Suburban Defense: A cop's guide to protecting your home and neighborhood during riots, civil war, or SHTF.

​Book 1 in the Suburban Survival Series

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America has entered a time when civil disturbances, unrest, and mobs threaten near-anarchy on the streets of suburbia as police are unwilling or unable to protect citizens from rioters. Our nation has entered a time where it is divided in a way we haven’t seen since 1861. We are on the verge of a civil war. This book isn’t to convince you we are at that point or how we got there; this book is to give you ideas on how to protect yourself, your home, and your neighborhood when evil threatens and the police cannot protect you.

Many prepper and survivalist manuals give up suburbia as lost, focusing on rural communities. Not all of us are fortunate to have self-sufficient homesteads in the country, but are trapped in suburbia. What does an urbanite do when SHTF comes to the suburbs?

This book is how average people, with no military or law enforcement skills, who haven’t been steeping themselves in the prepper/patriot movement for years can defend a modern American suburban neighborhood. Military and police tactics have been adapted for realistic scenarios that civilians might face. If you want to stay safe and protect yourself and your neighborhood from people seemingly bent on destroying the country for destruction’s sake, this is your guide.

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Excerpt: Chapter 1-Critical Event Categories

Definitions 
SHTF: Shit Hits the Fan.[1] Any emergency event that deviates from our normal condition of civil order beyond a limited disaster and implies a partial or total collapse of law and order.
 
WROL: Without the Rule of Law. This is a situation where police and courts are non-existent; a total collapse of law and order. Criminals will not be arrested and prosecuted. It is the law of the jungle; kill or be killed; only the fittest survive. This situation is essentially lawless and resembles war more than a disaster.
 
Grid down: A disaster or situation where nationally or across your region the utility and communications systems collapse totally, along with the supply chain. There is no electricity, city water, Internet, phones, nor distribution of groceries, fuel, or other essentials. You must be self-sufficient to survive.
 
Introduction 
What I intend to look at here are situations where policing is ineffective or totally absent. To keep it simple, here are three broad categories:

• Ineffective policing; where police do exist but are unable to do much more than apprehend criminals after-the-fact. The criminal justice system functions in this scenario and may be politically biased towards those that resist the locally dominant ideology. All laws apply, but enforcement and protection are unavailable and uneven in application.
• Temporary chaos; police may or may not be present but law enforcement and the criminal justice system are temporarily suspended. Police and prosecutorial activity are rare and operates almost at random. Excesses related to personal defense are likely to be prosecuted in the future when the situation stabilizes. An example of this would be what occurred during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
• Without the rule of law (WROL); law enforcement and the criminal justice system have completely failed and are totally absent. Individual citizens are responsible for their defense and the law serves as no deterrent. Crimes go unpunished by the traditional governmental systems and those acting in self-defense may utilize means generally illegal during normal times.

 
Ineffective policing is the risk of our time. Many criminals report they have lost their respect for cops as they know the courts and politicians will not support the officers. The “Ferguson Effect” is the fruit of de-policing, where officers deliberately reduce their enforcement activity in order to avoid excessive scrutiny or reduce the possibility they will be prosecuted under political pressure. Outside the contemporary United States, ineffective policing would include police strikes.
In 2020, this has been seen in communities like Minneapolis where officers have been prevented from tackling criminal activity in certain areas or restricted from more aggressively curbing rioting. Seattle’s CHAZ autonomous zone was abandoned by police under orders from city leadership, quickly causing the Capitol Hill neighborhood to become home to violence like shootings and beatings. “Security” in CHAZ was maintained by an armed thug militia that targeted journalists and anyone they thought were police spies.
With rioting in particular, in 2015 Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that,” during the riots there, where we first saw police being actively held back. Portland is the most notable example in 2020 of police being politically restrained as the mayor prohibited use of things like tear gas and refused to protect the federal courthouse.
Here I examine not what caused the event, but how humans react and how that reaction may be a threat to you. These crises could be short term or they could be long term. Numbers 3 and 4 trend to long-term. I have framed these events in terms of civil unrest.
 
1.      “Mostly peaceful protest.” 
Small scale acts of vandalism and violence often done in revenge or to further antagonize, that is not stopped by police usually because of politics.
 
