Panic

Panic is something that security officers encounter many times in their career. When people are looking to "someone in authority" that someone is you in the first minutes of the emergency. The situation is all yours for the first few minutes until someone arrives.(boss, police, fire or that guy who runs the sales department)You will be confronted by panicked people. You must keep your cool.

What to do? Follow your training and make the protection of life your first and most important priority. But use your brain. Pause for a second or minute to figure the best actions for the most people endangered. Sometimes it is better to address the problem. Sometimes it is better to address the people. Sometimes the people are the problem. Be flexible, adapt.

People need to know what you are doing. A quick 5-10 word summary is all that is required to give them a grasp of what you intend.. If you are leaving their sight they will be fearful they are being abandoned. Assure them. 1) you are leaving to handle the problem or get nearby help, 2) will be back for them or 3) tell them a safe place to go--make sure it is safe. (ex: bomb threats, they must be 300 yds away, etc.) 

Panicked people oft times make bad decisions. The TV show "The Unit" Episode entitled "Hill 60"  dramatically shows many of the varied reactions of panicked people. Worth watching. What follows is gleaned from that show and elsewhere.

People will Need to know what is happening; before anyone could know. They are scared! They want to know NOW, they are scared!:will everything be OK? Where are their loved ones located and how they are doing, who you are, what is your training, why should they trust you, suggest you are the cause of the emergency, try to run away and escape the problem, "charge off in all directions", it is so unfair!, deny it is serious, postulate paranoid conspiracies, the world has turned upside down-we can't trust anything!, fatalistic: no one can do anything!, its so unfair!, it is a personal attack against me!, paralysis by analysis, blame you for not doing enough, blame you for not preventing the emergency, curse, call everyone impolite names, they must be rescued before anyone else, they insist they have rights, the "center cannot hold", become meek/subservient, suggest you need to have a discussion and democratic vote, cry, pass out, get angry, will not/can not shut up, whine/complain, convinced Armageddon has arrived, pray, bargain (promise to do good or stop doing bad), pee their pants, insist on following SOP (Isandlwana per film: Zulu Dawn), blame their favorite religious, ethnic or racial groups, rely on the government to help (ie: wait forever), apathy, refuse reasonable directions, feel totally helpless, refuse to act, demanding of everyone, explain how they are special and someone special will come to their rescue, commit suicide, steal or hoard emergency supplies, hurt others in the belief they either caused the problem or that by hurting or killing them the problem will be reduced...or for revenge, state their opinion as fact, they will assume the worst, they will rush into the emergency instead of away, "tombstone courage", they will be sure they will die or be injured, that they will be fine and its much ado about nothing. They may say that the attackers are justified, misunderstood or that we deserve it. That they are so superior to you that they know the right answer even if they have no experience or training in this (or any) emergency situation, they will experience a mental lock-up and freeze, they will go to sleep, threaten you, attack you, scream, cry, try to cope: using their personal stress adaptive behavior (sex, drugs, tin foil hat, etc.), and come up with really stupid ideas. All these things are natural panic reactions, few, if any, help one survive.

Remember try to do no harm, don't make it worse. ACT, don't just stand there!...stay frosty. Accept reasonable suggestions. It is not about you, it is about solving the situation as well as possible. Remember you will be held legally accountable after it is all over and judged by 20/20 hindsight. This is also the way of the world. Be reasonable. Lastly, when the primary authority arrives, brief them and then get the hell out of the way and see how you can support the primary effort.