One of the most important things you should do is to decide very early in your career which environment and in which speciality you wish to work. You cannot do anything significant unless you make this fundamental decision.
Gap Training, What Most Practitioners Overlook
With 30 years of experience as a sailor, soldier, police officer/EMT, and security provider and trainer I have come up with some pretty clear ideas about what medical first response is for the average security provider. This is not meant to deter anyone from obtaining their EMT or Paramedic certifications or from persons with higher levels of training from providing that service.
Fire Safety in Executive Protection
When discussing executive protection topics with somebody not working in this field of expertise, the threats to the principal are often expected to come from rare incidents such as stalkers, snipers, explosions and so on. As professionals we know that the most significant and likely threats come from car accidents and health issues, then, next in line are serious fire emergencies. Don’t just take my word for it, a quick look at the statistics show just how frequent and deadly fires are in US.
Adapt and Survive
It’s no secret that higher education has been changing over the past 20 years. The introduction of tuition fees, the increases in these fees, the lifting of the cap on student numbers, the recession, Brexit, to name but a few things, have all impacted on the higher education sector.
Vehicles Used As Weapons
Religious extremist whether Al Qaeda or ISIS have long called for the use of Vehicles as Weapons even going back to 2010, when we saw an article in Inspire Magazine titled, “The Ultimate Mowing Machine.”
Black Man Green Beret
Black Man Green Beret is an American story, a semi-autobiography of a man born in the ghettos of the South Bronx and raised on the mean streets of Harlem, in New York City.
The Great Firewall of China
From microblogs to what Google and Amazon says, China knows full well that unlimited, unaccountable and unsubstantiated news reports on the nation is simply not in its best interests, or pointedly its cultural interest! That may also mean news reports that are factually correct.
Situational Awareness Skill or Instinct?
Situational Awareness is “the perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning and the projection of their status in the near future”.
MP Security
Since the killing of Jo Cox, MP, less than two years ago we have heard much in the media about the threats that our Member of Parliament are coming under.
Are you a cut above your competition?
For many years good friends of ours in the close protection and military sectors have said to us that what is really needed whilst transporting their clients and personnel is the ability to carry out an emergency rescue immediately following a vehicle incident whether it is accidental or a deliberate attack on their vehicles, some of which, may be armored presenting even further rescue difficulties.
The Future of Push to Talk Communications
If you are a professional user of traditional ‘push to talk’ two-way radio communications, this will fundamentally change the way you view the use of your radios.
Lessons Learned on Executive Protection Communication.
One important thing to realize is that the principal is the key figure in shaping the culture. Not all principals are the same. I have experience of principals that don’t want to see or hear the protectors.
Success In EP, What does it mean to you?
How do you define success in the executive/celebrity protection industry? How do you know when you are a success or successful? Is your success helping move you forward or is it hurting you? Success has a different meaning to every individual.
Foot Steps: Mike Brown
Mike Brown is one of those individuals who has found success as an operator by envisioning where he wanted to end up and trusting the process to take him there. In his time in the industry, he has earned his stripes and now reaps the rewards running a successful business and managing the protective detail for a very well-known public figure. I speak to Mike to learn some of his keys to success.
Precious Principals – The Challenges of Protecting Children
My principals’ ages have also ranged from 4 to 65 years old. Amongst them all, I personally believe the most challenging principals are children. For me, the role of a bodyguard caring for a minor is all about balance, judgment, adaptation and a crystal-clear understanding of the parents’ wishes.
Keeping Your Edge: Support Those You Meet Along The Way
Over the decades I have seen many artists, label executives, managers and agents rise from relative obscurity, to monumental heights. For example, it was an amazing thing to have your Protectee ask you to pick up a 9 year old who’d won some local acclaim because of his singing ability, and take him to a meeting, then subsequently watch his meteoritic rise to arguably the top 1% in pop music, past & present.
The Kidnapping of Pericles Panagopoulos – PART 1
Since I did not open the doors as requested, the sound of the window bursting came crashing into my ear. The kidnappers used a large sledgehammer to smash the driver’s side window. Two blows were all it took!
Surviving Lockdown 3.0
No matter who you are, everyone has been affected by the pandemic, hopefully, all of us out there are surviving but no doubt there will be some that may be struggling more than most.
A New Standard for Travel Security
As Executive Protection professionals we are constantly caught between a rock and a hard place. We do our best to provide our clients with the best possible protection while dealing with resistance and objections from the boardroom, PAs or the client themselves. Now if there was an international guideline for a travel risk management standard that addressed everything from hotels to air travel and ground transportation, it would require compliance from organizations and simplify our task significantly. The good news is, there now is and it is planned for launch in the summer of 2021.
Human Intelligence Could You Be The Next Target?
When you step into a new role where you have routine access to classified information, have access to large amounts of cash or other assets/valuables, or deal with sensitive business information, you may become the target of human intelligence or HUMINT. In light of this, this article covers the different aspects of the threat of human intelligence to keep in mind from the point of view of a corporate setting or government contract.
