As a person looking to understand more about self preservation, let’s focus on the human predators that are looking to commit crimes against another. An attack cycle occurs through looking, choosing, stalking, closing and completing an attack cycle on one human by another person. There are several outstanding resources out there to help us better understand two human predator types. Sgt. Rory Miller, author of “Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training and Real World Violence,” defines them for us.
As an experienced martial artist and veteran correction officer, Miller distills what he has learned from jailhouse brawls, tactical operations and ambushes to explore the complexity of violence. He puts these predators into two main categories: process predator and resource predator.
Process Predators
Miller explains that process predators love violence. They could care less about money; they want you and they want to watch the world burn. These bad people are usually serial rapists and/or killers and are all about torture. They want as much time and privacy as possible so this can easily mean they come to your home. If that is not available, they will take you and move you to a place that they feel is a secure and private place to do bad things. This is often called the secondary crime scene.
Heads up, if a person invades your home or is attempting to move you, you are most likely dealing with a process predator. You MUST fight back with everything you have. You MUST not allow him to move you because it will most likely escalate to torture and murder. This is 100% “go time” and you MUST get out of there.
Resource Predators
Per Miller, resource predators are looking for something to steal. Look at it this way, they think of you as a resource to get what they want. You are their “store” and they want what you have – such as money, car, high dollar items, etc. A resource predator does not want to work hard for the “score,” preferring to get the biggest return for the least amount of work. Some resource predators will use violence, but will usually only threaten violence if they believe you will not comply. Once you give them what they want, they will most likely move on.
Per huskerlaw.com, the top 20 most common crimes in the United States are:
Without knowing specific details, it is safe to say that easily half of the most common crimes fall into one of these two predator categories. I see that statista.com states that in 2022 property crime, theft, burglary and robbery made up 144,805,360 of the crimes committed in the United States where aggregated assault, rape and homicide made up 104,843 of the crimes committed. I don’t know about you, but I if I have to choose between a process predator and a resource predator, I would much rather give up my money then be put in a position where I am fighting for my life.
I consider these stats absolutely outrageous and we must do everything possible to see the threat before or during the predators “look” section of the attack cycle, and to deselect ourselves so we are never even “chosen.” Let’s stop the attack cycle before it even starts by keeping our heads up, walking with confidence and training (i.e., practicing) non-lethal, less-than-lethal and lethal decisions.
For more interesting reading about self-defense, check out Shelley Hill’s four-part series on “Reactionary Zones.”
Shelley Hill wears a "bunch of hats." Her husband, Brian, named her the “Indispensable Organization Wizard” about 25 years ago and that has become her official title. Shelley is co-owner, XO and instructor at The Complete Combatant. She is an HK Brand Ambassador, publishes regular articles in Women’s Outdoor News and Shooting Illustrated, teaches online classes, is an Active Self Protection Certified Instructor, an Instructor Graduate of Modern Samurai Project's Red Dot Instructor program, NRA Certified Instructor, Certified NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, Refuse to be a Victim Instructor and is a Certified OC (Pepper Spray) Instructor through Chuck Haggard's Agile Training & Consulting. She is the designer and mastermind behind Image Based Decisional Drills, Smart Choices , LockedIn Grip, The Complete Combatant's annual The Mingle for professional ladies in the "firearms/self defense" industry and The Quest for red dot shooters. She is also the President of a non-profit organization called Blue Line Ponies. This 501c3 focuses on providing a retirement range for our career service horses. Shelley is also a presenter at several national conferences is a public speaker and she actually loves people. View all posts by Shelley Hill
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