Close Protection

Close protection (CP) is all about guarding people; with operators keeping their clients safe from the unwanted attentions of anyone – from terrorists, criminals and the insane to demonstrators, autograph hunters and those who are simply intent on causing trouble. Much of the work involves threat assessment and planning. Teams then deploy to protect people from high-risk threats during business trips overseas, lesser dangers at sporting events, riots and book signings, and low-risk situations such as company annual general meetings and the shopping expeditions of ‘high net worth’ individuals and their families.

Much CP work is actually performed by people employed by the state – both military and police personnel. They are responsible for royals, diplomats, politicians, high-profile events and a hundred and one other things that are the responsibility of government. There are also quasi-official CP tasks, such as guarding important people overseas and others who are not strictly representing the country but whose well-being is in the national interest.

There may also be instances where commercial CP companies operate with the tacit blessing or open support of a national government, but without public acknowledgement of the fact. This is a field out of the public eye in which arrangements are made that work but could sometimes be open to media criticism.

The commercial industry is generally divided into three main sectors. High profile businessmen operating in dangerous places like Central America, the Middle East, and parts of the old Soviet Union need a high level of personal protection against criminal and terrorist threats. Then there are people, again usually businessmen or celebrities, who need protection (or think that they do) while travelling abroad and also at home because of their profile or business activities.

Finally, there are the pop stars and other celebrities on whom constant media and public attention is focused, which is not always welcome. All are at risk of attack; the level of personal profile does not always reflect the likelihood and severity of the attack, and more and more people are joining the ranks of those who feel they could be threatened.

Most CP operators are self-employed and form teams for contracts that may run from days to years, with most of the contracts being developed and negotiated by CP operations companies. Networking is vital, and individuals’ reputations and experience are critical to their chances of getting work and progressing to the more lucrative contracts. Many people specialise in areas such as surveillance, defensive driving or medical expertise after initial training and practical exposure to CP work.

The top CP operators are people who have been in the Special Forces and specialist police units of countries such as Britain, the USA, France, Germany and Israel. They are in high demand on ‘the circuit’, and tend to dominate the high-risk end of the business where the financial rewards are the greatest. It is possible for someone without this background to move into the higher echelons of CP, but they will need talent, a professional approach and a slice of luck.

CP in the Services

Outside Special Forces and the Royal Military Police, many Service people are practised in surveillance, some with quite sophisticated equipment, there are expert drivers and medics around, and the protection of people is more common than it used to be due to the number of smaller-scale operations in which this often becomes an issue. People may well have more competencies in this area than they think and no one should be dissuaded from a future in CP because they have not spent several years in units that specialise in it.

Planning is an important skill, and not just with regard to threat assessment, vital though that is. As with all plans, administration and logistics are usually the most critical aspects once the aim has been established. So the principles of preparation and planning practised in units of all three Services hold good for CP operations.

Increasingly, too, clients are more aware about what they want, and many look for more than the person who can keep them out of trouble. They want someone who avoids it in the first place and who can integrate with their lifestyle. Skills like languages to help with travel, English and maths for planning and report writing, and even geography and history may well be as useful as marksmanship.

Qualifications and training

A CP licence (which costs £190 for three years) is required for people under contract ‘involved with establishing and maintaining a safe environment in which a specific individual can live and work whilst continually minimising risk’. It became illegal to be involved in CP in England and Wales after 20 March 2006 without being licensed. There are two licence categories:

1. frontline licence – for CP operatives (a badge, which need not be worn when an operative is working covertly but must be carried at all times and produced when asked for by the relevant authorities)
2. non-frontline licence – for managers and supervisors (a letter).

Frontline staff require a First Aid at Work qualification (HSE-approved First Aid at Work or First Person on Scene Intermediate Award). They also have to show that they have been trained to the right level (minimum of 150 hours training and an exam) in:

• introduction to the roles and responsibilities of the close protection operative
• threat and risk assessment
• surveillance awareness
• operational planning
• law and legislation
• interpersonal skills
• close protection teamwork
• reconnaissance
• close protection foot techniques
• route selection
• use of close protection vehicle techniques
• search awareness
• incidents and dilemmas
• venue based security
• communication and conflict management skills.

Awarding bodies and recognised qualifications are:

• BCUC Certificate in Protective Security
• Edexcel Level 3 BTEC Certificate in Close Protection Operations
• City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Close Protection.

Organisations approved to deliver this training must show that they have:

·training or an instructional qualification or programme (minimum standard is a teaching or training qualification at a minimum of National Qualification Framework Level 3 or equivalent)

• security sector competence
• the ability to support students with key skills needs
• adequate training facilities.

People with previous CP experience or who have been trained by certain organisations may require only a 24-hour Guided Learning Hours Refresher Course or a knowledge test and practical skills assessment. Licensing will include a criminal records check, and operating without the correct licence will be a criminal offence.

For anyone wishing to enter the industry, the quality of training and the quality of the instructors delivering it are all-important. Instructors who have taught CP to Special Forces are essentially delivering the same lessons to their new students, albeit in a highly compressed time-frame. Obviously a four-week course cannot cover the same ground as one lasting much longer, but the right instruction can deliver the basics for the newcomer. However, continuation and pre-deployment training will often be required.

Because reputation is everything in the CP environment, simply being trained by an expert helps students. The downside of this is that reputable trainers will not automatically pass everybody who attends a course.

Another thing to consider is course content. Those interested should think about whether they need firearms training, for example. While residence security in the UK or preventing the public lynching of a ‘fat cat’ chairman of a utilities company hardly call for the use of a rifle, protecting expatriate workers on a far-away oil installation might well call for some revision of shooting skills. So, interested parties need to think very carefully before spending their money on training, and they also need to find the right course for their needs.

Employment

Very few training providers can guarantee a job in CP because the industry simply isn’t geared to permanent payroll employment. In any case they cannot gauge the quality of an individual until they have seen them on a course. So beware of companies that promise too much, and be wary of those that offer too little. There is currently a shortage of female CP operatives, who are in particular demand for guarding female principals, family members and children, especially in some cultures and environments.

Shop around, compare like with like, talk to anyone you know who is already working in the industry and find out which training providers are respected. Best of all, go along to seminars and briefings where you can meet the trainers and ask them just what they can offer.

Salaries

Wages vary from £75 a day for an inexperienced CP person to £150 for an established operator in London, while an experienced team leader in a hostile environment might earn anything up to £400 a day with the most junior team member on £200. A realistic average would be £200 a day for weeks or months. The hugely inflated pay rates of recent years in very high-risk environments have now reduced, largely due to more competition for fewer contracts, and more CP being undertaken by indigenous companies.

Contact details

Further information is available from:

Security Industry Authority, PO Box 9, Newcastle upon TyneNE82 6YX Tel: 08702 430 100 Website: www.the-sia.org.uk