Providing Security for a Client - Essay Example

The client may have to travel by car, train, and plane and attend a variety of functions, including meetings and invitations for meals at restaurants, and do personal activities such as recreation and errands. Over the day, the client will be exposed to a range of risk levels, ranging from higher risk (meeting and greeting members of the public at an outdoor rally) to low risk (dining at an exclusive, gated country club with high security).

Some planning for the day would have begun on previous days. Once the itinerary is known, one or more bodyguards will travel the route to the venues, to check the roads for unexpected changes (road work, detours, closed lanes) and to check the venue. The venue needs to be checked for bugs and the security of the facility (exits, entrances) needs to be inspected. As well, the bodyguards will want to know the names of the staff who will have contact with the client, so that a simple electronic background check can be run on these individuals.

An hour before leaving with the client to his first appointment, the driver-bodyguard, and another bodyguard remove the cars that will be used to transport the client from the locked garage and inspect them. There may be only one car for a lower-risk client. A higher-risk client will have additional cars to form a protective convoy of vehicles that can flank the client's vehicle. The vehicles are inspected before leaving.

Once the cars have been inspected and they are deemed to be ready for use, they are brought into position near the exit door where the client will leave the secure building. At least one driver-bodyguard stays with the cars while waiting because the now-searched cars cannot be left unattended. If the convoy is left unattended, an attacker could attach an IED or sabotage one or more of the cars. Then the bodyguard team flanks the client as he moves from the secure residence to his car.

The convoy then moves out towards the destination. The team will have chosen a route that avoids the most dangerous "choke points", such as one-lane bridges or tunnels because these routes have no way of escape and they are more vulnerable to ambush. In some cases. If the client has to travel by train, the bodyguards will inspect the rail car they are traveling in and the other cars he/she will use.

            When the convoy arrives at the location, one or more bodyguards will exit first to confirm that the location is secure and that the staff who were booked to work that day are the ones who are present. If the location is secure, these bodyguards signal that it is safe to bring in the client. The client is escorted into the building using a flanking procedure. If the client is attending a private meeting inside the building, and the building itself is secure (controlled entrances) the client will not need to have a bodyguard escort in the building. The bodyguards can then pull back to monitor his or her safety from a further distance. Bodyguards could monitor entrances and exits and the driver-bodyguard watches the cars.

If the client is moving about in a fairly controlled environment such as a private golf course, which has limited entrances and exits, the security detail may drop down to one or two bodyguards, with the other bodyguards monitoring the entrances to the facility, the cars, and remaining in contact with the bodyguards escorting the client. Throughout the day, as the client goes about his activities, the number of bodyguards escorting the client will increase or decrease according to the level of risk.