‘No, you don’t understand, missus. We are doing yer fucking door, and yer gonna pay us 50 quid a night each.’ Again, I politely refused. ‘Do you know who I am? Do you know who my fucking uncle is?’
It’s amazing how many nephews the top dogs in Salford have. Anyhow, he went on to explain who his uncle was and what he would do to me. Thinking on my feet, I replied, ‘Well, do you know who I am? Do you know who my fucking uncle is?’ (Of course, they didn’t, as Glasgow is a long way from Salford.) ‘Go tell your scumbag fucking uncle who my uncle is, and if you still want to do my door, come back and we’ll talk.’ It was the silliest thing I have ever said. I could hear people laughing in the background, but these two idiots were so confused that they just walked away scratching their heads, and I never saw them again – I guess they didn’t want to meet my uncle. I had learned another important lesson: confusion is a great tool when negotiating your way out of a jam.
I formed the Leadership Development Centre back in 2003 after 20 or so years in the licensed and event-and-exhibition-management trades, having decided to eventually sell up and leave my pub and restaurant businesses. I attended college and university to gain the necessary qualifications to teach in adult education. The catalyst had been a British Institute of Innkeeping Awarding Body (BIIAB) course in financial management I attended with an excellent trainer called Sara Bryan. There were ten to twelve people on the course, which lasted three days. I paid £350 to attend, I think, and the most important financial lesson I learned was that Sara and her company had earned approximately £3,500 for three days’ work, whereas I was still working ninety or so hours a week in a friggin’ pub for a fraction of that. There and then I decided training was the business to be in.
It took a couple of years, but I graduated from university and achieved centre approval from BIIAB to run licensing qualifications. The government was discussing their plans to implement the 2003 Liquor Licensing Act at that time, but the Private Security Act was in full swing, and the SIA had just made their first fuck-up. Everyone had to be conflict-management trained prior to licensing, and guess what? There weren’t enough conflict-management trainers. In fact, there were hardly any.
I was invited to do trainer training by a company called Maybo in Birmingham, where I met one of my first door bosses, a bloke by the name of Will Davies, who I later found out ran doors from Manchester and the North East down to Swansea in Wales. Will is a gentleman of the highest order, and I learned more from him that week and on a subsequent physical-intervention course than the so-called instructors had taught me.
On my return to Manchester with my new-found status of conflict-management trainer, I discovered that there was only one other person with the same qualification in all of the north-west of England. Mike worked at Wigan College at that time, and we later became good friends.
One day, I got a call from somebody called Damian, who was running the offices of North Cheshire Security, owned by Mickey Francis. I visited them, met Mickey and a deal was done: I was booked to run my first door course. Once there, I met Lesley Aimes – I was so glad there was a lady on that first course. I don’t think she will ever know how much she lifted my confidence, but I was terrified. It was one of those arse-twitching moments; similar, I suppose, to the way you feel on your first night working the doors. Lesley was in charge of that group, some of whom you could only describe as ‘big hard bastards’, and I learned my first lesson: complete respect is paramount in the security world.
And so it had started. It was now March 2004, and the SIA had stipulated that the lads working the doors in Manchester had to be licensed by 14 November that year, by which time I had trained 2,200 bouncers – now known by the more politically correct title of door supervisors. My life has been a bit of a roller coaster ever since.
Just before the licensing deadline, I had a funny experience when I was asked by the owner of Jilly’s Music Box on Oxford Road in Manchester to attend a ‘pub watch’ meeting that had been called by Greater Manchester Police to discuss how they were going to deal with licensing – or the lack of it at that point – over Christmas. Everyone introduced themselves, as I did when my turn came round. But before the meeting started, I was asked to leave, because ‘I represented too many door companies, and my presence was a conflict of interests’. ‘Whose?’ I thought. There was a bit of an uproar (in my defence), but I left. I didn’t want to piss the police off. Later that afternoon, I got a report of what had been too sensitive for me to hear. (Did they really think I wouldn’t find out?) Provided that door supervisors had completed their training and could evidence it, they would be allowed to work over Christmas – and this was the bit I wasn’t supposed to hear – as long as the police didn’t have a problem with the individual, and anyone in the city they wanted off the doors would be gone by the New Year.
As my business had grown really quickly and I had gone to university and achieved a level-four teaching qualification, I could train trainers to level three, the required standard to deliver SIA courses. I got approval to do so from Edexcel – an awarding body – and started to train trainers.
