We’ve covered a lot of travel and have done a lot of traveling these last 13 months, but one thing that we’ve not touched on is security when traveling and we thought it’s now time to touch on this subject and give you more information that will be useful to you in selecting security for your travel. There are a lot of places where it is wonderful to go but also dangerous for a person of status to go. Of course you need to protect yourself and your family from the dangers out there.
Or what if there isn’t so much an issue of danger while traveling, but just making sure that the event you’re hosting doesn’t get crashed by uninvited guests? The question is, how do you go about securing your person, home, family, without changing your plans? Well we have the answer for you and we’ll even tell you how to go about hiring a security guards service. Just keep reading.
Hire A Bodyguard:
We’ve seen them in numbers of movies, on TV with celebrities and politicians, hell there was even the movie starring the late Whitney Houston by the name. They are things of endless myth and legend, and certainly a matter of confusion.
A bodyguard (or close protection officer)is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person or persons — usually a public, wealthy, or politically important figure(s) — from danger: generally theft, assault, kidnapping, homicide, harassment, loss of confidential information, threats, or other criminal offenses.
In most countries where the Head of state is and have always been also their military leader, the leader’s bodyguards have traditionally been Royal Guards, Republican Guards and other elite military units. Less-important public figures, or those with lower risk profiles, may be accompanied by a single bodyguard who doubles as a driver. A number of high-profile celebrities and CEOs also use bodyguards.
The biggest question people often ask is how do I hire such personal protection and security. This is a great question. We’ve compiled 11 points for hiring security.
1. Understand that “Personal Security” is a professional service, so keep your expectations realistic. As the core component of PROTECTIVE SERVICES, Personal Security is divided among several specialties focused on the type of person being protected. Individuals trained to handle corporate executives, politicians, dignitaries and high net-value families fall under “Executive Protection” or “EP” in contrast with those trained to handle Celebrities, Actors, Musicians, Professional Athletes and other high-profile, public individuals are commonly referred to as “Talent Security”.
2. As, unlike the United Kingdom, there are no national civilian training standards for security guards service in the US or Canada, there are several titles a Practitioner may use: Executive Protection, Protective Services, Personal Protection or Personal Security.
5. Ensure your candidates are graduates of a Government Protective Services course from the;
- United States Secret Service (Special Agent versus Uniformed Division))
- US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service
- Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)
- US Army Military Police School’s Protective Services Training Course
- US Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID)
- US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
- US Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI)or graduates from one of the few, internationally recognized and respected, civilian executive protection schools in the US like;
- Executive Security International(ESI)in Colorado
- Executive Protection Institute in Virginia
- R.L. Oatman & Associates in Maryland
- National Protective Services Institute in Texas
- Gavin de Becker & Associates in California
- The former Vance International in Virginia
- International Training Group in California
- Texas A&M University’s TEEX in Texas
- US Training Center in North Carolina
- Executive Protection International in Massachusetts.
- There is also a University that specializes in Personal Protection Management and offers Bachelors, Master’s and Doctorate level Degrees (see Henley-Putnam University)
- If a candidate attended a school not listed above, ensure that the instructors openly identify themselves, have extensive experience (10+ years) in Government Protective Services or a civilian equivalent and that the course was a MINIMUM of 100 hours of formal personal security training.
- As a second choice, consider “Executive Protection/Protective Services/Corporate Security” personnel from Fortune 500 corporations like Microsoft, Dell, Boeing, IBM, etc., with direct (not limited or collateral) experience.
6. Just because someone has been in the military, law enforcement or has worked overseas on a Protective Services Detail (PSD) DOES NOT mean they have the right mind-set, training or skill-sets to perform Personal Security within the United States.
- If a candidate claims to have been a member of a US military Special Operations Force, like Army Special Forces “Green Beret”, US Army Ranger, Navy SEAL, Air Force Combat Controller, Marine Corps Special Operations (MARSOC), etc., ask them to provide you an ORIGINAL copy of their DD214. This document is issued to all former military service members and will give you the names of schools they graduated from and their professional character while in the service. If they claim their background is “Classified”, they are lying to you. The only thing actually classified about their military background would be missions they took part in.
7. Get a photocopy of the applicant’s driver’s license, Social Security card and copies of any professional certificates.
8. Have every candidate sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (available for free on the Internet) before discussing your needs or personal information.
9. Look for specific experience, and ask for examples of how the candidate has demonstrated proficiency in skills including, but not limited to:
- Choreography (knowing how to stand, walk and get in and out of a car with a Protectee)
- Conducting advance work to prepare for trips and events ahead of time
- Effective countermeasures to deal with an attack or security threat if one materializes
- Knowledge of physical security and access control systems
- Formal training in specialized driving skills, and
- Extensive Firearms and Defensive Tactics or martial arts training
10. Ask the candidate about “big name” people s/he has protected. If s/he gives you a list of names, those names would likely be okay and can most often be verified by contacting the company, government office or a celebrity’s agent or representative. However if a candidate starts revealing personal information it is possible that they are violating non-disclosure and confidentiality statements they agreed to.
At the same time, do not accept the response, “I can’t tell you for reasons of privacy.” Good bodyguards are very careful about divulging information about former clients or protects, and will find a way for you to verify their claims without violating confidentiality agreements.
11. Specialized driving skills are generally considered a sub-specialty within Personal Security and are commonly known as Evasive and/or Counter-ambush Driving, that few Personal Security practitioners have formal, in-depth training in. Again, there are very few recognized and respected schools in the US that teach these skills;
- Scotti School of Defensive Driving (SSDD)
- Bill Scott Raceways (BSR)
- Vehicle Dynamics Institute
- Bob Bondurant School of Performance Driving
- Crossroads Training Academy
- Advanced Driving & Security Inc. (ADSI)
- Federal Law Enforcement Training Center’s Vehicle Ambush Countermeasures Training Program (VACTP).
I once had an instructor who would always tell us trainees to remember. “A bodyguard is nothing more than a highly paid professional coward. It is not their job to get into fights or investigate anything. It is their job to get the client to safety and out of harms way!”
You can also hire security for your events to insure that your guests aren’t disturbed by uninvited guests. This is an important element of making certain that your events or travel goes off without a hitch, or if there is something that goes wrong you can rest assured that you are taken care of and that you won’t have to deal with the issue.
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