Before he became a special education teacher in 2011, Danny Wallace was an emergency medical technician who rode along  with the San Jose Police Department and worked as a ranger in Almaden Lake Park.

Although each  job required Wallace to have a mastery of self-defense skills, being a ranger gave Wallace the opportunity to use more subtle skills to defend himself. As a park ranger, Wallace gained insight on how to safely and effectively resolve conflicts.
Wallace spent most of his time making sure that people behaved safely and acceptably on city park grounds.

“You have to know what’s going on and try to talk out the problems first,” Wallace said. “You have to be good at verbal jujitsu.”

In addition to being able to choose words tactfully, Wallace said it is critical to be able to make a judgment call on whether a situation  requires intervention.

“You try to draw the line [and ask] what is worth getting into,” Wallace said.

Wallace remembers one situation that showed the importance of exercising his discretion.

“[Someone] killed a Canadian goose and they went ballistic when they saw the fine, but I had to explain that I couldn’t let that one slide,” Wallace said.

  Although this was an extreme situation, other incidents also required Wallace to assess the severity of the problem and issue citations or fines or sometimes ask people to leave the park because of their behavior.

“That’s where the confrontation really picks up and some people just have a hard time handling that kind of authority,” Wallace said.

Wallace said the biggest issues involve  people who are drunk because they are more likely to escalate the situation to physical contact.

“Sometimes it happens and hopefully you don’t ever have to use your baton or pepper spray,” Wallace said.

According to Wallace, proper body language coupled with choosing  words carefully is the best way to prevent physical  confrontation.

“You want to keep your space and your body language is very important,” Wallace said. “If you send off the vibe that you’re being aggressive or power tripping that usually sets people over the edge.”