Executive Protection Best Practices: Part 3
The last part of our informative series about executive protection best practices concentrates on a fundamental factor: the human factor. The team that will carry out the protective detail and ensure that the Principal is safe at all time.
You wouldn’t ask and architect to perform a knee surgery; therefore, you shouldn’t ask a person without the specific expertise to provide a service which is highly specialized and requires knowledge and preparation.
No matter how much a protection team knows about the area or the threats, they can be scarcely effective without substantial preparation. Training the team prior to any detail can be helpful in preparing them for threats. Ensuring they are capable with escape and evasive driving, firearms and unarmed control techniques, medical knowledge, working under pressure, effective communication, including de-escalation techniques, and attention to detail are all vital.
Intellectual training is the process of preparing mentally for any given situation, and actively predicting the course of a specific threat and the corresponding response to those threats. Whether it is firearm training, creating “what-if” scenarios, operating walkthroughs or executing dry runs, intellectual training ensures that executive protection is prepared and ready to be offered at any given moment.
Additionally, understanding different recommended formations when walking with an executive, how to appropriately scope out an area before the principal arrives and escape/evasive and defensive driving training are vital for the close protection team. Knowing how to ram a vehicle if there is one in the way or being able to avoid a situation where a vehicle may try to trap the individual is especially important.
Beyond training, the security team should have extensive security experience from which to draw. Whether they are former military or former police, it is important that the team has an understanding of security and what they need to do to provide executive protection.
Prior to any executive protection assignment, the team must effectively plan and familiarize themselves with the job. Understanding the region/area they are going to, the threats they may face and ensuring that the entire team is properly trained for the assignment are vital. Failure to do this can have disastrous results.
The physical must not be forgotten. The members of the team must be fit and able to endure long hours of work.
Whether it is protecting international travelers, assessing a potentially threatening situation, or preparing for a high-risk event, executive protection offers a peace of mind that is invaluable in the service industry. The safety service offered with executive protection is without any doubt, worth the peace of mind that it brings to the individual, family and his employer.