Safar Interviews Hans Van Beuge

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

Stunt Double

Doorman Knocks Out Paparazzi

An angry doorman knocked out a photographer taking pictures outside of accused Ponzi scam artist Ken Starr’s residence in New York.   –That is knocked him out while other photographers took even more photos of the incident.–  Police later arrested the man for assault.  So now take another look at the photo above.  Who really won the fight?

Full story HERE.

Bodyguard Training Course (July 7-11)

Industry Spotlight: EP Agent Hans van Beuge

Icon – Behind the Bodyguard Business holds a spotlight where we feature someone in the Executive Protection, Security or Investigation industry.  Our hope is to provide some insight into our profession and also show newcomers & the media that people from all walks of life and all parts of the globe do this type of work with honor and pride.   No it’s not like the movies, but it can be rewarding, thrilling, and yes, sometimes fun.

Below is an excerpt of my interview with veteran Executive Protection Agent, Hans van Beuge Principal Partner of SAVIOR.

Agent Name: Hans van Beuge
Company Name: SAVIOR
Website: www.saviorservices.com
Home city / Country: Australia
Contact info: (email/phone number) hans@saviorservices.com  int + 61 418 553 363

How long have you been in the Protection Industry?

My career began in 1970 as an 18year old. This was well before any licensing or training accreditation was necessary. I was recruited to work for a company that provided security for Rock venues and Festivals and quickly progressed to tour/personal security for various bands and artists.

Can you give our readers a little bit of your background?

I started doing security work to support myself as an aspiring athlete. I was a Shot Putter in the Australian Athletic Team.  I was 6’6” and 240lb at 18 and about 265lb by the time I was 20.  Back then most of the guys protecting entertainers were martial artists or former boxers or wrestlers.  Muscle and physicality were seen as the only prerequisite at the time, however that’s definitely how I got my break into the industry.  

Knowing how difficult it is to build a strong, long term base in EP work, what specific skills/traits make you marketable to potential clients?

 I think it’s really necessary to determine which areas of Protection you are best suited for.  In this profession you can work in the Government, Military, PSD, Corporate (from CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies to small business owners), or for Wealthy Individuals, Entertainers (encompassing actors, rock bands, individual singers, rappers, models etc) and professional athletes. Although the principles of protection remain the same, the perspectives vary enormously depending in which field you work. Very few guys can transition successfully between all areas.

With the killing of John Lennon in 1980, the Hinckley/Reagan/Foster incident in early ’81 and a host of other high profile attacks on celelebrities around then , I came to the conclusion that the greatest hazard to entertainers was going to be coming from those mentally disordered individuals who for whatever demented reason seek connection with the famous.

I started to study psychology and read and researched as much material as available to understand the mind set of the types of offenders who pose a risk to my clients. I did as many courses as possible and started to interface with clinical psychiatrists and psychologists to workshop ideas and share my on the ground experiences with their more often textbook experience.

Behavioral prediction became a greater and greater aspect of the services I provided and eventually I started to market myself as a “Violence Consultant” rather than a “Bodyguard” to reflect this shift in focus. I also found it a rather untapped area for offering advice as it was in an area that Law Enforcement had no expertise in and the Mental Health authorities had little interest in.

I know that you have some pretty extensive experience dealing with the paparazzi as it relates to celebrity clients.  What do you think are some effective ways to deal with aggressive photographers?

 Well, no security or safety program designed for a client is complete unless you have a plan to counter or minimize the invasive/aggressive/illegal intrusions of the tabloid media.  My advice:  Understand what each particular client’s attitude is towards the paparazzi.   Some are nonchalant about them; others want their privacy protected at all costs and most have a love/hate relationship. No matter what their opinion of the paparazzi, I’ve never yet met a client who didn’t want to be advised of the presence/position of paparazzi before a photo was taken.

To someone coming up after you in the industry, what advice would you give?

To strive for professionalism in their work.  We see so many people in this industry who lack any vestige of professional demeanor or behavior. Conduct yourself in a professional manner, be well presented and attired, be dignified and be knowledgeable about as many areas of security as possible. Your Clients are going to look to you for answers to all kinds of security issues.  Remember that we are in a service industry. Treat your client as the boss, you are there to support them, they are not there to enhance your career.

(continued)

For the full interview of my Q&A with Hans van Beuge, be sure to check out the next issue of The Circuit – The Magazine for Bodyguards, due out this fall.

Kate Holmes Bodyguard Saves Paparazzi

Kate Holmes’ bodyguard has found himself on strange duty – saving the paparazzi from a beating for photographing the actress in a shop.  Looks like some shop patrons didn’t take to kindly to the harassment and took matters into their own hands.

I’ll assume that the Bodyguard intervened at the clients request, otherwise I can’t see leaving the Principal for any reason.

For the full story, click HERE.

*update*

Had a person with a first hand account contact me on this story.  It appears the BG made a tactical choice to defuse the brewing fight that was then occurring outside of a small store front cafe.  Imagine being faced with a scenario where the only way to remove your Principal was to exit past a full blown fist fight, or be trapped inside?  One option would be to do what this agent did and verbally defuse it.  –At the end of the day it worked.

Kudos.

Celebrity Stalking Increasing?

Tyra Banks: Stalker gets 1 year of probation.

Britney Spears: Awarded restraining order against stalker. The stalker was arrested around the singers home wearing camouflage clothing.

Maria Sharapova: Her suspected stalker has been showing up repeatedly to the public tennis matches.

*The above photo is from the ICON Celebrity & VIP Protection Training Course. Have the students spotted the stalker? For more information click HERE.

Tabloid Get Queens Chauffeur Suspended

Interesting article on how the Royal Chauffeur for the Queen of England was duped by two tabloid reporters who posed as wealthy businessmen and paid him for the tour of the Queen’s vehicles. Of course you can see the major security breach here. I’d likely say his days in that position are numbered.