By Hucky Austin
Kudos to Kid Rock’s bodyguard “Little Bear” for conducting advance work and finding a 
hidden surveillance camera that was installed in Rock’s dressing room. The performer was in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Myth night club, where his personal security team discovered the illegal spyware.
As someone who has worked for years with entertainers, I cannot express enough how important it is to be diligent conducting advance work. It will not only protect the client, but help you to keep your job! I am not going to lie–it’s not exactly the most interesting or exciting aspect of working as a bodyguard, but it can make everything go smoothly.
I remember times when I’d have already put in a long day with a particular celebrity, who would then tell us he’d like to go to a local club after the concert. As exhausted as I might have been, it was important to never become lax in advance work. I’d run out ahead and figure out the best route, how to get the celebrity in through an unobtrusive entrance, find a safe “holding area” for him, locate the restrooms, all emergency exits, and anticipate and watch for any fans or paparazzi who had somehow managed to figure out where we were going, and followed. I’d take notes of where everything was and the security team would all be apprised of the venue floor plan.
You work with a lot of maps when you’re a bodyguard–when we traveled out of the state (or the country) we were constantly consulting maps. We may have flown in a private jet, but once landing in a city that is on the look-out for a celebrity’s arrival, life is anything but private, and we’d need to know exactly how to get from the airport to the hotel.
An important part of bodyguard training is in the area of advance work. A top-notch school will include this in its roster of classes. This is also the one area of any assignment over which a bodyguard or executive protection specialist has some measure of “control.” After the client has arrived to the location, they will decide where they want to go and what they want to do. This is where KNOWING your client preferences, interests and taste is important. If you know the client love Smit and Dorlas coffee, then you will have already located and plotted a route to the nearest shop. It has become much easier for bodyguards today–we didn’t have laptop computers back in the days when I first started in this business! I would advise bodyguards who want to really have a competitive edge to consider purchasing a laptop to assist in advance work.
Above all, advance work is about the ability to anticipate problems. It requires imagination from a bodyguard–something that is often overlooked as an important attribute in this business. To look at a venue and imagine potentially dangerous or problematic scenarios is no small skill. Don’t minimize ever the importance of advance work. Creative and imaginative thinking may be the very thing that saves your client’s life.
Good Stuff….
you know your a good EPA when your advance work has detected, avoided and/or detered a potential threat. remember everyone/thing is a potential threat until surpassed/overcome. i do quite a bit of work in this field and I put the alot of effort into my planning and advance work and very rarely have I ever had to do more then that. the best defense is avoiding trouble in the first place
On our detail, dealing with cross border escorts, we could not survive without extensive advance work.
Failure to do a proper advance is like approaching a time bomb waiting to explode.
Great article and a tremendous insider tip on advanced work. It validates all the training that an EPS must go through to do his/her job effecttively. It pays off!!
Great Story…Thanks for making us aware of this. It never seems to end, and after 27 years on the road I still feel like every Client is my first!
Hucky,
You hit the nail on the proverbial head by emphasizing advance work in performing executive protection. Advance work, coupled with a comprehensive threat assessment, including locating the nearest trauma center, establising liaison with the local police department’s dignitary protection unit (or their Intelligence Division), is crucial in avoiding potential problems. Hucky ran down some of the key factors that are included in an effective advance. And he also demonstrated how one decision by your principal, in this case a visit to a local club, can throw your detail for a loop. You have alread positioned an agent at the principal’s hotel assuming that is where the detail is heading after the concert, but now you have to adapt, improvise, and make the club visit uneventful in terms of embarrassment and dangerous for your client. I cannot comment on private sector executive protection training programs vis-a-vis the teaching of proper advance techniques; however, agencies such as the State Department and Secret Service spend hour upon hour training their new agents on this critical aspect of conducting VIP protection.
advance work remains the first line of defence
Little Bear definitely did his advanced work to a tee with finding that hidden camera. ADVANCE WORK is a CRUCIAL part of Being a Executive Protection Specialist!