A (NEW) PROFESSIONAL SPEAKS

Bodyguard Careers is pleased to introduce Latonya D. Dupas. A relative newcomer to the business, Dupas is doing everything right to move forward in her pursuit of a long-term, successful Executive Protection career. Her determination and focus is inspiring and serves as a fine example of the kind of self-motivation required to succeed in what is a challenging field. She shares with us how her military and security background has served as a foundation for her career pursuit and what it is to be a female in a male-dominated profession.

BGC: How did you get your start in Executive Protection?

LDD: I have friends who work in security and they would ask me if I ever thought about being in corporate security. I think it was because my demeanor is very matter-of-fact, and straight-forward, and my skill set lends itself to Executive Protection.

My background is working with at-risk youth as both a counselor and an educator, which requires the ability to be an effective communicator; often negotiating or diffusing potentially violent situations. I also have a military background. I’ve always been a self-starter and law enforcement didn’t feel like the right fit. I started to do some research online and wrote letters to key people in the EP business.

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John Sexton has over 20 years of experience in law enforcement and security, both in the United States and abroad. He’s written numerous articles on security-related topics for international publications, and Sexton Executive Security provides services and training for government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. John recently traveled to China, the Middle East and India and he’s planning executive security training programs in Beijing, Shanghai, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.

BGC: How did you get started in the Executive Protection Field?

JS: Actually I can still vividly recall the first E.P. detail I ever worked. It was in the early 80′s in Ireland and I was assigned to protect a judge who was sitting on the bench trying a Terrorist (Offenses Against the State Act) case. At that time our terrorists thought nothing of assassinating a judge in order to have a case halted. It was their way of getting an adjournment.

I was a uniformed Police Officer and the job needed to be done by a plain clothes officer. That morning when I reported for duty, the Station House Sergeant told me to go home and change into “civvies” as I would be protecting the judge. I went down to the Judge’s home where we had a temporary trailer parked for the duration of the trial. The officer I was relieving handed me an old Webley revolver and a lozenge can which contained a handful of bullets.  Thankfully the terrorists didn’t show up during my shift as I am quite sure that my weapons (probably dating back 60 years to our civil war) wouldn’t have even slowed them down as they were typically equipped with Armalite Rifles and Semtex when they were activated for a mission.

BGC: Who are your typical clients? Celebrities, executives, political figures?

JS: We have celebrity, executive and political clients at times. The majority of the time though, our clients are executives.

BGC: What factors should new people who are interested in getting into this field consider? (more…)

For more than twenty five years British born Jacquieline Davis survived as one of the top operators in a male dominated profession – the secretive, often dangerous world of covert operations. After leaving the police force she worked as a bodyguard, where her training – which included combat training – and a willingness to risk everything for “the client”, led her into increasingly dangerous operations, so much so that she became recognised as “The World’s Top Female Bodyguard”.

Her book, The Circuit is a fascinating account of one woman’s amazing experiences involving the dangerous job of rescuing children and adults around the world to the more glittering world of guarding well-known celebrities such as Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli and J.K. Rowling. Available from amazon.com or www. jacquiedavis.com

BGC: How did you get started in the Executive Protection Field?

JD: Back in the 1970′s, police pay was very poor and everybody moonlighted to earn more money. Working as a bodyguard  was one of those jobs we were asked to do. Our Pay as a bodyguard was £30 per day for 12 hours.  It was a fortune to us as police take home pay was about £120 per month ($240 dollars at today’s rate).  I was then asked by an agency if I would like to train as a Bodyguard, I said yes and the rest is history.

BGC: Who are your typical clients? Celebrities? Executives?

JD: Most of my clients are Executives, I shy away from the pop bands and singers, they have minders, not Bodyguards.

BGC: What is a “minder?” (more…)

Prof. Leonard C. Holifield, CPS, is President and CEO of the International Academy of Executive Protection Agents, LLC. Known as the Harvard of Bodyguard Schools, he is an honor graduate of ESI – Executive Security International and former chief security officer and personal bodyguard to the former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roy S. Moore, aka the Ten Commandments Judge. With over 20 years in the security business, Prof. Holifield is one of the most sought after instructors in the United States.

He is the author of SOLO - Security Operations for the Lone Officer (Outskirts Press) and Close Quarter Combat “A Soldiers Guide to Hand-to-Hand Combat” (Paladin Press). He is a frequent lecturer on executive protection, national hate groups and gangs, unarmed self defense and one-man solo security operations. He has been recognized by several national and international organizations; to include Marquis Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who Among Executives and Professionals, WOMA’s Who’s Who in the Martial Arts and Combative Masters of the 20^th Century (Lulu Press). As former Chief Combatives Instructor to the United States Army his work in the field of hand-to-hand combat has been featured in major military publications to include Army Trainer, Soldiers, KORUS and Military Police magazines. A former military police officer and highly decorated veteran of the Gulf War, he was credited with capturing the first Iraqi POW during Operation Desert Storm. He is the president and founder of the International Sikaron Karate Federation and holds 3^rd, 6^th, and 10^th degree black belts in Judo, Hapkido and Sikaron Karate respectively.

BGC: How did you get started in the Executive Protection Field?  What  was your very first assignment?

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