Safar Protection Consultants does a great interview with Hans Van Beuge. For those of you that don’t know Hans, he’s the owner of S.A.V.I.O.R Services out of Australia, and in my mind a proven authority on the subject of identifying and dealing with stalkers and paparazzi.
In short, Hans is one of the good guys.
Read the interview HERE.
See Related: Industry Spotlight: EP Agent Hans van Beuge
The Circuit is a Magazine co-produced by the British Bodyguard Association (BBA) and the North American Bodyguard Association (NABA) who’s goal is to spotlight the role of Executive Protection & related fields to our community and the outside world. A full-color glossy with high production values, the publication is truly international, with contributors and readers from New Zealand to New Hampshire. In addition to being the Managing US Editor, I currently write an ongoing column entitled, “Keeping Your Edge”, which gives my opinions on a variety of topics that affect our industry. Take a look at some of the past columns from me as well as other valued contributors.
Currently in the library:
Keeping Your Edge
by Elijah Shaw (yours truly)
The Role of Firearms in Executive Protection
To check out the Books & Magazine Page, click HERE.
Summer’s almost here, and so I felt like since I was spring cleaning, I needed a fresh coat of paint. You’re now looking at Version 3.0 of the Bodyguard Blog. Hope you like the new layout as much as the people around the office do. Lots of interactivity and multimedia modules, plus easy to access links to the most popular articles and post.
p.s., Don’t forget to leave a comment, as I’ve always considered a Blog to be a 2-way exchange of information.
~ Elijah
PSD Team in Iraq
Hans Van Beuge of SAVIOR Services showed me an interesting article about how more and more civilian security contractors (or PSD’s) operating in War-zones are becoming the course of unfiltered news occurring on the front lines. Unhampered by government or military restrictions, some of these contractors have taken to writing Blogs to document their experiences and share them with the broader world. To read the full story, click HERE.
The future looks bright.
Mr. Austin’s original article on the shortage of female bodyguards:
“More and more, female BODYGUARDS are being sought after by women celebrities. Because executive protection has been a male-dominated field, there is a lack of female talent from which women celebrities have to choose. Harlan Austin, President of BodyguardCareers.com attributes this shortage to the ongoing perception that “size matters.”The simple fact is that a successful bodyguard should never have to use violence or draw a weapon. The belief in “brawn over brains” is a misconception. With that in mind, there’s no reason to doubt a woman can successfully manage the job.There is also a “boys club” attitude towards the field of Executive Protection, simply because the pools from which an bodyguard is selected has traditionally been from a male-dominated workforce; law enforcement, military personnel, martial arts and the like. Because women have now been more integrated into these traditionally male careers, they too, are candidates worthy of consideration for careers in executive protection. ”
For the entire article click HERE.
It’s always kind of cool when your a fan of someone’s work and realize you are on their radar as well. That was the case of me and The Corporate Takeover, which describes itself as a “business magazine and lifestyle dossier for the modern gentleman”. I’d say I’m pretty modern so I could see the fit, but I was surprised when I found out the managing editors were already familiar with my some of my work. Several weeks later, a interview was set up which covered a wide range of topics from politics, to economics to staying sane in the pressure filled world of the Executive Protection Industry.
Corporate Takeover: How do you prepare for high risk assignments that take you to countries where there’s an increased threat of violence? And at one point would you have to say to a client, ‘Ok, this is too dangerous’ and advise against visiting a certain location?
Elijah Shaw: The high risk assignments are where you really need to be focused. 90% of the job is in the planning, so you take care to minimize your clients exposure to harm. Depending on the type of client, resources might go from unlimited to a shoe string budget, so you just have to make due with the hand you are dealt. There are times, for example, when an entertainer has to make a public appearance, even when faced with a higher threat level, and the recommendations I make leads me to butt heads with other decision makers. Sometimes you can’t get away from that, but that is ultimately why a service like mine is used.
For the full interview, click HERE.
Met a great guy several weeks back named Andy Santamaria that owns an interesting business called CMTY which stands for Connecting Me To You. Andy interviews individuals from different professions and let’s the world know about them through Cyberspace. He didn’t reinvent the wheel, but he did make the interview process fresh and engaging. To catch my interview with Andy, click HERE.
I recently learned about a certain website that has been marketing themselves as offering the training courses taught by me as well as several of my peers in the industry. The kicker is, they give the impression that they are teaching these classes & lure potential students in by giving them the illusion of guaranteed jobs after the successful completion of the course.
To add insult to injury, they put their fee on top of the existing course fee, meaning that the class you could have signed up for directly is now several hundred dollars more.
Needless to say they’ll be hearing from me. *Personally*
Unfortunately, scams like this are nothing new to the Internet, it’s just now starting to make it’s way into the Executive Protection industry. People prey on unsuspecting individuals by promising them things that are almost too good to be true. You know what they say, if it sounds too good, it usually is.
My good friend Harlan Austin at Bodyguard Careers recently did an article on avoiding scams and I’d recommend everyone check it out by clicking HERE.
ICON VIP Protection Course
ICON is happy to announce that our Corporate Website’s Photo Page is now live. We invite everyone to stop over and check it out. To kick things off, we put up exclusive photos of the recent Celebrity & VIP Protection Course. So follow the link HERE, then come back and leave a comment and let us know what you think.
p.s., the next Training course is May 6-10, 2009 so if your interested in attending, you only have a few days left to register.
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Icon Services Corporation is proud to introduce our exciting 1 day seminar on Executive Protection held October 2, 2010 in Phoenix AZ. Hosted by the North American Bodyguard Association (NABA) this class is a must for those seeking to enter the field as well as existing Operators looking to make a bigger mark in the challenging [...]
ICON once again presents our 5 day course of practical theory and hands-on training in the world of Celebrity & VIP Protection. Held September 8-12, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN the course is an intensive mix of theory, drills and hands-on training. The last class was sold out and with the new training modules introduced such [...]
Minneapolis, MN September 8-12th 2010 – Icon Services Corporation present a five-day course of practical theory and hands-on training in the world of Celebrity & VIP Protection. If you are new to the bodyguard industry or a current operator looking to refresh and polish your skills, this course will offer excellent instruction into the professional [...]
Here are some of the photos during the recent ICON Celebrity & VIP Protection Training Course. In this actual Force on Force exercise, attendees escort their VIP from a building to a nearby vehicle, however armed assailants conduct an ambush. The students are evaluated on their reactions and decisions made. The level of realism is [...]
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