PW_3_2019

Professional Developmentv

Close Protection Robert Stenhouse , Defensive Tactics Group The Defensive Tactics Group’s (DTG) first offering of the year was our Close Protection Operatives (CPO) course, run in Chester. T he course was aimed both at providing current operatives with competency evidence, and to provide others with a unique insight into the role. This type of training is also suited to anyone interested in personal self-defence. It was a re-run of last year’s successful course. We started out with four participants on the first day, as this was a planning and reconnaissance day. I know this does not sound too exciting, but it was essential, as Close Protection involves meticulous planning. If you end up having to fight to save your principal, then you have already failed. For day two, our group had grown to nine. Some were new to the DTG and there were some old faces. It was a packed day, with no time to hang around. We started with some convoy driving to our first venue at the University of Chester. After a very brief discussion about surveillance and anti-surveillance from our expert, Sean Hannigan, we went straight into two hours of foot drills. Sean set the bar very high, with some brilliant exercises, as we practiced walking around the town. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were clamouring for more. Then we changed tack and carried out protection foot drills, led by myself and Tim Taylor. Everyone got a go as a protector and a VIP. I made it much

more interesting by having two students attached constantly to the VIP. We enjoyed a spot of lunch in a local pub, before continuing our foot drills back towards the University. Then came time for the physical intervention elements of the course. Tim Taylor put us all through some very useful, but also quite painful protection techniques. The photos describe them better than I can explain. By then it was 4pm and we still had two hours to go. We took the cars onto a disused area of an industrial park so Tim and I could carry out vehicle drills and anti-ambush techniques. Again, this was well received by the team. Sunday morning brought an early start to day three, when Sean Hannigan and Tim Taylor taught us about explosive vehicle search. This took me back to the 1980’s when I had to check my own car for IRA bombs. The best way to learn is to actually do it, so Tim rigged up my car so everyone could search it. Tim and Sean, I have decided, are a devious pair of fellows.

No sooner had we finished the search, than it was time to brief for the day’s exercise. This practical session involved picking up a principal and her friend, then providing them with a protection detail as they went around Chester. I used my daughter Lucy and my neighbour Sonja as the VIPs. Other students carried out attacks and generally harassed the protection team on their walkabouts. It all went swimmingly well until I told Lucy to try her best to lose them if she could, and to be as awkward as possible. Lucy was brilliant and mayhem ensued. To be fair to the team, they did an excellent job. I couldn’t believe that most of them had never been Close Protection Officers before, as in just two days they were doing a very professional job. One of the students confessed that his heart was beating and his hands were shaking with adrenalin. Sean said, “I’m not sure at what point this ceased to be an exercise and became real,” which was music to my ears. We had a brilliant weekend’s training and all learned a lot. Best of all, we made new friends and recruited two more members to the IPA.

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POLICE WORLD Vol 64 No.3, 2019