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The
Bystander Effect: When the Good Guys Are Viewed As Bad Guys
By Ari Bolden
www.veritas-services.com
As
a doorman, I’ve seen more violence and conflict than the average
person. In fact, I have a fascination with conflict and how
people react to it. But one of the most puzzling and frustrating
scenarios for anyone in a ‘combat situation’ is the
Bystander Effect.
My definition of
the Bystander Effect is: A third
party who begins to yell or interfere in some fashion when a
professional (law enforcement officer, security professional, or
bouncer) is trying to execute a physical restraint in the course of
their duty.
Now, the
Bystander Effect occurs because:
 They
are not fully informed:
Having only seen a part of the conflict, the bystander doesn’t know
how and why the violence is occurring. They assume that the
‘professional’ is acting excessively against someone who doesn’t
deserve it.
They are
unfamiliar with violence:
Perhaps the only violence the bystander has seen has been in the
movies. They do not know that real world violence is quick, nasty,
and uncoordinated at times. The violence shocks their system and
they automatically pick on the authority figure that is “winning”
and “restraining” the combative person.
They place
themselves in the shoes of the person:
People will often place themselves in someone else’s shoes who they
can relate to. Bystanders cannot relate to LEO or Security
Professionals because they have no formal experience of the job.
Therefore, they assume the role (mentally) of the combative person.
They don’t
understand resistance:
They have no idea how hard it is to restrain someone who doesn’t
want to be restrained. They think that the professional should be
able to hold the combative person down with little to no force. They
may not realize that the combative person is much stronger than the
professional so harder techniques will have to be employed.
 They
are misinformed about body dynamics and combative training:
In order to fully restrain someone, a certain amount of force and
pressure has to be applied to the body. This pressure is being
applied to STOP the combative person from fighting. Once that has
occurred, just enough pressure is applied to hold or take the person
into custody. The bystander may think a bouncer or martial artist
have special bullet proof moves to keep people in place.
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They do not know
what the force continuum is: Again, they have no idea what type
of physical response would be used with a combative person.
Actively aggressive persons cannot be controlled with light
escort or pain compliance techniques.
They think authority figures are bullies: Many bystanders who
interfere have problems themselves with authority figures and
make the sweeping judgment that all are bullies, toughs, and ego
driven monsters. They may have an axe to grind or a past
negative experience with one of these professionals.
How do you
change the mind of a bystander?
 Let
me first say that I have 20 years of martial and combative
experience behind my belt. I’ve also been involved in over 200
physical confrontations. I am what the average person you would
call “skilled”. However, trying to control or restrain someone
who doesn’t want to be is no walk in the park. The fluid nature
of combat, including movement, objects, weapons, and other
potential hazards on the street, makes easy restraint quite
difficult.
Don’t believe me? Just ask a friend to try and not let you hold
on to their wrist. They will pull, turn, jab, kick and trip you
in order to get their wrist free. They win because they don’t
have to play by the same rules as you. You are just trying to
hold on while they can do what they please to avoid it. The
analogy is touch vs. tackle football. You play touch and they
get to play tackle.
Therefore, the type of professionals I mentioned above realize
that simple restraints against a non compliant combative person
is NOT going to work. They have to change their game to “play
tackle” in order to gain control of the subject. This doesn’t
mean they hammer on them, only that they have to up the level of
force against a non compliant person to gain control over them.
The bystander has to realize that these professions deal with
violence on a common and frequent basis. The average citizen
gets to walk blindly through their everyday tasks while cops and
bouncers are rolling around in alley ways with junkies and
criminals. These professionals protect the bystander from the
ugly consequence of violence.
If you are a bystander, next time you see a conflict occur
between these two groups, take a deep breath and realize that it
is more than likely that the person the professional is trying
to restrain just committed a crime (commonly assault of another
poor bystander). The professionals’ job is often thankless and
the bystander effect is like the rubbing salt in the wound of
what they do.
I help people. I hate victimization. And I would surely hope
some of you would help me if I was in trouble one day because,
for the past ten years, my only reward for helping strangers has
been that they get to return home safely to their love ones.
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