In cities too numerous to mention, protests marched down residential streets with the intention of making a lot of noise to annoy, harass, and intimidate the residents. The reasoning behind this is the supposed culpability of your average suburbanite for being part of a system the protesters don’t like. These events were characterized by yelling/chanting, trespassing across lawns and driveways, and banging on doors and windows. Sporadic vandalism occurred. Police mainly observed the events. Protesters typically moved through the area once they felt they made their point.
What was not seen in these incidents were burglary or personal violence. Practically never did the protesters attack anyone or force their way into homes. Vandalism was limited to mostly childish destruction, such as trashing mailboxes, damaging cars, and spray painting things. Someone’s flowers probably got trampled on too.
The criminal violations are minor: obstructing traffic, jaywalking, perhaps trespassing (although it is not illegal to walk up to someone’s door or across their lawn), and usually misdemeanor vandalism. Incidents of explosives, arson, or major vandalism have so-far been mostly isolated incidents by someone with a bone to pick against a certain house or resident. Police generally do not make arrests.
These neighborhood invasions are like an outdoor version of burglary for the feelings they cause in reaction. A burglary is an invasion of your space and often leaves victims with a feeling of vulnerability and that an unquantifiable thing, the sanctity of their private home, was stolen. Burglaries are initially frightening, then often an angering experience to see your home rifled through and things missing.
Persons who have experienced such aggressive residential protests and marches report feeling emotions afterwards similar to burglary victims. While infuriating to see a bunch of petulant troublemakers violate the sanctity of one’s neighborhood by those who wish you harm, you cannot allow the feelings of helplessness and anger dictate your actions.
For those of us watching hooligans terrify, destroy, and loot with impunity on television as police do nothing, it is even worse for those who had to experience it first hand. In that moment, one has to consider what will happen next. Will the mob pass on by or will they escalate to arson and forcing entry? In these moments, police have failed the citizens they are sworn to protect by allowing this to go on, often for political reasons. “Give them room to riot,” politicians say.
Fortunately, in the residential areas the protesters did remain “mostly peaceful.” Little physical harm was done. All that one had to do to stay safe was remain in a locked home, away from the windows with the curtains drawn, and arm themselves in the event things escalated. While in a sane world, police would have cracked down to send a message that this behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.
 
Characteristics

• These incidents occur in residential neighborhoods, either targeted or as a spontaneous spillover from another location. This may be a reaction to police dispersal from another area.
• Mob participants are mostly protesters there to demonstrate verbally and with signs.
• Front and unfenced yards are trespassed on, but no entry is made to homes.
• Homes are targeted for repeated doorbell ringing, banging on doors and windows, or surrounded for verbal intimidation.
• Destruction is limited generally to minor vandalism and trampling of landscaping. Broken windows may happen in some incidents, but not as an attempt to enter the home.
• Police are monitoring or following the crowd, but not intervening to disperse the crowd or make arrests.
• The incident usually ends when the mob finishes moving through the area or it self-disperses within a few hours at most.
• Traffic is usually blocked from leaving the area by the size of the crowd or by active intervention from participants.

 
Defense preparation

• Firearms should be carried at all times (concealed carry preferred), along with discreet wearing/staging of tactical gear.
• If there is sufficient advance warning (such as social media posts before the event) or word that a crowd is moving towards the neighborhood, pre-deployed rapid window covers can be installed. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to cover large front windows.
• Vehicles should be moved off the street and into a garage where possible, to the side/behind the house, or the driveway at a minimum.
• All doors, windows, and gates should be locked and barred. Deploy “no trespassing” signs to your yard and gates.
• All windows should have their blinds, drapes, or curtains closed.
• No interior lights should be visible from outside the house, but exterior lighting should be turned on.
• Fire extinguishers and other response equipment should be taken from storage and pre-deployed in case things escalate.
• Bug out bags should be ready to go.
• Move non-combatants to a safe part of the house. Turn on TV, video, or music to distract children or scared household members.
• If you have gas masks, get those out in the event police deploy tear gas.

 
Defense tactics

• Do not engage the crowd unless absolutely necessary; no political back-and-forth, no taunting.
• With all windows closed and lights off, avoid even being seen by the crowd. Do not give them an audience. Remain inside.
• Turn on sprinklers on the lawn to take advantage of people not wanting to get wet to force them away from that part of the house.
• This is not a situation to use force, unless the mob escalates it into one. Do not try to make arrests, etc. Lie low, let them pass by.
• Carefully observe the crowd via video cameras or from viewing places where you cannot be seen (window slit in a dark room, peephole, knot in the fence, etc.).
• If your home is specifically targeted, the mob want a response, so don’t give them one. Call the police so at a minimum your fears are on record. As frustrating and humiliating as it is, suck it up and let the crowd burn themselves out yelling at an unreactive house.
• If a window is broken, monitor the room for anyone attempting entry or throwing an incendiary device. Handle such an escalation appropriately. If you are able, barricade the broken window and secure the room from the rest of the house.

 
Pre-emptive measures

• Landscape your yard with a fence or other features to keep the crowd from just walking across your lawn. Perhaps install a driveway gate or barricade chain.
• Make your perimeter walls and fences non-conducive to jumping,
• Install security film on your front windows in case you are unable to board them up.
• Remove all flags, political signs, or other indicators of identity or belief, including bumper stickers on cars.

