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A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, wealthy people, and celebrities — from danger: generally theft, assault, kidnapping, assassination, harassment, loss of confidential information, threats, or other criminal offences. The personnel team that protects a VIP is often referred to as the VIP's security detail.
 Bodyguards with President Ronald Reagan moments before he was shot in March 1981 | |
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
| Names | Close protection officer, executive protection agent, personal protection specialist |
Occupation type | Government employment or private employment |
Activity sectors | Law enforcement, Government, Military, Security |
| Description | |
| Competencies | team player, confidential, discreet, alert, observant, ability to stay focused, physically fit, calm under pressure |
Education required | Background in security, law enforcement, armed forces, Security Industry Authority, driver's license |
Fields of employment | Near VIPs |
Related jobs | Security guard, law enforcement officer, anti-terrorism specialist, intelligence officer, military special operations, private investigator |
Most important public figures, such as heads of state, heads of government, and governors are protected by several bodyguards or by a team of bodyguards from a government agency, security forces, or police forces (e.g., in the United States, the Secret Service or the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Department). In most countries where the head of state is also their military leader, the leader's bodyguards have traditionally been royal guards, republican guards and other military units. Less-important public figures, or those with lower risk profiles, may be accompanied by a single bodyguard who doubles as a driver.
A number of high-profile celebrities and CEOs also use bodyguards. In some countries or regions (e.g., in Latin America), wealthy people may have a bodyguard when they travel. In some cases, the security personnel use an armoured vehicle, which protects them and the VIP.
Roles
Popular misconceptions
The role of bodyguards is often misunderstood by the public, because the typical layperson's only exposure to body-guarding is usually in heavily dramatized action film depictions of the profession, such as the 2018 British TV series Bodyguard, in which bodyguards are depicted in firefights with attackers. In contrast to the exciting lifestyle depicted on the film screen, the role of a real-life bodyguard is much more mundane;[1] and would not fall so heavily on a single individual, nor would that individual be involved in dangerous firefights[2] Instead, a bodyguard's work consists mainly of planning routes, pre-searching rooms and buildings where the client will be visiting, researching the background of people that will have contact with the client, searching vehicles, and attentively escorting the client on their day-to-day activities.[3] In the event of an emergency, a bodyguard's priority will always be to evacuate their client, not engage with threats.[2]
Breakdown of responsibilities
The role of a bodyguard depends on several factors. First, it depends on the role of a given bodyguard in a close protection team. A bodyguard can be a driver-bodyguard, a close-protection officer (who escorts the client), or part of an ancillary unit that provides support such as electronic "bug" detection, counter-sniper monitoring, pre-searching facilities, IED detection and background-checking people who will have contact with the client. Second, the role of a bodyguard depends on the level of risk that the client faces. A bodyguard protecting a client at high risk of assassination will be focusing on very different roles (e.g., checking cars for IED devices, bombs, watching for potential shooters, etc.) than a bodyguard escorting a celebrity who is being stalked by aggressive tabloid photographers (e.g., the role will be to ask the photographers to maintain their distance and block the path of aggressive cameramen). Some bodyguards specialize in the close-quarter protection of children of VIPs, to protect them from kidnapping or assassination.[4]
Weapons and weapon tactics
Depending on the laws in a bodyguard's jurisdiction and on which type of agency or security service they are in, bodyguards may be unarmed, armed with a less-lethal weapon such as a pepper spray, an expandable baton, or a Taser (or a similar type stun gun), or with a lethal weapon such as a handgun, or, in the case of a government bodyguard for a Secret Service-type agency, a machine pistol.[5] Some bodyguards such as those protecting high ranking government officials or those operating in high-risk environments such as war zones may carry assault rifles.
Osama bin Laden's personal security detail consisted of "bodyguards...personally selected by him." Their "arsenal included SAM-7 and Stinger missiles, AK-47s, RPGs, and PK machine guns."[6]
Transferring client to vehicle
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 they move from the secure residence to the car. This moment is considered critical, as 60% of such attacks happen when the protected person is in or around the vehicle. Once this sort of attack is perpetrated, 75% of them are successful.[7]
Bodyguards learn how to examine premises or venue before their clients arrive, to determine where the exits and entrances are, find potential security weaknesses, and meet the staff (so that a would-be attacker cannot pose as a staff member). As well, some bodyguards learn how to do research to be aware of potential threats to their client, by doing a thorough assessment of the threats facing the client,[8] such as a protest by a radical group or the release from custody of a person who is a known threat. Close protection officers also learn how to escort a client in potentially threatening situations.
In other countries with no specific regulations, training providers are allowed to shape their programs according to their needs. Heavy focus on physical training and shooting, neglecting intelligence and the strategic part of the job for marketing reasons, has been recently criticized as useless and called "bodyguard amusement tourism" by the International Association of Personal Protection Agents (IAPPA).[9]
See also
- List of notable bodyguards
- List of protective service agencies
- Private investigator
- Private military company
- United States Secret Service
- Secret service
- Security detail
- Security police—persons who guard government property.
- Tactics and skills
- Regulation of private security guards
- (French regulator)
- Security Industry Authority (UK regulator)
- Particular units or kinds
- Housecarls (medieval Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England)
- Antrustion, the bodyguards of the Merovingian kings
- Praetorian Guard, the bodyguards of the Roman Emperors
- Rynda, ceremonial bodyguard of early Russian tsars
- Somatophylakes, the Macedonian bodyguard of Alexander the Great
- Spatharios, the bodyguard of Byzantine emperors
- Yojimbo, the Japanese word for bodyguard
- Pontifical Swiss Guard
- Vereinigtes Königreich
- Vereinigte Staaten
- Indien
- National Security Guards (NSG) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), responsible for protecting Prime Minister
- Special Protection Group (SPG), Indian specialized unit created after the Indira Gandhi assassination in 1984.
- President's Bodyguards, mechanized regiment of the Indian Army that is the ceremonial bodyguard of the President of India.
References
- ^ "The BBC Series: Bodyguard – Fact from Fiction". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- ^ a b Turk, Victoria. "How realistic is Bodyguard? A real Personal Protection Officer tells all". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
- ^ "What's it like being a bodyguard?". BBC. April 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
- ^ "Student of Fortune". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Leroy Thompson. "Close Protection Machine Pistols: Before PDWs there were high-capacity, full-auto sub machine guns that served double duty!", in Combat Handguns. Available at: tactical-life.com
- ^ Soufan, Ali. The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda. W.W. Norton and Company. New York and London: 2011.Page 325
- ^ Baratt, Robin (2014). 101 Interesting Facts on Bodyguards and Bodyguarding. Apex Publishing Limited; 2.0 edition. ASIN: B00JDEMFQQ
- ^ Basic Bodyguarding Skills 2008 by Craig Pedersen
- ^ Is Bodyguard Training Amusement Tourism? (August 6, 2020). Available at https://www.iappa.online/post/is-bodyguard-training-amusement-tourism. Retrieved August 14, 2020.