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Professional Development

Close Protection Weekend Robert Stenhouse , IPA Defensive Tactics Group. Over the weekend of 23-25th March the Defensive Tactics Group ran their first course of the year; The Close Protection Course.

T he course was led by two members of the DTG who covered a cross section of essential skills used by Close Protection Operatives in the civilian profession, such as hard and soft unarmed combat techniques, explosives searches, planning, basic protection driving, foot drills, venue protection, anti-surveillance and then finished off with a live exercise. The course was devised because three of the members had recently finished my Security Industry Agency (SIA) close protection course together and all felt like we needed a bit more CPD training before they felt comfortable in the role. Especially as they are all looking to go into the business. Only two could make the first day but this was expected and was used as a planning day. Probably the most important part skill of the CPO is planning. As we know about the 6 P’s, if you can plan it, you can prevent it! The idea is to never get involved in becoming a bodyguard in the first place, avoid an incident whenever possible. So, we drove around the Chester area, planning and plotting. Saturday morning was a meeting venue where we knew we’d get a decent brew. We were joined by four others making a team of six. This is about the right size for a civilian protection team, so very realistic. We started straight away by demonstrating some basic convoy driving techniques as we drove to a local University. We met up with their Self Defence Club and did a couple of hours unarmed defensive tactics under the guidance of one of the DTG Instructors. The techniques differ from normal self-defence because you are not protecting yourself but protecting your VIP (The Principal). You give the illusion that you are being polite or it was an accidental knock. Obviously, there are a few more explosive techniques in there but not too much. Although the Instructor always made them hurt! After that we drove up to an Industrial Estate and carried out vehicle drills such as pick ups, drop offs, ambush drills and convoy driving (within what the law permits i.e. not what the police would have you do!). Then it was off into a town centre to carry out live protection drills in public. Trying to blend in without causing alarm whilst dealing with attacks on the Principal. The guys started off a bit tense but then nicely relaxed into it. Anyone who’s carried out surveillance will verify what an exhilarating experience this is.

Sunday was an excellent exercise in vehicle searching (another key skill of the CPO) in which the instructor had planted several bombs in my car. The team found MOST! of them, worryingly enough. I’m glad they were dummies (the bombs that is!). Then it was a quick briefing before heading out on the exercise. We used two of the team’s wives to act as role players and I must say they should have been nominated for the Oscars. We picked one of them up from a very prestigious Hotel in the centre of popular tourist City on a busy Sunday morning with a full security team, no one even raised an eyebrow. Then we drove in convoy to a retail outlet village. It was manic, with thousands of people and roads blocked off and nowhere to park, which made it a very difficult arena to work in. The team worked wonderfully well even with the number of unplanned events that happened. It worked a treat. Finishing off at the retail park we then drove back to the city for a business meeting in a plush Café. Both the wives met up for a business meeting and they enjoyed afternoon high teas whilst being protected by the team. From there the girls took the team on a 10 minute dash around city and tested both their fitness and ability to keep pace them, to coin a phrase ‘she was like a burglar on her toes’. We picked them up by car and returned to the final venue. Everyone had switched off and was discussing the day, it was brilliant. As we turned into the street the principal was ambushed. Everyone out, in reverse, off. A great finish! So, that was the end of the course. We debriefed the weekend, had a brew and exchanged stories of the day. It was great fun, action packed and immensely interesting. We will be running it again next year if you’re interested. If you don’t feel up to being a CPO then think about being a role player for us. For more information on the IPA-DTG please contact the Secretary, Chairman or any of the team.

POLICE WORLD Vol 63 No. 3, 2018

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