 
“Why didn’t you tell us to get our neighbors together and stand around with guns to frighten them off?”

First, you are likely to be outnumbered. Should the crowd see your weapons as a bluff, which they probably are, they will challenge you. At that point, you will need to escalate to using force, possibly lethal force, without legal justification, or have to back down. Backing down will embolden the crowd and should you actually need to mount an armed defense in the future, the crowd may misinterpret your earlier retreat as weakness.

I understand that it feels like you’re doing something and standing up to these bullies by going outside with your guns. An argument can be made for discreetly carrying (perhaps openly carried pistols vs. tactical gear and AR-15s) and standing in a large group to show resolve. The videos I’ve seen of these incidents varied in the details, but armed neighbors showing resolve and remaining impassive (versus engaging with the crowd or yelling political stuff back) worked successfully.

We are approaching a time when such an approach may result in the intruders escalating their actions to force a violent response, to which they can respond with more force. The decision on forming your own picket line will have to be a local one made on the merits of the situation and a read of the incident. I offer the most conservative approach that serves the best chance to not get any defenders in legal trouble. Often de-escalation and refusing the fight wins the battle, as un-sexy as it might be.

Remember that your actions can have adverse consequences, even if you start within the law or have the best of intentions. Your actions might influence a stupid mob to do stupid things. Slowly we are seeing these groups becoming bolder and more confrontational. All it takes is the perception of weakness or one agitator looking to intensify the conflict to call your bluff.
 
Intermediate event: specific targeting of your home
 
Your home may be singled out for particular attention during a riot or protest. This could be because someone saw multiple political signs and flags in front of your house or because you supported an unpopular cause. It is easy to “dox,” or use public records and information to reveal personal information including an address, for harassment purposes. This is often done by unhinged and unscrupulous enemies on the other side of an issue.

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson had his Washington DC home surrounded in 2018 by protesters who vandalized the house and terrorized his wife (Carlson was live on TV at the time so the instigators knew she would be alone). In December of 2020, a Michigan man had his home targeted by a bomber over political signs on his front lawn. One “victim” didn’t even live at the home that was vandalized. The former home of Barry Brodd, a use of force witness for Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, was splattered with pig’s blood and the animal’s head left behind.

No real harm was done, yet the events were disturbing and an indication that there is a low-intensity civil conflict going on in our country. These events were low-grade terrorism. The perpetrators got away without any consequences and there was nothing the victims could do to stop it from happening. This could happen to you.

Many people have been “cancelled” for saying things that the social media mobs didn’t want to hear, so jobs were lost and homes picketed. The protests may then turn from bad to worse. A one-sided incident can be spun up by people who hate you to result in harassment at your home. No matter how hard the protesters banged on the Carlson’s door, no matter how many people stood on random suburban lawns condemning the residents for being white, rich, or middle-class, there is nothing you can do but endure it.

Mrs. Carlson couldn’t shoot the people for harassing her, even though in the frontier days if an Indian tried the same thing a settler would have shot the Indian. Police can’t and won’t arrest people for occupying your lawn, rattling your door knob, and heckling you. There is little investigatorial will to identify the vandals graffitiing the garage door. In the case of the bombing incident, police will put out a little more effort because of the obvious danger of explosives.

Restraint is the key to getting through these situations. If you can move to an area that is not politically divided, do so. Harden your home and the perimeter so it is difficult for anyone unbidden to easily approach the house. Remain armed in a secure home and hope that the police can do something.
 
Example of blowback on the defender
 
St. Louis, Missouri, 2020: An angry mob breaks down a gate and enters the lawn of a wealthy couple’s mansion. The couple was charged with felonies and ultimately pled guilty to misdemeanors. The husband of former Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey was charged with brandishing for pointing a gun at an angry mob outside his home months prior to the 2020 unrest. See the section on brandishing in the “Self-Defense” chapter for more details.
 
2.      Violent unrest 
A temporary and localized loss of civil order that is beyond the ability of police to stop but are able to contain.
 
An example of this situation would be the 1965 Watts riot in Los Angeles, the 1967 Detroit riot, the 1992 Rodney King riots, and the WTO protest in Seattle. In current context, this would also include the events of Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and the 2020 George Floyd riots in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and many other cities. These events are where violent assaults, widespread looting, arson, and vandalism occur in specific areas of a metropolitan area, although it could happen in smaller towns too.

For your defensive considerations, riots that fit the pattern of historical ones are simply a variation of “normal” times. By that I mean that morally and legally, every consideration that applies in your day-to-day life, including self-defense laws, still applies. That means you can’t beat someone up or shoot them for walking down your street. Challenging them and encouraging them to go somewhere else is legal but there is nothing to do if they refuse.

