Extract from the series of books on Door Supervising by Ronnie Gamble (c) 2001 2002 2008

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Introduction   Your primary duty as a DS is to prevent trouble, not to deal with it. The more proactive and pre-emptive you behaviour is, the more remote the chance is of trouble starting. Responsible venue owners have a duty of  care for their patrons and staff.  When you do come into physical contact with a patron,  the venue owner should demand a full explanation for your actions. Responsible owners will not take lightly to a DS who is either incapable of preventing trouble or always jumps in, feet first, to sort out a simple altercation. Only resort to physical contact when you honestly believe there is no viable alternative. 

There is another good reason for not making a habit of fighting with the patrons. It  is the fact that you stand a good chance of getting the crap beaten out of yourself. At any one time, most bars will have a handful of resentful patrons you have 'spoken to' or sorted out on previous occasions. They are usually waiting for trouble to start so that they can leap in and even the score. 

Outlined below are the drills and 'Actions On' for dealing with venue incidents. The common denominators for each drill include:

• Cover each others back at all times.

• Whenever possible, approach any incidents from behind the antagonists.

• Know your drill before you deal with incidents.

• Know where all friends and foes are located.

• Move in fast and take them out fast.

• Resolve the conflict as quickly as possible.

Drills

A drill is an operational procedure for dealing with a specific situation. Once you have been trained in coping with all the problem scenarios, your general demeanour will be one of confidence. You will take on the persona of  a guy (or gal) who has the edge. That is, you will always be in control and dictate the terms in any situation.  

Throughout this manual, detailed descriptions of specific scenarios have been presented and should be rehearsed.  This procedure will  help you to cope with the  fears and anxieties produced by this dangerous job of door supervising.  With practice and experience, you will also become more competent at modifying the basic drill to cope with the chaos of real life situations. Without this revision in real life scenarios, your survival will be limited.  

In order to promote speed, self confidence, and fighting skill, the revision sessions must contain as many variables as possible, for example;

1. The attack can be structured as a rush attack, rear attack, side attack, group attack, ground attack or combination attack.

2. The defence can incorporate withdrawal, ground fighting or mutual support.

3.  The opponent can be either tall, short, fat, thin, drunk, crazed, sitting, standing, prone or armed. You will be amazed at how impractical some techniques are when you try them on an opponent who does not resemble your training partner in either shape, size or demeanour. It can prove lethal for you to experience one of those "Oh Fcuk!"  moments in a real situation when a revision session would have eliminated this blind spot in your fighting response.

4. The conditions must also be varied and represent your working environment. Train within a crowd of people, in a cramped room, in darkness, your hands may be restrained by others or you  may be stunned.

Dealing With Rush Attacks

Consider this scenario.... Mr. Angry is thundering towards you with the brakes definitely off. He will either Bulldoze through you or else start shouting or finger stabbing at your chest. It does not matter if he is the bar manager or a street thug, they have to be stopped. After all, no one employs a crocodile in order to abuse it.

To stand firm and shout, "Stop"!! might work, perhaps...if it does not, you are totally stuffed.

Try this procedure; it is designed to be your first tenth of a second line of defence in the face of an unannounced rush attack/verbal assault.

Brain Once you have detected the threat, you must instantly energize the body by adapting the following well practiced drill to meet the threat.

Feet Step off to the left on the left foot and then swivel on the ball of the left foot to bring the right side of your body away from the attacker. Instead of the head on collision you are now turned from directly facing Mr. Angry to a side facing position as he rushes past, hopefully.

Mouth While your feet are performing this simple get away, your mouth is operating as well. Do not shout Stop, this is too passive. Try barking out "Back Off.. Now!!!" This sounds like a swear word and is more aggressive. On some occasions you may not get the first word out, it can happen that fast. When you do get the words out, everybody hears, including witnesses to the attack on your person.

Hands OK.. While your brain, feet and mouth are working, your hands have something to do that sends a clear message of intent. Your leading left finger is pointing at the face of Mr. Angry, it is also telling him to back off. The forearm can be used to parry off any hand attack.

The right hand is held back, slightly limp, ready to palm heel Mr. Angry on the shoulder of their non-pointing hand.

This movement can be coordinated and executed within a fraction of a second. If it was only a verbal attack, you are coping with it. If it was a physical attack, your response has also been positive. 

In a street fighting situation, it would prove more effective to double palm heel the chest area of Mr. Angry. This procedure would propel the antagonist  many yards backwards, but, in a crowded bar you want to torque the antagonists body into weak position. You do not want him to act like a reversing bulldozer, clearing other patrons and tables of drink on his merry way. 

If the rush attack catches you unawares, always try to get the point of your elbow up. That will be the first object Mr. Angry tries to attack with his rib cage. This procedure, to all those witnessing it, is a defensive move. You have lifted your hands up to protect your face. With your elbow raised to this position, you can cope with big swinging punches to your head without trying to stick your head up your ass. This position leaves your right hand and sight line free to win the fire fight.

