Security Tips From Security Pro Part 2 of 2

Security Tips From Security Pro Part 2 of 2

Think Security - Serious Info on ALL Safety Measures Good Read

Think Security  

What is the first thought when I say bodyguard? I'll bet you thought of   a 250 lbs weightlifter, ex-football player, all star wrestler or the like. A big muscle bound man standing around your front door with folded arms and an Uzi under his suite coat. Right?  

Well maybe in the movies, but certainly not real life. Take me for example: I am 5'9" I can't lift my own body weight above my head more than a few times, I might be able to do ten pushups without collapsing and chin ups - forget it!! I am a normal guy.

I'm not a nerd, jock or playboy I am just an ordinary average single dad with four wonderful kids that like to wrestle in the living room and they usually always win.

My history. (There is a point.)

In 1987, I attended and graduated Executive Security International, a school located in Aspen Colorado. This is the premier school for professional executive protection specialists. My instructors were former Secret Service agents, top of the line protection agents, navy seals, and bodyguards for the super wealthy.  

The training included shooting with top competitive shooting champions, driving with top race-car drivers, Martial arts with navy seal instructors etc. The point is that this school trains and qualifies hundreds of agents each year.  

Many go on to work in law enforcement, special ops etc. in order to get endorsed by the school you must graduate as what they refer to as level 3. Anything below that and you do not get an endorsement a referral or as much as a good word.

ESI only refers or places the top of the top the best of the best and my point of all this is, I myself, even as a graduate of this incredible school will be interviewing and hiring agents for my family protection from there.

Heck I might even be real nice and hire one for my ex-wife. Only the kidnapers would pay me to take her back!  My class had about twenty students; only four of us graduated level 3 and got endorsed and placed. One went on to work at the white house with the Secret Service.

Two went to Tanzania to protect executives for Exxon. I went on to protect the family of a wealthy cookie company executive in Utah. You have probably all had free samples in a mall somewhere.

After that, I worked for a wealthy newspaper executive from India, and many other wealthy executives and a presidential candidate who you all know as the governor of the state of CA.

I then started my own protection agency where we guarded high profile executives, celebrities, country music performers and even other presidential candidates.

The point is this. If after you read the rest of Part 3 you decide that you do want to hire a professional, I have nothing to gain by telling you that I will be hiring someone from ESI, probably a female agent since I have small kids and a woman tends to be a lot more observant.

So before we go on let me say this, the best security that you can employ is simply, secrecy! The fewer people that know you have money or access to it the better off you are. (Hands down) I believe that the NDA, which I have read so many complaints about, will be the best thing for you over all. Create your story and stick to it. I do believe that the NDA is there for your own protection.

 Think about it, if signing the NDA is for the contract rate only what is to say that those that take the street rate won't go write books and make movies. It is because they won't walk away with as much money. The ones who really need to keep their mouths shut are the ones making the big bucks and are more likely to be targets of the bad guys.

So you are now worth a few million dollars, some of you billionaire is the word. But, why does anyone, and I mean anyone need to know that? Keep your financial affairs in the lowest part of the kitchen drawer.

Don't flaunt your wealth; don't expose yourself to the pirates from the beginning. Yes, they have their feelers and you may get exposed through them but the more you can do to avoid un-needed attention the more you can rest assured that you are less of a target.

RECOMMENDED: a book called "the Millionaire Next Door" Read it! Read it again and live it. '

Do you know that Sam Walton lived in a modest home in a normal neighborhood and he drove a 1970s pick-up truck? Most people around him had no Idea he was a billionaire. The guy that started and sold Micro-soft lived in my hometown and nobody knew he was worth billions when it sold. He drove the same old VW bus around.  

He eventually bought a really nice home in a secured neighborhood but not for several years and not until his kids begged him to move to a bigger home. Most millionaires are average people with the same wardrobe that I like, T-shirts and jeans, my boots are the most expensive things in my closet and it will stay that way even post RV.

I will not buy or drive a Bentley or a Ferrari. A new truck and maybe a Dodge Challenger is my extreme. I will not be chauffer driven except for a limousine that takes my four kids and I to the airport to go on our vacation.  Yes average, ordinary people splurge sometimes and limo's are the max of that rare splurge.