In everything you do, be sure it remains within the law, except minor things you must do to stay safe, like blocking the street. Blocking the street is probably going to earn you a parking citation or traffic violation at worst, should anyone care. Many acts that would be customarily frowned upon will be ignored by police. Members of the public will likely understand and empathize with average people taking reasonable and responsible steps to protect themselves. Whatever you do, ask yourself: what would a jury think of this?

In these events, police are unable to maintain order and stop felony acts from happening. All police can really do is rescue innocents, try to keep a lid on things, and try to keep the riots from spreading across the city. Mostly police standby and let it happen; look at the videos from 2020 showing not a cop in sight as police cars are looted and burned. Looting and vandalism is like an out-of-control fire that the fire fighters are letting burn itself out.

In Minneapolis, the 3rd Precinct station was abandoned by police and overrun by rioters who burned the building. This transpired even though the building was barricaded and had been protected for a time by police. Politicians and police brass simply did not have the political will to protect the building. At a smaller scale, we saw this with the widespread abandonment of police cars to be looted and burned.

Failing to defend a police station sends an extremely bad signal that police will not even defend “their” property, so why would they defend the public?  On a symbolic level, letting a police station be taken and burned is like reducing “law and order” to a physical concept that is torn apart, burned, and then pissed on all while the cops do nothing.

The station being destroyed through an unwillingness to appear oppressive is a first-order effect. A second-order effect is the encouragement to continue rioting or become more aggressive because no opposition is encountered. A third order effect is that respect for law and order, or at least the fear of enforcement and punishment, is diminished. A fourth order effect is a lost of trust in the police by the public, leading the public to take matters into their own hands. Should civil unrest continue to occur with little police intervention, soon civilians will begin to respond on their own and they will not be as self-controlled as police.

Generally in historic riots, businesses were the target for arson, theft, vandalism, and looting. Physical violence was contained in the areas of unrest and usually between participants in the riots or those unlucky enough to be caught in them. Gang violence is common. Residential areas were left relatively unaffected, although current trends indicate politically motivated riots will likely affect residential neighborhoods in the future.

What is characteristic about these events are two-fold; the “message” of the movement is subordinated by the second-order effects of troublemakers looking to behave badly under the cover of the event. The looters know they can empty out Target because the police can’t/won’t protect it and the looters know this. Whatever brought people out to the streets is almost irrelevant once “the cause” becomes a catalyst and excuse for civil disorder.

For most people, if you don’t live in a big city, you have nothing to worry about. In my county, there were protests in several cities. Ventura County[2] is pretty white and Hispanic, mostly middle class, so these events were nothing more than marching in traffic so teenagers, college students, and leftists could virtue signal. The largest impact was the blocking of traffic for a bit. A woman got pepper sprayed and an idiot walking in traffic got hit by a car. The sheriff’s department did take an alert posture and sent deputies to the outlet mall.

Symbols or highly visible areas are popular. Las Vegas saw protests on the Strip and downtown in 2020 and Washington DC’s monuments were gathering points and targets of vandalism. In fact, in most of the major riots in recent American history, riots tend to be rather confined to downtown or “big city” urban areas that lean heavily towards minority racial demographics. Using 1992 as an example (I’m from California) if you didn’t live in the ghetto, the riot threat was pretty limited.
 
Intermediate event: flash mobs and flash riots.
 
Flash mobs became a phenomenon as text messaging proliferated. Now flash looting mobs can show up at a store and empty the place in minutes out of nowhere. Sometimes people get hurt. As the social and economic situation deteriorates, these forms of theft/robbery will become more common. A flash looting mob at a liquor store was a catalyst for the 1992 LA riots. Using force to defend a home or business may amplify the anger of the crowd or those that sympathize with the perpetrators turned victims.

A likely event might be the future crash of the EBT system, a cyber attack on the financial system, or food shortages. Angry, hungry people begin looting a grocery store and wrecking the place. This has actually happened when localized EBT system failures happened at the beginning of a month. It lasted a few hours and service was restored, but if memory serves me right, shoplifting and some violence happened at a Walmart.

Just imagine if a major disaster or war that interrupted the supply chains happens and people can’t pay for their food. Imagine Texas during the cold snap of 2021 when millions realize that food isn’t going to quickly fill the shelves back up and the lights won’t go back on. Almost anywhere could see food riots and if the conditions are right, they may explode into widespread unrest. These flash mobs can grow out of control. One never knows when a small spark will turn into a forest fire.
 
Sidebar: What if urban civil unrest turns into an uprising?
           

