I’m an international security expert, this is how I tell clients to stay safe during the festive season

You might feel like the holiday season is approaching quickly this year. Christmas lights and decorations are already emerging and brightening up the dark evenings. Now, as the office parties, celebrations and festive events take place, people will be keen to have fun and distract from what may have been a difficult year for many people.

At the same time, as someone who advises companies, families and high-profile figures on how to avoid dangerous threats, I would say, this is also an important time to raise awareness levels.

Firstly, it gets dark earlier now and muggers, along with other street criminals, do take advantage of the low visibility once daylight fades. Try to avoid poorly lit areas, whether walking around or parking your car.

When there are festive parties going on, bag thieves can be especially active in bars, restaurants and pubs. During celebrations, it’s easy to assume friends or colleagues are watching each other’s bags, but often guards get dropped and bags disappear. Even phones left on tables can suddenly get removed by quick hands.

This brings me to another key vulnerability: people’s drinks, especially when left unattended or when people are distracted by celebration. Drink spiking is more common than the public may realise. It’s something I address in detail when training young people before they travel. It’s also good to be very careful about accepting drinks from strangers or less-known parties.

Sometimes, a person will ask a friend or colleague to watch their drink, but again people can get distracted or simply lower their guard, especially when they have been drinking. Also, on this subject of drinking, upon leaving a venue, people who look like they’ve had one too many will be inviting targets to predatory aggressors.

I’ve taught self-defence tactics and urban awareness to numerous women over the years and will often ask if they would like to share any situations where they were under threat. In the training sessions, many times I have heard women mention situations where they were followed or approached by intimidating individuals.

This could be on a street or on public transport. Route selection is important, as is choosing the safest way of getting home. It’s also much better if people can avoid travelling alone.

When waiting for a private taxi to arrive, choose carefully where you wait and actively engage your situational awareness when exiting venues and when arriving at your house or apartment building.

Another factor to take into account is that as we get closer to the end of the year and into winter, people’s energy levels can dwindle. When people are tired, it can affect their levels of alertness.

Should someone look fatigued, this also makes them a more inviting target for all kinds of criminals. Try to clock those moments when fatigue sets in and awareness dwindles.

In my training approach, Tri-Tier, there are three levels of training. One of these is resilience. By building your resilience, you become a less appealing target. Simple practices, like the utilisation of your breathing in a focused way and adjusting your posture, can reignite awareness and energy levels.

Then, we will use principles and practices from older martial arts traditions, so this resilience and awareness training can be taken to even more subtle levels.

A cliché line but an important one that will be used during training is: read the road ahead. It’s a good concept to put into place and should be practised.

Taking this further though, note that not all aggressors loiter on the street; sometimes they will use vehicles to conceal themselves and then launch an assault from them.

Be mindful of stationary vehicles and people who could be inside them. Maintain distance.

Sometimes, I train high-profile figures who could be facing the risk of kidnapping or other threats and so we will address scenarios where sudden grabs take place, possibly in close proximity to the hostile party’s vehicle, be it car or van. We will look at the different ways aggressors try to close in.

Sometimes it will involve rapid movement; other times dialogue will be used to mask their approach.

I mentioned earlier about limiting those moments where you are travelling alone, and it must be said, for some people the holiday season can be an extremely lonely time.

There is sometimes social pressure on people to find partners or meaningful connection. Many people will use dating apps to meet the right person, but it’s good to be mindful that not everyone they meet on an app will have the same intentions or even values. There could even be other motives.

It’s important to be mindful of who you engage with and where you engage with them. Here we explore the way deception is used by some dubious individuals.

We will look at threat indicators and psychological ploys. This is a big subject and can be covered in more depth in a future LBC feature.

Where people need to be especially alert, across Europe, as the festive period gets close, is in places where there are specific holiday celebrations or events taking place, such as Christmas markets.

From a counter-terror perspective, as previous incidents have shown, terror-based attacks can occur in such places. This can involve knife-based violence or vehicle as weapon attacks (VAW). One such incident was the truck-based attack that took place in Berlin, Germany in 2016.

One of our best tools at individual level and collectively as a society is our situational awareness. If something doesn’t feel right, move away.

Now, if one does spot suspicious behaviour, don't hesitate to report it, as it could result in lives being saved. Sometimes people hesitate because they figure someone else will make the call or they fear that they are being overly worried.

Ultimately, the holiday season should bring joy and the chance to enjoy time with friends and family. Still, knowing how to be sharp like a fox and alert like an eagle should allow you to enjoy the festivities without drama.

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Aran Dharmeratnam is a private security consultant and an internationally known specialist in self-protection training. Aran is the founder of the Tri-Tier training method. He also works with security companies involved in private investigations and risk intelligence.