Executive Protection also known as Close Personal Protection or bodyguarding refers to security measures taken to ensure the safety of VIP

VIP

VIP and V.I.P. is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:-In general:* Vacuum insulated panel* Values, Influence, and Peers, an anti-crime campaign in Ontario elementary schools* Variable Information Printing, a form of on-demand printing...

s or other individuals who may be exposed to elevated personal risk because of their employment, celebrity status, wealth, associations or geographical location.

Executive protection is its own highly specialized field within the private security industry. Elite executive protection professionals (aka "agents") will have specialized training in executive protection, driving, first aid, and marksmanship.

The term executive protection was coined in the 1970s by the United States Secret Service when they created the Executive Protection Service to guard visiting foreign dignitaries.

In the United States, executive protection services are regulated at state level and in most cases require licensing, insurance, training and a separate concealed carry permit. Also, importantly, The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 (aka HR-218) does not serve as a license for off-duty law enforcement officers to provide executive protective services. Hiring unlicensed, uninsured protection services, including those offered by off-duty law enforcement officers, creates direct liability for the client.

Any bona fide executive protection firm should be able to provide a prospective client with their:

• State issued Corporate Business License
• State issued Registration to provide protective services
• Copy of current Liability Insurance
• Personal certificates of initial and on-going executive protection training for each agent
• State issued registrations to provide protective services for each agent
• State issued registrations allowing the agent to carry weapons for professional use. (HR-218 does not replace this document)
• State issued concealed carry permits for each agent (HR-218 may replace this document)

Protective measures may include home security systems, bodyguard

Bodyguard

A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...

s, armored vehicles and vehicle scramble plans, mail screening, private jet travel, background check

Background check

A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....

s for other employees, and other precautions. Executive protection may also provide security for immediate and/or extended family members to prevent kidnapping

Kidnapping

In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

 and extortion

Extortion

Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...

.

Executive protection occasionally becomes an item of general public interest, usually when it fails. For example, controversy erupted over the amount and nature of protective measures provided to former Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i leader Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....

, who was assassinated

Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto occurred on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January 2008...

 in late 2007.

Further reading

• Braunig, Martha J. (1993). The Executive Protection Bible. Aspen, Colo.: ESI Education Development Corp. ISBN 9780964062702.
• De Becker, Gavin (2002). Fear Less: Real Truth About Risk, Safety, and Security in a Time of Terrorism. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316085960.
• De Becker, Gavin (1997). The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316235020.
• De Becker, Gavin, Thomas A. Taylor, and Jeff Marquart (2008). Just 2 Seconds: Using Time and Space to Defeat Assassins: with a Compendium of Attacks against at-Risk Persons. Studio City, Calif.: Gavin de Becker Center for the Study and Reduction of Violence. ISBN 9780615214474. [www.just2seconds.org]
• De Becker, Gavin (1999). Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane). New York: Dial Press. ISBN 9780385333092.
• Karlin, Susan (November 8, 2007). "Covering Your Assets". Condé Nast Portfolio
  Condé Nast Portfolio
  Portfolio.com is a website published by American City Business Journals that provides news and information for small to mid-sized businesses. It was formerly the website for the monthly business magazine Condé Nast Portfolio, published by Condé Nast from 2007 to 2009.Portfolio.com is continually...
  
  .
• Karlin, Susan (November 8, 2007). "How to Choose an Executive Protection Firm". Condé Nast Portfolio
  Condé Nast Portfolio
  Portfolio.com is a website published by American City Business Journals that provides news and information for small to mid-sized businesses. It was formerly the website for the monthly business magazine Condé Nast Portfolio, published by Condé Nast from 2007 to 2009.Portfolio.com is continually...
  
  .
• Karlin, Susan (December 9, 2007). "The Secret Weapon of the Stars". ISRAEL21c.
• Kobetz, Richard W., ed. (1991). Providing Executive Protection. Berryville, Va.: Executive Protection Institute. ISBN 9780962841101, ISBN 9780962841118.
• Kobetz, Richard W., ed. (1994). Providing Executive Protection, Volume II. Berryville, Va.: Executive Protection Institute. ISBN 9780962841118.
• Oatman, Robert L. (1997). The Art of Executive Protection. Baltimore, Md.: Noble House. ISBN 9781561673841.

External links

• Executive Protection Association—An international network of licensed, insured, and experienced executive protection providers and agents.
• ExecutiveProtection.tel—A smart phone accessible version of the Executive Protection Association directory of licensed providers and agents.
• ExecutiveProtectionNews.com—News and commentary on the executive protection industry.
• How To Hire A Bodyguard

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