We saw this across the Middle East in the last decade where protests against tyranny became riotous and resulted in true insurrections. During the Arab spring, most Arab countries had protests of one kind or another, resulting in five countries undergoing regime change, and several others making important governmental reforms. Libya’s dictator was killed and Syria is still working through a civil war.

Not every riot or incident of unrest will result in a civil war. When riots stay in lock-step with politics and transform into uprisings, seeking political change through violence, beware. We do need to take heed that in today’s fractious political environment, riots can be come something far more dangerous. In the next category, we look at when localized lawlessness spreads.
 
Characteristics

• The unrest during these incidents are geographically isolated, even though the troublesome areas may be widespread or occurring sympathetically in cities across the state/nation.
• Areas in the closest proximity to riots are at highest risk, usually economically disadvantaged areas with high minority populations (the ghetto).
• Suburban areas and adjoining communities far from the unrest are usually unaffected.
• These events usually start in response to a specific event, but the catalyst that starts the riots is incidental to the follow-on effects of lawlessness.
• Violence can be specifically targeted against political opponents, other races, upper classes, etc.
• As violence spirals out of control, the atmosphere is used as a license to burn, loot, rob, beat, destroy, and so on, with little relation to the initiating event.
• Police are often powerless to control the riots or protect the public; sometimes this is because of political decisions at the city/state level.
• The riots continue for several days until law enforcement and the National Guard are able to get a handle on the situation (weather changes have also been a cause for riots to fizzle out).
• The rule of law is still in effect, even if it isn’t being enforced to stop the riots. If you break the law, especially if it is an egregious overreaction or politically unpopular, expect to be prosecuted. Conduct yourself to the legal standards as you would every single day of normal life.

 
Defensive preparations

• Much of Category 1 is applicable, depending on the proximity one’s residence has to the riot itself. If close to the riots, or rioting is expected locally, make preparations as in Category 1. Otherwise:
  • Monitor the extent and spread of the riots in case the situation intensifies or expands. In 2020, we saw intent to spread looting from metropolitan areas to suburbs under the observation that suburbs were unprepared and wealthier. Use this opportunity to practice your skills monitoring police radio traffic and open source news to develop intelligence on the situation.
  • Maintain a heightened level of awareness and if you do not regularly carry a weapon, do so. Consider a “trunk gun” long-arm if you are comfortable with such a weapon and can carry it legally (and securely) in your vehicle.
  • If you work in affected areas, modify your work routine or work from home if possible. Don’t go to work in areas with active riots.
• If the riots are in your part of the city or in your neighborhood, take more extensive measures to control access to the neighborhood.

• Start talking to your neighbors (if you haven’t already done so) about creating a mutual assistance group to watch the neighborhood. If there is interest, see that plan into action.
• Harden the front of your home at this time and other weak areas. This is the time to accept inconveniences like boarding up the front windows.
• Monitor the street (go out front and look around) and take short walks/drives around your immediate area to get an idea of what is going on.
• Have someone at home always awake and monitoring news, scanners, and outside. Ideally this is a family member but a trusted neighbor who can alert everyone is ideal.
• Move street barricades into place, but do not close the street until danger is imminent. You may inadvertently block a neighbor who is trying to get home to safety.
• If you are not carrying your long-guns or wearing tactical gear, keep it at hand at all times.

 
Defense tactics

• If you are outside, wear a helmet and eye protection if possible and use weapon retention devices (like a sling for a rifle).
• Barricade the street as the rioters approach and mount your guard. Depending on the exact nature of the mob, you may not erect barricades and may choose to simply maintain a visible presence while armed to serve as a soft deterrent if more disruptive/aggressive measures are not called for.
• Do not engage the crowd unless absolutely necessary; no political back-and-forth, no taunting. Stand well back from the barricade and crowd if possible to avoid the appearance you are trying to go toe-to-toe with them, which may encourage them to stop and heckle.
• Challenge rioters or strangers who are attempting to enter your neighborhood/street.
• Refrain from using force except in a direct attack on you or someone else (this includes aiming weapons at anyone).
• Perhaps have someone with a camcorder record the mob as it passes so they know they are being filmed and seen.
• Should your barricade be forced, tactically withdraw to a second perimeter, if possible, or back to your home.
  • The crowd may have forced its way down the street, but as the street is technically public property, with law and order still intact, do not try and actively stop them from coming down.
  • Do not use force against a crowd that is not a threat to life.
  • Depending on local laws, you may use non-lethal force against persons trying to enter your yard (trespassing).
  • If you should be threatened with violence or objects are being thrown, go inside and lock down.
  • Be alert for persons trying to infiltrate your property at unobserved locations.
• If the rioters attempt to kill or seriously wound someone, respond appropriately to the persons presenting the threat. Handle attempted arson attacks on occupied structures as outlined in that section.
• If you are violently overrun, use non-lethal tactics to disperse the crowd and/or create some space for you and your team to retreat into a home, otherwise only ever use force against specific persons when justified under self-defense laws, not generally against the crowd.
• Retreat inside if police arrive on scene.

