and protected lives such that a cat from da hood is seen in your store and you've gone into OMG defense mode, classifying them as a threat. I grew up working in a very bad part of Dallas. Our store was next to a bar that was a hang out for a very bad biker group. There were numerous low class bars in the neighborhood. There were white biker gangs, Mexican gangs, black gangs, drug addicts, homeless people, twitchy people, and generally folks who would be considered socially undesirable is the pretty part of town. A lot were armed.

Gang members gotta do their shopping as well, eat, get gas, etc. They are often just as concerned about their safety as we are about ours. I would be surprised to see three gang bangers in my part of town at the local store who weren't looking around and a bit nervous. If I am on their side of town, I am going to be the white guy who is more out of context, looking around, etc., right? They're apt to see me as the threat, if we apply the same standard of being out of place and a bit nervous, checking out the surroundings.

People out of place in a given context may get a second look, but don't be lulled into a false sense of security that because you think you have spotted the gang bangers that you have a grasp of the situation. Often the people who cause trouble fit in the context of their surroundings.

Last time we went to Cici's Pizza (across the street from the mall in a "good" part of town), I spotted two other men who had guns, one hispanic, one white. Both appeared to be dads with kids, one with 3 kids and the other with at least one and they were a part of a large group of kids (some sort of outing, church group?). That was the most I have ever spotted at one location at once that weren't at a cop hang out or by a gun show/gun class. Maybe it was a threat or maybe gun owners/ccw gotta eat as well.

Situational awareness is good, but don't be pervy about it or you become the threat perceived by everyone else, the quirky armed person (yes, there are others who may catch you printing or identify you as likely armed) who appears to be nervous and looking around too much. If you have your "head on a swivel" in most normal contexts, particularly if you are out of your element, you are the weirdo. People will notice you.
 
It appears that every one of you is saying that situational awareness is a bad thing
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paying attention is one thing but information overload is something else. You are likely the one who appears to be up to something because ( your are). There is nothing wrong with paying attention to what is happening around you. If you want to romanticize the process to the degree that you are on some sort of recon mission at the laundry mat, you will likely never see the ripples in the water. Situational awareness is not something that you are likely to achieve by yourself in active public spaces. That said, you can certainly work in that direction by paying attention.

When you begin to look too hard, you will begin to see a badguy behind every blade of grass. Everyone is up to something, everyone is armed, everyone is out of place, everyone seems to be up to something... yadda yadda. I don't worry about who is armed and who is not. For every one person that you suspect is armed, there are probably half a dozen who were armed that you didn't suspect. The only time I would consider it an issue is when you detect an armed person where weapons are prohibited. That circumstance may be more indicative of trouble as opposed to some armed guy minding his own business at the corner store.

I think people need to chill and stop modeling their life after something from the Jason Bourne movies.

Pay attention and if you detect trouble.. leave. If something doesn't look right, .... don't go there. If I had to conduct a recon mission just to visit the corner store, .. I probably wouldn't go there.
 
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