Student Experiences After ICON Executive Protection Training

“When I consider what the primary difference was which made my ICON experience a greater value and overall experience to my previous training, I believe it is due to the fact the ICON course was  student-centric.  In other words, the course was designed to create and support an environment in which the students actively contributed to their own learning.  To create a course such as this, ICON put in significant time and effort to design and implement experiences which were designed to rapidly transition from the classroom to the real world”.

Donna Angevine

ICON CPC, AEP Course Graduate, January 2012

“I think that reality based training with stress is the best way to learn.  Sitting in a classroom can only teach somebody so much.  Putting people under stress and forcing them to think then act, then reviewing their actions is a much more effective way to learn and you and your staff taught me a lot.  Each member of your staff is a true professional and an effective teacher.”

Jimmy Menzoian

ICON CPC, AEP Course Graduate, January 2012

“In my 15 day journey, a total mental and physical transformation took place. During training, I was introduced to hand-to-hand combat, defensive tactics, and firearm training that was in addition to other tactical and dynamic instruction.  One advantage that ICON has over other Executive Protection courses is the top notch instructors who present up-to-date real life experience in the EP industry.   ICON has given me a great head start into the Executive Protection industry”.

Michael Brown

ICON CPC, AEP Course Graduate, January 2012

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Next Dates

Celebrity & VIP Protection:  April 25 0 29, 2012 (Financing & Scholarships Available)

Advanced Executive Protection (High Risk): April 30 – May 9th, 2012 (Financing & Scholarships Available)

To learn more about the ICON Academy Executive Protection Training Course click on the link.

The Value of Continuing Training – Security Driving

I always say people can teach you one of two things:

ICON Executive ProtectionTargets Make TV Debut

…and while it was only for a split second, we at ICON Services Corporation still think it was pretty cool.

It all started when I received an email from Marshall B., an ICON Alumni who was watching the A&E show Storage Wars.  Lo’ and behold, what flashes across the screen when the participants visit a Nevada Gun Range?  Thats right, the ICON VIP Protection Targets.  The Targets, created in partnership with America’s largest distributor of paper targets, were initially designed for close protection bodyguard work, honeing the shooters skills in a variety of true-to-life scenarios.  Since then they’ve expand beyond the world of Executive Protection and have made their way into ranges across the US.  In fact, the target featured in the clip, also has the distinction of being the best selling individual target in the companies line for 2011.

This is following a string of sightings that included, a S.W.A.T member who engaged the targets in a shoot house training exercise at his department.  What made it memorable is because he knew one of the models in the shoot (the hostage, who of course, remained unharmed).  In addition several weeks ago, I received a great email with one of my colleagues overseas in Afghanistan, who mentioned that while he was training with some VERY DISTINGUISHED individuals, he was happy to see the ICON Targets in use at the range.   You can find that story HERE.

If your a fan of the show, you can catch the episode HERE.  (the targets @ 21:15 mark).  Click HERE to see the full line of the ICON VIP Protection Targets.

Security Driving Guru Tony Scotti at Oct ICON Training

Fact: Tony Scotti , President of Tony Scotti Driving, is considered by many as one of the most influential individuals in the art of Executive Protection.  For over 40 years Tony has conducted training programs in over 30 countries, in 5 continents.  –The stats speak for themselves.

Having trained governments, corporations, law enforcement agencies and military organizations around the globe on the skills needed to survive life threatening situations behind the wheel, the instructor cadre at ICON Services Corporation is proud to have Mr. Scotti make a special appearance at the ICON Celebrity & VIP Protection Course held October 5-9, 2011.  Tony will be lecturing on Security Driving, a  subject he’s literally wrote the book on.

If you’ve been on the fence about whether or not to attend the course, this should help make the decision a lot easier.

To learn more about the ICON Celebrity & VIP Training Course click HERE.

To learn more about Tony Scotti click HERE.

ICON Executive Protection Themed Targets

Click here to learn more about the ICON VIP Protection Target Line.

Caption This pt. 12

The Executive Protection Magazine

While Blogs & Newsgroups might be the wave of the future in terms of delivering up to the minute news reporting, there is still a place for the printed page.  In the world of Executive Protection, The Circuit Magazine fills that niche offering news, tips, interviews, equipment reviews and more with all things related to the Bodyguard & Close Protection Industry.

Now on issue #10, the fine folks at the North American Bodyguard Guard Association (NABA) also with the long-standing British Bodyguard Association (BBA) produce a full-color magazine that covers the A-Z of security industry.

A subscription to the magazine comes free with membership to either of the above organizations, or you can order individually HERE.

If past issues are what you are looking for, I’d also suggest checking out BodyguardMagazines.com, where you can order, and also find a preview of the articles.

Auditors Question TSA Over (mis)use of Funds

The Washington Post Reports – The Transportation Security Administration spent about $30 million on devices that puffed air on travelers to “sniff” them out for explosives residue. Those machines ended up in warehouses, removed from airports, abandoned as impractical.

The massive push to fix airport security in the United States after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, led to a gold rush in technology contracts for an industry that mushroomed almost overnight. Since it was founded in 2001, the TSA has spent roughly $14 billion in more than 20,900 transactions with dozens of contractors.