 
Example of blowback on the defender
 
In August 2020, 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse came to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to help defend a friend’s business during the protests/riots after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse spent the day helping to clean up and repair damage from the previous night’s unrest. During a confused situation, Kyle was set upon by three members of the mob and violently attacked. Kyle opened fire with an AR-15 he was carrying, killing two protesters and injuring another.

All of the protesters had criminal records and were captured on video attempting to assault Rittenhouse. The survivor was shot as he attempted to draw a pistol. Despite the video being obvious evidence of self-defense, Rittenhouse was charged with murder, among other crimes. He and his friends were characterized as “vigilantes” by the sheriff, who did little to protect businesses.
 
3.      Short-term near-WROL 
A widespread loss of civil order where evildoers are often not stopped by authorities, but prosecution may come after-the fact.

The closest situation to a true SHTF scenario modern America has seen is what happened after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Law and order totally collapsed as police deserted the city and government was rendered impotent. For days, even weeks, citizens were essentially on their own in a city filled with desperate predators. We have all heard the stories of murders, robberies, home invasions, violent looters, and gang warfare in the flooded streets (real or imagined).
As bad as the situation was, it was temporary and all knew it. Police were still extant (if practically worthless), the court system still functioned, and both Louisiana and the nation were still in business. The National Guard and mutual aid police officers from across the country came in to reestablish order. For law-abiding citizens, every law and consideration when using force or protecting one’s home/neighborhood was still in effect during and after the crisis as it was before the storm.

Extreme measures that may be morally acceptable, or excessive but understandable, were prosecuted. These situations are almost always temporary in nature and the situation reverts back to law and order. This is not a free-for-all situation where one can go weapons-free and do whatever they feel is necessary for survival. Expect disproportionate behavior to be investigated and punished afterwards.

An example of how this works out can be taken from war crime trials; the defendants never thought they would lose the war and be prosecuted. I understand that the situation may be so dark and perilous that there is a great temptation to throw away restraint and behave how a soldier might, but what you do during a temporary dark age may come back to haunt you. Never lose your morality or humanity, even if you must harden your heart. Your morality is your compass to staying out of legal trouble (as far as possible) and not committing atrocities.

My two nuclear war novels, Limited Exchange and Late for Doomsday, deals with a world where certain harsh measures have to be taken, yet the characters are not absolved of legal or moral responsibilities. One such instance is how to handle a defensive shooting after an attempted carjacking before radioactive fallout arrives.

For the average person responding to the crisis, police may not be doing anything, but they will again someday. This means you don’t get to preemptively shoot threatening people, use force against an angry mob just for coming down your street, or killing looters. Criminals might be encouraged to pillage the town with the police gone, yet you still need to respond to them according to established law. Whenever and wherever you exceed the law, it must be something that you can live with, if caught and punished, and/or something so necessary, reasonable, and restrained that a jury would be sympathetic to you.
           
Characteristics

• These events are usually in combination with a natural disaster. They could be the beginning stages of a total collapse type situation depending on what is happening nationally.
• The area of the event is widespread across a major metropolitan area, a region, multiple states, or even the entire nation.
• There is usually a failure of the supply chain (stores are closed/empty) and utilities may be interrupted.
• Duration of the event is from several weeks to months. Law-and-order, utilities, and municipal governance are eventually restored. Life returns to normal.
• For all practical purposes, law enforcement is totally absent. Police cannot be relied upon for proactive protection (deterrence) or emergency response.
  • Citizens must protect themselves from attack and theft as well as serve as their own deterrent to crime.
  • Police will not be able to accept citizen’s arrests.
  • Any law enforcement activity is likely to be a sporadic, unhelpful appearance where the officers are unable to do anything.
  • Law enforcement may be actively hostile against armed/proactive citizens.
  • Criminals will take advantage of absent policing to engage in overt criminal activity. Expect greater threats, more aggressive criminals, and persons who wouldn’t ordinarily break the law to commit crimes.
• The personal safety threat shifts from large, rioting mobs or hyper-specific incidents against individuals or their homes/businesses to pervasive and random attacks, usually of opportunity or on soft targets.
• Burglaries, home invasions, robberies, carjacking, looting, theft, and assaults occur at a higher rate than before and outside of traditionally “bad” neighborhoods.
• Your defensive posture will shift from manning a barricade and fronting off a mob (short duration) to patrolling and being alert for surreptitious or aggressive burglaries, home invasions, etc.
• Persons from all walks of life and responsibilities behave abnormally; from failure of those in positions of responsibility to take charge to your fellow citizens behaving irrationally.
• You may feel tempted yourself to behave in extreme ways, such as shooting a non-violent looter, but such action is not appropriate nor justified.
• It seems like civilization has stepped out of the room for a moment.