Licences for wheel clampers (most of the industry couldn’t spell ‘vehicle immobiliser’) was the SIA’s next fuck-up and my next big triumph. It was virtually impossible to find a wheel clamper anywhere in the UK who had the appropriate teaching qualification in order to be approved and accredited by the SIA to teach the required syllabus for that sector of the industry. You tell me: where are you going to find a wheel clamper who has a teaching qualification? Who the fuck thought that one up? So, I did my research and soon attended my first wheel-clamping lesson, which caused a storm at Salford University, where we were based. Everyone started panicking and coming out of their offices, thinking that they were being clamped by me in the main university car park. They were reassured when reception told them, ‘It’s just Mol with some of her bouncer geezers.’
And how good for business it was when The Sun newspaper (I think) ran the headline ‘Pay £500, Go to College for Four Days and Become a Complete Bastard’. Because none of the colleges wanted to run the course, we were the first to get accredited in the north, and we were off and running in our second niche market. God bless the clampers – they always turn up with cash.
I remember when I delivered my first course as a newly qualified clamping expert, I said to the guys, ‘Right, lads, this is where I have to show you how to put a clamp on.’ They all fell off their chairs laughing at me. (That was the intention, as I was much more confident by then.) I then suggested we go outside and practise the dirty deed, and I could video them to build up my training material. Those boys had the clamps out of the van and on the cars quicker than I could get the camera out of my pocket. ‘You don’t want to fuck about on your back putting a clamp on someone’s car,’ one of them explained, ‘You don’t know who’s coming back.’
I then formed a close protection company in late 2005, early 2006, employing two operations managers. Danny, who still works with me to this day, was really old school and commanded lots of respect and loyalty. The other sadly reinvented himself as 007, proved himself to have neither respect nor loyalty, stole from the business and lied so much about his background that I don’t think even he knew who he was. He is a fuck-up who will get his just rewards and has already disrespected others with far less patience than me.
The motivation for starting a close protection company was twofold: first, outside of the SIA itself, I probably had one of the biggest databases of door supervisors in the country, and a large number of these door supervisors also wanted to enter the world of close protection. For many in the industry, moving from door work into close protection seemed like a natural career progression. Second, as we started to run level three close protection courses, our client base for this type of training changed from big security companies with hundreds of staff to individuals and door supervisors looking for both accredited training and work after completing the course. I therefore felt I could n
ot only bid for our own contracts but network with other established companies on the circuit to help our guys into employment. This was the ultimate goal of starting a close protection company: the ability not only to offer close protection training approved and accredited by the SIA but also to offer our best students close protection work after qualifying and becoming licensed.
BIOGRAPHY OF MOLLY PRINCE
After over 20 years managing pubs and clubs, Molly Prince is now the managing director of Close Protection UK Ltd and the Leadership Development Centre, providing a complete range of security training throughout the UK. She divides her time between England and the Costa Blanca.
Molly can be contacted at [email protected]
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KEY POINTS TO BEING A GOOD BODYGUARD
BY MARC SAND
Originally receiving the majority of my training in the military, I have been in the security and close protection industry for well over 15 years and have taught literally hundreds of trained professionals – law enforcement officers, military personnel, security professionals, intelligence agents – as well as a great many untrained individuals entering the industry for the first time.
Having met a vast range of people and been in many situations, I believe that there are many things still substandard, missing or lacking in the profession, including effective communication, professionalism, leadership skills and professional courtesy. I have met many bodyguards working on the international circuit in locations such as Africa or South America, where there is still no formal government-recognised and accredited training. Bodyguards in these places have surprisingly little knowledge of the close protection industry. There is also a distinct lack of specific industry skills and basic education, and a definite need for psychological training and evaluations, as well as instruction in conflict resolution and management, thorough risk assessment and general man-management skills. Although this is changing slowly, close protection training in Canada is still significantly behind the training offered in many other countries, including the UK. I also believe that good training should feature a detailed understanding of the dangers faced by close protection agents, a comprehensive analysis of body language, in-depth profiling of possible aggressors, and instruction in dealing with stress and operating in demanding and hostile environments. There is support for soldiers working in Iraq or Afghanistan but very little support for the private contractor.
There are various reasons for close protection assignments in the private industry, and most security companies run background checks on their clients as a matter of course. But if you are tasked as an individual to provide personal protection to someone, you should always request a criminal background check on the client and, if necessary, also check with the credit reporting agencies – the last thing you want as a professional close protection officer is to find yourself hired by someone involved in the criminal world.
A decade or so after the Second World War, the close protection profession underwent a revolution of a kind, and celebrities, pop stars, artists and actors all started to employ an entourage of beefy, mean-looking security guards. Bodyguards in the celebrity sector were (and still are) built like brick walls, which certainly made them great to hide behind, although they weren’t always the most intelligent. Most people in the protection industry will end up protecting a celebrity at some point, even for just a short period of time, and it will quickly become apparent that for many celebrities it is cool to have bodyguards. Employing a security detail is a trend they feel they have to follow, rather than because of any specific threat against them.