In addition to beefing up the fleets of X-ray machines and traditional security systems at airports nationwide, about $8 billion also paid for ambitious new technologies. The agency has spent about $800 million on devices to screen bags and passenger items, including shoes, bottled liquids, casts and prostheses. For next year, it wants more than $1.3 billion for airport screening technologies.

But lawmakers, auditors and national security experts question whether the government is too quick to embrace technology as a solution for basic security problems and whether the TSA has been too eager to write checks for unproven products.

“We always want the best, the latest and greatest technology against terrorists, but that’s not necessarily the smartest way to spend your money and your efforts,” said Kip Hawley, who served as the head of the TSA from 2005 until last year. “We see a technology that looks promising, and the temptation is to run to deploy it before we fully understand how it integrates with the multiple layers we already have in place like using a watch list, training officers at every checkpoint to look for suspicious behavior and using some pat-downs.”

Click HERE for full story.

New Airport Scanner Screening Disaster

The controversy about the new full-body scanning systems implemented by the TSA is heating up the airwaves.  While no one is opposed to increased security, disaster stories like the one below show why public opinion is weighed heavily against the new procedures which subjects you a full body pat-down and has been charged with incidents like the one that happened in Australia to the woman who is actually now using for sexual assault.

And then of course, there’s this:

The airport screener arrested for assaulting a coworker who taunted him about the size of his private parts after his genitalia was exposed by a full-body scanner told police that he snapped after being subjected to “psychological torture” by fellow Transportation Security Administration employees who repeatedly asked him, “What size are you?”

In a handwritten statement given to cops following his May arrest, Rolando Negrin, 45, described the fallout after he walked through a high-tech “whole body image” scanner during a training session for TSA workers at Miami International Airport. Negrin’s statement to Miami-Dade Police Department officers,excerpted here, was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Negrin wrote that, despite his pleas, coworkers would not cease mocking him after the scanner gave them a revealing look.  For the full story click HERE.

For those in the Executive Protection industry charged with protecting our clients image as well as their well-being the new procedures are a cause for concern.   While the word “Private Jet” is thrown around quite a bit, the reality of it is more often than not VIP travel on commercial airlines and as such are subject to the same security screenings.   It will be interesting to see how our industry rises up to address these challenges.  ~ES

Bulletproof Vehicles on the Rise in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — Carlos Nader drives the congested streets in a bulletproof Mercedes-Benz equipped with pepper spray and a 120-decibel alarm.

He has had bullets bounce off the car and once scared off an assailant by blasting his alarm, which is as loud as a jet engine.

Nader knows his car makes him a target of kidnappers and thieves in a country that has an “alarming” rate of carjackings and ransom abductions, according to the U.S. State Department. In Mexico these days, “everyone’s a target,” said Nader, owner of Protecto Glass International, a vehicle armor company.

A growing number of Mexicans — including many from the middle class — see bulletproofing their vehicles as a necessity and not a luxury.

Nader says an increasingly typical customer these days “is a regular guy that works, maybe he has a small business and he’s been approached by criminals to steal his car.”

“You’ll see Hondas, small SUVs … pickups,” Nader said of some of the vehicles arriving at his business.

Extortion is now commonplace in some regions of Mexico. Kidnapping has soared by more than 300% over the past five years and since December 2006, more than 28,000 Mexicans have died in killings blamed on drug-cartel violence.

The violence has sparked a jump in bulletproofing.

Although exact figures for the industry are unavailable to the public, the Mexican Association of Automobile Armorers, an industry group, reports an annual growth rate of 10% in recent years and values the market at $80 million per year. Automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Volkswagen sell bulletproof models in Mexico dealerships. A bulletproof Volkswagen Bora, a model similar to a Jetta, sells for $70,000.

Some armoring companies report backlogs for a process that takes up to 12 weeks and costs up to $80,000.

“If you brought me your car right now, I couldn’t receive it until February,” said Esteban Hernandez Lopez, managing director of Auto Safe in Mexico City.

Twenty years ago, armored cars barely existed in Mexico. Bulletproofing was only for the wealthiest businessmen and most powerful politicians. Today, armoring companies say they armor Ferraris for celebrities, SUVs for executives and politicians, and even Nissans for young professionals and small-business owners.

The demand for bulletproofing has created a bonanza for U.S. companies.

The Texas Armoring Corp. of San Antonio reports a near quadrupling of its Mexican business over the past five years and a strong demand for rush deliveries. Executive Vice President Jason Forston says he has noticed growth at the lower end of the market.

“In recent years … it’s not only that really elite market. You’re seeing a lot more people from the middle of the market, upper-middle-class folks, looking for protection,” Forston said.

He says he has armored cars made by Kia, the modestly priced South Korean carmaker, for Mexican clients.

Nader says even clients who can afford high-priced vehicles often drive “low-target cars.”

“They want to become a regular person on the street,” he says.

Nader joined the industry in 1993 shortly after being shot in the leg during a holdup. At the time, there were fewer than five bulletproofing companies in Mexico. He estimates that today there are more than 90 companies in the business.

For the full story for USA Today, click HERE.