Wow.. How the heck do you GENTLY take to the ground an armed guy. Don't even try it. You 'll get yourself killed.
You take them down gently by making sure that you support them on the way down, and ensure they don’t smash their head off the floor, just like taught in the Physical Intervention Training, to stop you being sued and arrested for GBH because they have brain damage
To Howardk, maybe I wasn’t clear on what I said. I shall attempt to answer clearer and respond to your points
Unrealistic. You NEVER have that kind of scenario in a workplace. You especially don't have two other people ready to face a knife.
My Background is on Doors, not Retail Security, so I’m not an expert here, and i’m used to working in a team
A man intent on cutting you won't stop if you get our of arm radius. It's a fools gamble.
You’re right; they won’t stop trying to slice you, and once they realise that their attack has missed, they will try again. However, if you are outside of their arm radius BEFORE they attack, you don’t have to move back as much to miss their second attack (Just keep outside of their arm radius). In addition, how to you know, if you were standing toe-to-toe with them, that you would be able to get out of their arm radius before they slashed or stabbed you? It’s better to be outside at the onset, and just maintain that distance, than have to react to create distance retrospectively
WTF? Focus on keeping your distance THEN try to disarm him if he gets the chance? Makes no sense.
I agree, I didn’t make this quite clear. You should always keep your distance from them, particularly the knife. However, there may be times when you are able to go on the counter-attack. An example would be if they have the knife in their right hand, and swing the knife, in an arc, from right-to-left in the space between them. Logically, their next move will be to reverse the direction on the next swing (Moving left-to-right). Before they have time to implement that move, you would be able to step forwards into the space between you, and use both hands to push his arm away from you. From there, the knife is reduced as a threat you you, because you are controlling, essentially, what that arm is doing. You can then disarm him
That’s the point. If you say over the radio “This is the front door, we have a guy trying to stab us with a knife, call the police, urgent”, that’s obviously a mouthful to get out! In addition, with the person right in front of you, they now know exactly what’s going on, and probably won’t be too happy.
If you have a previously-agreed upon code, something absolutely nonsensical as “Salami”, that you and anyone else on the frequency would understand, it works to your advantage. You convey an entire sentence and it’s meaning in a single word. In addition, it does have a double-effect on the guy, ESPECIALLY with a non-sensical word like “Salami”, because he’s going to hesitate for a fraction of a second, thinking “What the F*** is he talking about?”, because it’s something that, to him, makes no sense, and would not ordinarily come up in conversation.
Again, this is probably a difference between Door and Retail Security. Everywhere I worked, we’d always use codes on the Door on radios, so we could get some backup without the person realising what we were up to, because we weren’t saying what we wanted. If you say, on a door “This is the front door, we’ve got a guy here off his head on coke trying to come in, send Manager/Another DS”, the guy knows what you’ve just said, and is gonna panic, and probably run. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing, I agree. If you say something else on the radio, they don’t know what you’ve said, but the intended recipient does
Apply pressure to pressure points, and he’ll drop the knife, letting you kick it away, and drop him (One of the posts above mentioned that he had other knives on him) to the ground, so you can check him for further weapons. Again, it’s covering your own arse, because you don’t want him smashing his head off the floor and you getting potentially done for GBH. Support his descent to the ground. Taking him down gently doesn’t mean slowly, just making sure he doesn’t get injured
A knife close by is ALWAYS a threat. Screw keeping an eye on it! If there's another baddie then you damn well will know it. If there isn't then the knife is no threat being on the other side of the store laying harmless on the ground.
I’m fully aware that a knife close by is always a threat. However, you should have it comfortably out of his reach, for starters. If you have someone else (Like other security or shop staff), they can help you. You have three things to do simultaneously; Secure the knife (To prevent it being used), Secure the person (So they don’t escape, attack you or draw another weapon), Search the person (A Quick pat-down to ensure that they don’t have another knife on them). Even if another staff member or security has control of the knife, it’s still a good idea to keep an eye on it
Look...if the m*****r f*****r comes at you then you either do what you have to do to stay alive or you run like hell. End of! All this pointless, unrealistic what-if scenario crap will get you killed, especially if you're untrained like the OP is. Who the hell comes up with this garbage? I know who, a person sitting in a lounge chair conjuring up BS scenarios whose never been in danger, that's who.
Hey, I agree with you! If he tries something, you should react to that! The problem is, the law. Don’t want to do anything that could get the Police focusing on you and risk looking your license!
And it’s not realistic! While yes, I’m sitting in a lounge chair, I’ve had knives pulled on me working doors before. I do admit that Doors and Retail are totally different environments, however, but there are still some things that you can do!