By Nathan Seabrook

Listed below are some examples of what many clients look for when hiring a protection specialist. These points have been compiled from a list of clients that have contacted Bodyguard Staffing looking for possible protection specialists to fill positions for protection details.

•    Easy going and Confident
•    Honest
•    High Moral character and integrity
•    Good Conversationalist
•    Clean cut
•    Good Physical appearance
•    Not intimidated and can make split second decisions
•    Not cocky
•    No criminal background or history
•    Has presence
•    Non smoker/Tobacco user
•    Non drinker
•    Good People skills
•    Good personal hygiene
•    Advanced first aid certifications
•    Former Police officer or Military
•    Clean driving record
•    Current permit to “carry weapons”
•    Good interpersonal relation skills
•    Martial Arts background
•    Mentally stable
•    Stable employment record
•    Has good social etiquette
•    Able to think |”outside of the box”
•    Work as a team player or individually
•    Able to speak a foreign language
•    Able to “Switch On” on and then “Switch off” in rapid succession if a threat arises
•    Understanding of the law and legal issues with the use of force
•    Able to keep personal issues dealing with race, religion, gender to oneself
•    Commonsense

Executive Protection Training During Tough Financial Times

By Doc Rogers

The current recession has made us all re-think our spending habits. For many agents the logical solution for their financial relief is to make tough cutbacks.

This could mean postponing the purchase of that new model firearm, that tactical folder knife, or going out on the town with your team mates. However, this should not include training. Agents should improve and hone their skills. This will ensure that every step you take in the industry, you will be prepared to succeed.

Be known as the one who is always building and updating skills, and who works harder than anyone else. Ramp-up your training when the going gets tough. Improve the skills you already have, deepen your industry credentials by reading books and manuals, industry related newsletters, magazines, as well as taking distance learning courses to stay on top.

These suggestions will not only improve your work product in the field, but will be creating solid experience and and achievement in this industry. Before investing in a book, magazine, newsletter or distance learning course, ensure that the training you take will be a contribution and is necessary to the well-being of your principles, or clients, as well as the EPU (executive protection unit).

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By Nathan Seabrook

Working as an Executive Protection Specialist will lead you to be placed in various locations and assignments as well as being exposed to various clients.  Some clients will treat you with the utmost respect and dignity and will listen to your direction and insight, while others will talk down to you and treat you as an object they own and control. The unfortunate reality is that many clients fall into the later category.  With this said, remember that regardless of this unfortunate treatment you have to rise above the situation and always act in a professional manner.  If your feelings become hurt easily then this is not the job for you!

Recently, one of my associates contacted me and wanted to share with me a situation that he had recently dealt with while on the road.  My associate had been hired to protect an entertainer that is an up and coming rap artist.  After a recent show the rapper, his posse, and countless guests were partying in a small private space at a nightclub.  While the party was in full force, the local fire marshal came to the club and met with my friend.  The fire marshal explained to my friend that if anyone else came into the private space that he would start to issue citations and “shut the place down.”
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Executive Protection (EP) has an extensive history spanning over two thousand years and has assisted in influencing many cultures throughout the world. Many of the most well known EP Specialists include the Samurais of Japan, the Medieval Knights all over Europe, and the Vatican’s Swiss Guard. The earliest protection organizations were most often military divisions assigned to protect one individual. 

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In the past few years Hollywood media outlets have played a negative role in the portraying of today’s Executive protection specialists that have created popular misconceptions about both the EP industry and the job itself.  Action packed movies where “bodyguards” are able to identify the threats and then immediately neutralize the bad guy with gun blazing deadly force is nothing more than a myth.

The true reality is that specific threats, both real and perceived by the client are in many cases difficult to fully pinpoint.  In the real world, an Executive Protection Specialist has no legal right to actively “engage” a threat with either reasonable force or deadly force unless an attacker has made or attempted to attack the principal or the protection specialist and or team. (more…)