Criminal Motivation: Sometimes Stuff Happens

 Greg Ellifritz has a new article up entitled "Criminal Motivation" which discusses criminals he came across in his career whose motivation was unfathomable or seemingly crazy. That is, they did not fall into the standard classification of Resource Predators or Process Predators. "It’s pretty easy to understand a criminal’s motivation when he steals an unattended purse," he observes, adding that "[i]t’s also easy to understand why you are getting an 'educational beatdown' after talking smack to a gang member."  But, as he points out, some crimes are more difficult to categorize. 

    From there Ellifritz shares some anecdotes of criminals that literally had no motivation to try and attack him or commit other crimes, not even knowing themselves why they did it, and acted spontaneously. In one case, he was attacked by a man who he was helping without issue when the man thrust out his hand to shake Ellifritz's hand, and used that as an opening to attack him. Ellifritz relates:

After I arrested him, he was calm and polite again. He couldn’t tell me why he had tried to take me down. It was almost like he suffered from extremely poor impulse control. He had a strange thought and he just suddenly had to act on it. No rhyme or reason.

He adds:

It was one of the few examples of completely random violence that I’ve ever experienced. There was no predicting this attack. There was no way to avoid it. What I did or didn’t do had absolutely zero effect on his crazy thoughts.

He goes on to give other examples, including a couple that seemed to be the result of intoxication or drugs, and one where an arrestee's excuse was because he was a "fu**-up".  Another criminal simply liked the adrenaline rush he got from stealing and not getting caught by the police. 

    But the key points you probably should take away are these:

• "A lot of people simply can’t comprehend the idea that sometimes the criminal has literally no motivation whatsoever to attack, but yet does so anyway." 
• "There are situations where no level of increased awareness, verbal judo, or 'de-escalation' will prevent your victimization."
• "You can do everything 'right' and still get attacked.  We can mitigate our risks against certain criminals, but we can never fully eliminate those risks."
• "We can’t be prepared for every attack.  All we can do is to pay attention and stack the odds in our favor by training hard.  Sometimes the day chooses you.  Be ready to step up to bat when that happens."

    While you are at Greg's blog, be sure to check out his latest Weekend Knowledge Dump. A lot of links to good articles and videos on topics as diverse as troubleshooting damaged or worn gas rings on the AR's bolt carrier, different ways to splint broken appendages, a new pistol standard to test your skills, and more. But the four that really stood out for me were:

1. An article from Grant Cunningham, "The best defense is still not being there," (discussing the fact that most defensive gun uses are avoidable and the importance of managing interpersonal conflict);
2. The Revolver Guy's "Lessons From the Murder of Trooper Philip Lamonaco";
3. Richard Nance's "7 Must-Know Tips to Survive and Prevent a Carjacking"; and,
4. A video from Active Self Protection entitled "Large Group Of Robbers Jack Mans Car At One A.M." As to the latter, Greg comments: 

I’m seeing more and more attacks like this perpetrated by large groups of feral urban youth.  The days of “multiple attackers” numbering two or three are long gone.  What you see here is now becoming the norm.  If you aren’t training with this likelihood in mind, I think you are doing yourself a large disservice.  

Check them out.