If you really are caught out, as a last resort, try the gentle back hand flick to the eye area or a groin tap. After all no-one should be that invasive as to be hit in this manner.

Dealing With a Low Waist Hold - Method 1

In the early stages of a low rush attack, you can try any of the following,  

• Side step the attack

• Push down on the back of the attackers head to force them down

• Apply a face bar

• Apply a chancery on the head and then bull dog the head. This is a dangerous move for the attacker therefore it's use will have to be justified

• Attack the side of  the opponents neck

• Use your forearms to attack the collar bones. This is a dangerous move for the attacker therefore it's use will have to be justified 

Once you have weakened the waist hold, turn by stepping back on your left foot and trap their right arm below yours.

Break their balance forward by  hitting  the attacker the stomach with your behind or hip. 

Then kneel down to drop the attacker on their back. Your right leg is blocking their balance recovery.  You have three  main objectives in this technique. First, drop the attacker without damaging their head. Second, make the attacker open their hand for the application of a arm or thumb lock. Third, get on your feet as fast as possible  

If you can apply a restraint from the standing position,  such as the thumb lock or wrist lock, always go for it.

Dealing With a Low Waist Hold Method - 2

If the opponent grabs your waist in an attempt to run you down to the ground or against the wall, try this routine. 

Shoot your feet back so that you maintain your balance and loosen the hold.

Attack the neck and jaw pressure points with your thumbs to distract the attacker.

Grab the attackers wrist and then inter-twine your free arm to grab your own wrist.

Turn into the opponents body and face in the same direction as the opponent in order to apply a combined shoulder and hammer lock.

Dealing With Punch Attacks

Having a bad day at the office? You are caught by a sucker punch and in order to survive, you must neutralise the attack and then counterattack. This is done by grabbing at the elbows of the opponent and running into the wall. With his back to the wall, the punches will be less effective. You can lean on the bum until you get your game plan together.

 If you wait too long in the neutralising position, the bum will punch himself out and you will face an assault charge for counter-attacking after he stops. The bum might get more lucky  after his initial assault so you must not stay locked in the neutralising position. The dilemma facing you is how do you pull your head out of your ass and take the bum on before he gets  more lucky.  If your head comes up first, it will get hit. 

Get one of your hands up first in a palm heel uppercut attack to the opponents face (Grover). Also consider head butting your way up. The problem with these moves, despite their success, is that they may smash the bums head into the wall, causing serious injury. Also try getting your thumb into the long channel between the throat and the neck muscle as illustrated or else press your thumb on the eye lid. (T Law). Either of these techniques will allow you to pull your head out from the safety of your ass in order to finish the job.

The alternate to this cover up has been mentioned before.

Raise your elbow  to protect your head from the big swinging right hand punches .

Counter attack.

Provided a mobile phone has not been stolen and either switched off or the chip removed to disable it, try the following successful drill. 

• Find out what the dialing tone sounds like.

• Position the friends of the person who lost the phone in the places visited by the person who lost the phone. 

• Position the floor staff in areas not covered.

• Ask one of the friends with a mobile phone to call the lost number.

• Wait, walk and listen for the dialing.

By identifying the group you will be able to direct late arrivals to their tables. After they have passed this initial hurdle and you have established your control, you must identify the group leader. You may have to speak directly to the leader of the group at a later stage concerning the behaviour of the group. Some studies have stressed the point that you must never address individuals within a group. Always address the whole group. Wrong!!!! By addressing individuals within a group or whacking individuals within a group, you are breaking down the group mentality. Isolate the trouble makers every time and address the trouble makers every time. Destroy the anonymity created by the group and you decrease you problems with the group.

The most noisy group you will ever have to deal with is usually a hen party. High spirited girls have a high pitched voice that will penetrate the darkest recesses of the bar. Some bars will not allow hen parties to gain entry for this reason. If your bar does allow hen parties, warn them at the door to be on their best behaviour.

Dealing with Sitters

There will be rare occasions when the patrons refuse to acknowledge your count down and sit on five minutes after the 'drinking up time' has run out. This has an effect on other patrons who see your apparent  lack of assertiveness as a chance for them to sit on and enjoy themselves at your expense and the owners license.  Another fine example of monkey see monkey do. 

• Make sure that the bar staff are clear from the area and you have your back up in position. 

• Target one table that refuses to move. This table should be in full view of all the other tables or at least within ear shot of what is about to happen. 

• Half the floor staff act as cover while the other half clear the targeted table of drinks, using thumb pressure point techniques if necessary. The drinks are then poured down the sink. Long before this happens there will be loud wailing and gnashing of teeth from those parted from their electric soup.

• Control the chaos that follows, letting the other tables know that they are next on the hit list, if they haven't already left.

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