 
Defensive preparations

• Typical disaster and long-term emergency supplies and preparations are needed. This is where being a prepper is a huge advantage. Look to those resources for guidance.
  • Have a sufficient store of food, water, and necessities for at least three months prior to any trouble on the horizon. If you are unable to do so, buy as much supplies as you can.
  • Have redundant means of communications (radios) and a way to generate your own electricity, like a generator or solar panel system.
  • Be mentally prepared to survive on your own without government help for a long time.
  • Evacuate to a safer location if possible.
• Activate your neighborhood mutual defense group if you have created one already or at least coordinate defenses/security with anyone who is not evacuating.
• Make sure all neighbors have a way to call for help to each other; 911 may not work.
• Someone, preferably two people, need to be on security watch at all times, including patrolling the immediate area to keep and eye out for people who may be sneaking in to do bad things.
• Barricade your street but be mindful that neighbors may still need to come and go. Consider a night-only total closure of the street to vehicle traffic.
• Remember when boarding up windows that you may need daylight or ventilation if utilities are absent or marginal.
• Keep armed at all times and a long-gun at hand, even if tactical gear isn’t always worn.
• As far as possible, keep your home secured. Burglaries are common when windows are left open in warm weather, for example.
• Make your home look like an unappealing target, rather than a high-tech hard target like you have something to protect. Think crappy salvaged boards over the windows versus some sort of purchased high-tech defense. Let your landscape go unkempt.
• Take serious precautions to conceal any supplies that you have; do not let anyone, even a neighbor, know you are riding out the storm comfortably. Criminals may target you for robbery and even a friend, when desperate, could turn against you. An example of this is generator thefts in the South after a hurricane.

 
Defensive tactics

• A slightly relaxed rules of engagement would be appropriate in order to affect your safety as ordinary means of dealing with suspicious persons and criminals through the police is absent.
• Your defensive posture will be vigilance: watching for intruders into your neighborhood and your home. This is accomplished by observational duty in static posts watching and by patrolling the area. If you are alone, do not leave your home unattended unless absolutely necessary.
• Challenge intruders; if they claim to live in the neighborhood, make them identify themselves to your satisfaction. If they cannot prove they belong there, send them on their way. Consider having someone snap a photo of them for later identification if necessary.
• Spraying someone with water to make them uncomfortable and annoy them may be one way to get them to leave, but this could be construed as assault.
• If you must go physical with someone to encourage them to leave, physically restrain them and walk them out of the area.
• For persons engaging in criminal activity who refuse to leave or return, if you are able to apprehend them (use handcuffs or zip ties), but you can’t find police to turn over your arrestee to, drive them far away and drop them off. Note that this may be extra-legal and construed as kidnapping.
• It is tempting to smack a bad guy around, but if you use unnecessary roughness, or decide to beat someone up, to disincentivize them from returning, understand you may be prosecuted or sued later.
• Most persons looking to assault or steal will be deterred by a neighbor’s presence and the additional challenges and resistance from an armed person will only accentuate their desire to leave. However, be prepared for a desperate or deranged person who escalates the situation to violence. This is where pepper spray, a Taser, impact weapons, or firearms are handy.

 
Example of blowback on the defender
 
Hospital workers euthanized stranded patients who could not be evacuated from deteriorating hospitals.[3] In the Danziger bridge incident, several New Orleans police officers shot unarmed civilians. It appears officers grossly overreacted in a tense situation where they operated as if the world had ended. In other words, they panicked, shot first and asked questions later, then tried to cover it up. The officers were prosecuted and convicted.[4]

If there was no rule of law in a true SHTF situation, we probably would have heard nothing of these incidents. Both of those incidents were inexcusable from a moral standpoint, yet the fear and desperation that lead to those bad decisions being made can be understood.
 
4.      Long-term WROL (anarchy) 
The absence of government authority and a reversion to an uncivilized world (i.e. survival of the fittest).

My fictional works, the VCSO EMP series, Hard Favored Rage and Blood Dimmed Tide, deal with a WROL scenario. Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and nuclear war are high-impact, low probability events. Decades ago, we would have said the same thing about a second civil war, but here we are. For a WROL scenario to occur, America would have to change drastically. Most likely scenarios are a civil war or a full-scale economic collapse.

