subject: Understanding The Role Of A Bodyguard [print this page] Close Protection or bodyguarding as it is more popularly known, is something that most people are only aware of via the media. They have seen the role glamorised by way of the movies, or by reading magazine articles or fabricated stories in books.
Although a small percentage of this media information is close to the truth, the vast majority of what is shown is far from the realities of the profession.
The perceptions that many hold are quite extreme when it comes to their idea of what type of individual they see working in Close Protection.
It covers one end of the scale to the other; they can presume that all bodyguards or close protection officers, as they shall be referred to from now on, are hulking combative morons with very little in the way of a fully functioning IQ. This then shifts completely in the opposite direction.
Where we find our tremendously adept super intelligent representative, who is able to take on and defeat, any terrorist group or major felon. Both these ideals are far from being accurate.
There may be quite a few individuals who fall into the former classification, but they are not and never will be capable of working at a professional standard within the world of Close Protection.
Also the media view of the work of Close Protection Teams, which shows them constantly defending their client against regular attack, is also pure imagination.
Yes, there are official teams out there who do provide protection for certain clients on whom there is a definite and ongoing threat. But it is intelligence and avoidance however, that are the defences used with these teams not mass shootouts.
So what exactly do we mean by the term close protection and what is the role of the close protection operative?
The term close protection has many definitions; but the one that describes the role most succinctly is the following:
It is to reduce the possibility of kidnap, assassination or unlawful act by the application of certain principles and measures to normal daily life.
So this then is the basic role of those working in Close Protection. Their duty is to protect their employer, their Principal, by way of applied procedures and security measures. What measures are required and at what level have to be correctly assessed by the team.
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