NCJ Number
217931
Journal
Journal of Security Education Volume: 1 Issue: 2/3 Dated: 2005 Pages: 165-168
Date Published
2005
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article provides a historical perspective in order to establish the foundation of one specialty area in the security profession, that of Personal Protection Specialist (P.P.S.).
Abstract
The Executive Protection Institute is recognized as having created a new professional career field entitled Personal Protection Specialist. The Institute's first school of training operated under the philosophy of protecting people. As such, they have trained young men and women looking for a career in the protective services. A recent trend has been and will continue to be the crossing over into this new profession of individuals who have been in the disciplines of medicine, law, computers, travel, and other related fields. A career as a Personal Protection Specialist is viewed as exciting, an opportunity to travel and offer up-close and personal protective services to recognized officers of corporations, government officials, religious leaders, and entertainers. The role of the Personal Protection Specialist is emerging as an interesting, rewarding, satisfying, and well paid professional career for the qualified. The term personal protection has now become a standard in the security industry and incorporated into statutes and job descriptions nationwide. In the emerging field of security, history has often been ignored. Similar to the field of law enforcement, men and women in protective service positions move from assignment to assignment and are promoted upward on their career ladder. As they move, their personal achievements and records move with them and no clearinghouse for information exists to record milestones. This paper briefly explains the origins and foundations of this new career field, as well as an explanation and exploration of the contemporary training approach to the historic “bodyguard” position.