For an example, we have to look outside the United States at Sarajevo 1992-1996. During much of the siege, the city was entirely lawless. The rule of law collapsed and survival by any means necessary was justified. Crimes were perpetrated freely, without any police-type force to intervene. Predators were free to prey on the populace and average citizens did use extreme measures to stay safe.

Retaliation and the odd war-crime trial for high profile individuals aside, no one faced repercussions for what they did in these events. While that is bad for the evil people, this allows you to use a broader spectrum of defense and offense typically reserved for wartime. Survival is not a given thing and you must be prepared to survive at all costs and do things that would normally be off-limits for civilian self-defense.

Without going into graphic detail, one should be prepared for extreme circumstances that would lead individuals to do things they ordinarily wouldn’t. The horrors that happen overseas in war and famine will happen here.

The 1990s siege of Sarajevo, old enough for most people in their thirties to remember, was a real horror show. The writings by a survivor known as “Selco”[5] detail how awful it was. Genocide was commonplace. Snipers shot people for fun. Neighbors stole from and betrayed one another. Women were abducted by gangs and rival factions to be gang raped as sex slaves. Civilization and decency totally broke down during the siege.

During something as horrific as the siege of Sarajevo, one must do whatever they can to survive. It truly is kill or be killed, where decisions to feed your children while the kids next door starve to death have to be made, even after you shot their father for stealing vegetables from your garden.

How best to survive this? The joke answer is a time machine or a plane ticket to a sensible country. If you can move now, move to a rural community in a conservative state and buy your own self-sufficient, defensible property.
 
Characteristics

• The situation is marked by total disorganization and disintegration of the normal social order caused by disaster or war.
• For all intents and purposes, civilized society is non-existent.
• Ordinary commercial, private, and government services are out of business. Often utilities, transportation, and communications have been interrupted.
• Day-to-day life is a survival situation where the final outcome has a high probability of death.
• The situation is regional, with very limited chances of escape, or even statewide or national.
• Local intervention is not possible; i.e. the National Guard isn’t coming to save you. In fact, no one is coming to save you. If you are very lucky, in the late stages aid organizations like the Red Cross may come in, but then it will be too late for many people.
• Morality will go out the window for many people and horrific things will be done, such as cannibalism. Killing will be among the first answers to interpersonal difficulties and criminality. Predators will exploit the situation for their gain or to satisfy their perversions.
• Obtaining food, water, and medical care will be impossible, very expensive, or extremely difficult.
• Power will be exercised by force and not necessarily by police, the military, or good guys. Citizens pledge support to whoever can take over and provide safety, supplies, or just won’t hurt them.

 
Defensive preparations

• Implement the foregoing suggestions.
• If at all possible, move outside large cities and metropolitan areas. Even moving to relatively isolated small cities or towns within half a tank of gas of a large city is preferable to staying very near large population centers.
• Stockpile years worth of food and supplies. Identify alternative sources of water and have various means of collecting and purifying water.
• Invest in serious firearms and defensive tactical training.
• Make permanent modifications to your home or be able to make them when the situation deteriorates, such as barring or boarding up windows and adding bulletproof materials.
• Consolidate all relatives into a single home or adjacent homes. The more eyes and ears looking out, the better.
• Create a defensive team from reliable and well-prepared neighbors. If you have a mutual assistance group in other parts of the town, consider moving into the same neighborhood, even if this means taking over abandoned homes.
• Barricade the street and restrict all entry to those who live there and only their verified guests. Use force to keep anyone else out. No one else has business on your street and could be a spy, thief, or saboteur.
• Never leave children, the sick, disabled, or elderly persons alone. If women are unable or unprepared to defend themselves, do not leave them alone. In times of mass rape, women and children may need to remain in doors or in fenced backyards at all times.
• Make your neighborhood look unappealing with poor landscaping, poor superficial maintenance, and garbage strewn about. Don’t look like you have anything worth stealing. Look like ragtag survivors, not people who planned for this.
• Institute communication protocols for a WROL scenario, including using equipment, frequencies, or techniques that are ordinarily prohibited (i.e. encryption).

 
Defensive tactics

• Understand that you may need to do things that violate our innate Western sense of charity and fair play. Only do things that you are morally prepared to accept having done when the situation normalizes. 
• Don’t be evil; if in war it would be a war crime, don’t do it. History does not look well upon atrocities, even if it seems necessary or proper at the time.
• Loosen the rules of engagement to handle threats preemptively.
• Deploy your armed neighborhood watch around the clock. Make sure that anyone watching you sees that you are on the lookout for them.
• If someone is threatening you and demanding goods or services, do not give in, no matter what.

Politely refuse demands from interlopers or refugees who want goods or services. The same goes for persons in authority if authority is meaningless; do not give in or admit strangers. Have the men and arms to back up your refusal.

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