2009, I started working as a bouncer at an Irish pub called McNally’s. I worked alongside my older brother, as he taught me how to check ID’s, handle ejections, read a room, and make friends with guests. The 3 years I spent there created a foundation and taught me many learning experiences, both good and bad.
Keeping Your Edge: The Right Tool For the Job
Spend any length of time conducing protection work in the entertainment industry, and you’ll find that things work in cycles.
There are recording cycles, tour cycles, award show cycles and even sporting event cycles. A big portion of these trend annually, and are grouped with similar events, creating momentum, but being careful to avoid overshadowing or encroaching on another event’s moment.
Safety at Work and Its Meaning to Employees
It’s impossible to ever completely eliminate the presence of workplace accidents but in areas and industries where they are less frequent, entrepreneurs might get overconfident. In this state, they start looking at minimum requirements instead of going above and beyond to make their office as safe as possible.
The Dangerous Reality of Unmanned Drones
Governments have already developed the lethal capabilities of unmanned drones on the battlefield. And until greater regulations and countermeasures are introduced, protectors need to remain mindful and watchful of the threat this technology poses to ourselves and our clients.
Dangers of being a Journalist
Politics and motives aside, I think everyone can conclude these are very dangerous days for journalists, advocates of free speech or anyone else for that matter that voices an opinion. For the security consultant who is providing services to journalists, activists or opposition politicians these clients can give you some unique challenges as the threats can include harassment and arrest by local or state police, as well as threats from opposing parties etc…
Defining Professionalism in the Personal Protection Industry
With global threat levels at an all-time high, there is more work in the security industry now than there ever has been and the security industry is booming, but it’s harder to find work because there are now thousands more so-called ‘qualified’ CPOs chasing after every position.
Staffing an International Team
When it comes to staffing an international team, I have five major considerations I look for in the team’s composition: Operational Capability, Operational Chemistry, Operational Relevance, Operational Flexibility and Operational Capacity.
Residential Security
Just because someone has a security or private investigators license it does not mean they are competent or not working with the criminals. What a lot of people forget when hiring security personnel is that you get what you pay for.
Cutting Out the Middle Man
Tight defence budgets keep slashing headcounts for active duty personnel, leaving the military no alternative other than to outsource tasks when troops are stretched.
McDonaldization of Close Personal Protection
The process of McDonaldization takes a task and breaks it down into smaller tasks. This is repeated until all tasks have been broken down to the smallest possible level. The resulting tasks are then rationalized to find the single most efficient method for completing each task. All other methods are then deemed inefficient and discarded.
Regaining balance after a threatening encounter
There’s no denying that security and close protection work is mentally and emotionally demanding. Life-threatening situations, exposure to graphic scenes, distressed individuals, and violent perpetrators as well as the occupational stressors such as unsocial working hours and being away from home mean you need to be operating at peak levels of resilience.
YouTube Should be Part of Your Social Media Strategy
YouTube is the number two search engine right behind Google (go figure). Everyday 3 BILLION VIDEOS are viewed on YouTube everyday. Why? For me personally and I’m sure thousands of others would rather find a video on how-to fix a widget then read pages of text on a web page.
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.
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”.
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.
Journalists Covering The Recent Hurricanes
Over the past few days, we’ve all watched journalists behaving like irresponsible children foolishly “braving” the raw elements when a handful of very responsible ones reported from hard cover still managing to show the devastation behind them. My problem with the former…it sets a scene for the future behaviour to continue with the competitiveness of […]
Behavioral Analysis Part 1
Many people spending more time online this past year due to COVID-19 lockdown and isolation has created limited options of socialization, forcing people to a record amount of screen time on the internet and social media. Much more than ever before.
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.