If you must buy Lamborghinis, mansions and high roller toys do it in the name of an offshore corporation. Many people believe that the super wealthy use things like bank accounts in the Bahamas as tax avoidance but the downright truth is its hiding their wealth from the pirates of the world.

Its about 90% privacy and maybe 10% tax avoidance. Your financial planners and wealth advisors can help you manage your funds and maintain you privacy. However, don't forget pirates have well paid feelers everywhere.

If you own your own business, if you bought an expensive yacht, you moved out of your modest 200 k home into a 3 million dollar home on the beach, if you come across as a person of means with access to big money. You may still be considered a target and the surveillance begins.

Remember I told you that a successful kidnapping requires information, observation, and tailing the target. Your protection agent should be an expert in surveillance and counter surveillance. A master martial artist or a quick draw and a dead aim are cool talents to possess, however none of the professionals that I worked with nor myself ever carried a gun. The best talent a security expert has is observation skills.

Now pay attention. The name of my agency was Silent Shadow Detectives. The name says it all. My mission was to protect the client and the client never knew we were there. We were silent and we remained in the shadows. Nobody and a do mean nobody knew we were there. 

I will apologize now for the length of this writing but I feel this is important so I want to share a story to bring home my main point when it comes to hiring a top protection team.

When I worked for the cookie company, she was a Mrs. and her name was their brand. Her husband ran the company and did all the hiring and firing. One day I turned in an invoice and he did not want to pay me. During our meeting he said he would not pay for services not rendered.

 I gave him the detailed report of where his wife and family had been at every moment of the day, I included all the routes she had taken and what car she had taken and then switched throughout the day as she was instructed to do in our initial training. I also gave him detailed descriptions of the Private Investigator that he hired to follow her while watching for us.  

His PI had lost the trail of his wife four different times, as my team was able to derail him in his pursuit. As far as we knew initially he was a watcher for the bad guys until our research team identified him as a local Private Detective. I did have to apologize for the three flat tires and his disabled vehicle.

Nevertheless this executive was comforted to know that his family could be themselves, live their lives and live as normal as possible without muscle bound goons in suites standing around every corner.

The point is this; you can have protection without having your life style cramped by a bunch of armed men in fatigues.

So you want to hire the best. Call ESI arrange for interviews with several agents. As the agent comes into your office for the interview excuse yourself for five minutes and then leave. Come back, make yourself comfortable, ask some basic qualifying questions and then ask them to describe the picture on the wall directly behind them.

Remember observation skills are the most important skills a protection agent has. So, he/she can't tell you the color of the balloons or exactly how many clowns but they do at least know it is a picture of a circus. Get the point?

Then move on to the critical test. If they are not willing to do this test, then move on whether you are interviewing ESI grads or PI agencies from the yellow pages I would conduct this test on any protection team I am considering, ask them to follow and report on a brother, friend, neighbor or anyone willing to take detailed notes of their day.  

Several potential agents have followed my bother before I hired then to work on one of my protection teams. Compare the notes from your assigned target with the notes of your interviewee.

Do not forget, a great counter surveillance operative is going to be an expert at surveillance, especially if you are hiring a team.

Once you have hired the right agent to work for your family you should have daily contact and they should be able to tell you where you have been where your children have been. If they discovered any possible watchers for the pirates and what counter measures were taken to thwart even possible surveillance operations.

It is true that on a daily basis you, your family members are going to come into contact with strangers. What you do not need is some overzealous bozo jumping out of the bushes to tackle every unknown passerby.

What your agents are looking for is watchers and then they eliminate all possibilities for these watchers to gain any usable info. At some point the pirates figure out that you have real pros working for you and they simply move on to the next target.

Thank you for reading this I hope this information is helpful.  I personally thank God every day that I know about this opportunity. If this information I have shared has done nothing more than to start you thinking then I am at peace with myself.

So, I will leave you now with this final thought. How many times in your life did your bicycle NOT get stolen because you had a good lock on it? We will never know. So how many times will your family be kept safe because you have a true professional watching the watchers? Think about it.

The best advice the security team told us on what to do once the RV hits, Is to keep your mouth shut & Mind your own Business!...

Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley - Audiobook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aicyobUTJrQ
 
"Taken" For "Ransom" Trailer (recut)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpiicbMzi7Y
 
Man on Fire (2004) Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALKCTuH79iE