Close protection (CP) is all about guarding people, with operators keeping their clients safe from the unwanted attentions of anyone – from criminals and the insane, to 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.

The commercial industry is generally divided into three main sectors. High-profile businessmen operating in dangerous places like Central America and parts of the former Soviet Union, then there are people, again usually businessmen or celebrities, who need protection while travelling abroad and also at home because of their profile or business activities.

Finally, there are the pop stars and ‘glitterati’ who are the focus of constant media and public attention, 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.

Qualifications and training
Cardiff-based Primus Training and Consultancy Limited is one of the UK’s premier close protection training organisations who offer people the chance to become a bodyguard.
Sean Colsey of Primus Training has provided security for Beady Eye, Stereophonics, JLS, Joe McElderry and Premiership footballers, as well as corporate clients and royalty. He has 12 years’ experience in the Armed Forces with specialist units. He is no stranger to pressure situations and has used that experience to develop one of the UK’s premier training organisations, Primus Training, and the operational side Primus Protective Consultants.

Colsey says: ‘The skills and work of a CPO are often varied, but the SIA insisting that every CPO is to hold a valid licence means that people can feel safe in the knowledge that their CPOs have been trained to a consistently high standard and are fit to do the job in hand, and we are currently developing some of the best CPOs in the business.’
For anyone wishing to enter the industry, the quality of training and the quality of the instructors delivering it are all-important. Obviously, a 140-hour course cannot cover the same ground as one lasting much longer, but the right instruction can deliver the basics for the newcomer. Because reputation is everything in the CP environment, simply being trained by an expert has a spin-off for students.

Courses run throughout the year and spaces are available. Further information about Primus and the other courses it offers is available at www.primusgroup.co.uk or by telephoning 029 20 757 578. Primus Protective Consultants recruits directly from its course delegates, see: www.primusprotection.com.

See the advertisement on page 34.