One very important factor in an executive protection assignment is the legal contract between the protection company and the executive or his corporation. This aspect is often missed. It doesn’t matter if the contract is for a one-day assignment or for a job lasting six months or more, it is a very important aspect of an operation, as subjects, issues and protocol have to be clearly stated in writing between you and your client, as this could ultimately keep you safe if anything goes wrong. Remember, no one will remember the thousand things that you have done right over the years; the thing people will remember is your one and only screw-up.
Another very important and often neglected aspect of a protection assignment is that you need to assign a liaison officer between the contractor, client and yourself if you intend to use aircraft, limousines or any other method of transportation. If possible, the protection company should organise this, but try not to let the client arrange it, as you personally want to make sure that there are no last-minute delays or fuck-ups, and you have very little control over things if they are managed by the client.
In 2006, I accompanied a client to Mexico on an 18-day assignment. Contracts were all signed and sealed six weeks before the assignment commenced, all the necessary details were arranged, the retainer was cleared and we completed our reconnaissance efficiently and effectively. Everything went to plan until the chartered plane was delayed and the airline overlooked notifying the chief of security, who handled those matters. If a specific liaison officer had been assigned, this would not have happened.
As all of us in the industry know, fuck-ups never come alone, and on this assignment we had started with one. What else would go wrong? We arrived in Mexico at a private airport, and initially everything went well. The transport was smoothly organised, and the local traffic into town was not too much of a killer; however, the client suddenly decided to make changes to his travel arrangements without notifying his chief of security. Clients can sometimes be very difficult people to work with! So, last-minute arrangements had to be made without compromising the executive’s safety and comfort. Since the assignment was in Mexico City, where I had an office, we could facilitate this change.
All of our local drivers were trained to the same high standards as our other Canadian, US and European counterparts. However, the armoured vehicle we were using came with its own driver, which happens from time to time, as transportation companies occasionally provide their own for insurance purposes. The driver was checked out and seemed fine, and upon arrival at the hotel and the VIP being settled in his secured suite, I returned to the driver who was stationed at his vehicle and made sure that it could not be compromised in any way. I briefly spoke to the driver, and as I checked over the vehicle I immediately noticed that the fuel gauge was well below halfway, which could be a major security risk, especially with the additional weight of an armoured vehicle plus the possibility of driving in a potentially hostile environment. The thought of running out of petrol with a client sent shivers down my spine. When I asked him why this was the case, he answered that his boss had not given him the money to fuel up before departure! They were now in breach of security procedures, which had been signed off six weeks before the assignment.
In this situation, every good protection officer asks himself, ‘What else has happened? Has the driver’s integrity been compromised? Will the VIP and protection team be compromised?’ Since the local security company was already in breach of contract, we solved the matter by demanding that we immediately relieve the driver of his duties and put our own man in place. Our driver was a native Mexican and knew the streets and routes. However, because we didn’t know whether we had been compromised, we changed all the pre-arranged routes, the times for departure and arrival, and everything else the previous driver had been aware of. We were then able to securely complete the assignment without any further problems.
Assignments are never the same, no matter how many times similar procedures are implemented, and lessons will always be learned each time we undertake an operation. It is a never-ending process.
Two of the main attributes that a protection agent should possess are good communication and conflict-resolution skills. Communication is one of the most important aspects of any security or protection detail. No matter which country they originate from, NATO soldiers across the world use English for all their radio communications, because language must be consist
ent and standard for effective multicultural, multinational security operations. If you are tasked to provide international security to a company that does not use English as a standard form of communication, think twice about joining them. Misunderstanding can lead to injury and death.
Other than to your client, you will not always be recognised as a close protection specialist. You might be introduced as a business associate or colleague, or a personal or public relations assistant, which then enables you to conduct covert protection, as you will be able to stay close to the VIP without generating too much attention. An undercover approach to personal protection can be a very effective form of security.
Some protection assignments are a lot less interesting than others, especially low-profile or long-term assignments that require a certain daily routine in functions and duties. However, never try to create patterns in your assignment: modify your patrol times, change directions of departure and switch vehicles, and advise the client to do the same if his schedule and arrangements allow him to do so.
For long-term assignments, it is very important to build up a rapport with your client and anyone else associated with the operation. Effective communications will not only assist you in having an easier and less stressful assignment, but also keep you up to date on the client’s day-to-day activities, especially private and social engagements. Etiquette in social situations with your client is a very important tool in the industry – no one will ever be retained if they embarrass the client in any way or at any time. A good protection agent should feel just as comfortable on the streets of Iraq as at an exclusive event at a foreign embassy.
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