Close protection: An Overview

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 shopping expeditions by '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. This can sometimes result in a cross-over of the security forces and the top echelons of commercial CP.
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. Contracts are often not open to public tender, and even the most successful firms shun the limelight.
The commercial industry is generally divided into three main sectors. High-profile businessmen operating in dangerous places like Central America 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 'glitterati' for whom there is constant media and public attention to contend with, which may not always be 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 people who feel they could be threatened.
Very few CP operators are in long-term employment. The vast majority 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. Indeed, operational teams invariably consist of a group of experts in their field who work together to get the job done.
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 the business but they will need talent, a professional approach and a slice of luck to attract the attention of companies or senior team leaders who have access to the best contracts.
CP in the Services
Outside Special Forces, 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 the threat assessment, vital though that is. As with all plans, the administration and logistics are usually the most critical part once the aim has been established. So the principles of preparation and planning practised in units of all three Services hold good for a CP operations.
Increasingly, too, clients are more aware of 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
While there are NVQs and other nationally recognised qualifications in security and linked areas, there are as yet none that strictly apply to CP except those developed by training providers with national awarding bodies. People should study the small print to ensure that the qualification on offer can actually be gained through the training programme, and how much extra work (if any) it takes. The Private Security Industry Act will not materially affect CP, so individuals thinking of taking courses in this field will have to continue to go by their own impressions, research and personal recommendation.
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 timeframe. 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 has a spin-off for students. People in the industry will know that a particular instructor will not turn out 'rubbish' and so will tend to offer their ex-students jobs that other people might not get a sniff of, especially in the early stages of a career. The downside of this is that reputable trainers will not automatically pass everybody who attends a course. Some companies talk of a 50 per cent pass rate overall with only the top 10 per cent being graded up to employment in an overseas environment, after integration into an experienced team.
Another thing to consider is course content. People who are going to operate in developed nations should think about whether they need firearms training, for example. Certainly, residence security for a Middle Eastern household in the middle of London or preventing the public lynching of a 'fat cat' chairman of a utilities company hardly calls for the use of firearms.
On the other hand, the first job protecting expatriate workers on a far-away oil installation might well call for some revision of shooting skills. So, people need to think very carefully before spending their money on this sort of training, and they also need to find the right course and modules within it for their needs. Because a number of the simpler CP jobs contain a great deal of security rather than specific CP work, it might be that a CP training course that contains straight security qualifications would be appropriate for that type of employment.
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 be aware of companies that promise too much, and be wary of those that offer too little.
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 £18,000 a year for an inexperienced CP person to £30,000 for an established operator in London. Overseas jobs might start at around £25,000. A very experienced team leader in a hostile environment might earn anything up to £500 a day with the most junior team member on £120. A realistic average would be £200 a day for weeks or months.
People in the industry will know that a particular instructor will not turn out 'rubbish'
Be aware of companies that promise too much, and be wary of those that offer too little
Individuals thinking of taking courses in this field will have to go by their own impressions, research and personal recommendation