How can I be certain that I have chosen the right one?

Close protection, and it’s habitual misinterpretation by the media and film industry, makes both for easy viewing and, sadly a skewed depiction of reality. The ubiquitous image of a (usually) all-male CP team, absent of personality, always muscular and granite-jawed, is an easy go-to for Hollywood and the public.

The realities for both client and the protection provider in 2025, is that a CP team needs to be diverse, flexible, mature and professional in their approach and be able to interface with people across a spectrum of complex social and operational environments. CP providers promoting bicep size and the ability to look intimidating are not what most clients will be looking for, in a CP provider.

How do we know this?

GSA Global’s Director of Protective Services, Simon Tasker, was amongst the most senior Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) close protection officers working for Scotland Yard. With protection responsibility for the British Royal Family, Prime Ministers, Major Events and Internationally Protected Persons, Simon has had to manage close protection threats and risks, on multiple levels around the world. From countering state, protest and reputational threats, to maintaining security for Heads of State, to delivering Operation London Bridge (Death of HM Queen Elizabeth II), Simon has the operational experience to know exactly what makes a good close protection provider. Here he describes the fundamentals of what clients should be asking of their Close Protection ‘CP’ provider and, as importantly, highlights what clients should look for that should set alarm bells ringing.

Climbing the trust ladder

Building trust, whether in a business or private sense is critical, and something we all recognise the importance of. When selecting a CP provider, it is the client with arguably the harder job, as it is them that will be consenting to stranger(s) (i.e. the CP provider) to join them in a variety of work and private settings. This can be unsettling for a new client, and so a good CP provider will understand this, and early in the relationship go some way to reassuring and supporting the client, as the relationship between client and CP provider crystallises. A good CP provider should offer a client the opportunity to meet the CP team, prior to any work taking place and the contract start date.

  • Absolute professionalism. It really is the little things that matter, and prospective clients should look for a CP provider that makes good and correct use of language and grammar, when communicating with them. This will likely be the first point of interface between client and provider and evidences a commitment to professional standards. Clients should also look for a provider whose staff present well, can communicate easily and who are dressed smartly and appropriately for the environment.
  • Total communications. Close protection is a personal and socially complex setting. A client is effectively consenting to one or more person’s being with them in a variety of settings, whether official, business or private. A CP provider is likely to spend time in the company of a client’s family and friends. They will see and hear things that the client does or says. They may well spend hours sat in a car or on an aircraft with a client. To do this successfully, a good CP provider will know when, and when not to engage with a principal. They will need to have an opinion but not be opinionated. They may have to tailor conversations between themselves and the client, staff, a venue host, hotel staff or even young children of the client. It is a fact that people like to be listened to and will generally tell you some information about themselves. A good protection provider will listen closely to a client and absorb the information being passed to them. It is equally important that the CP provider listens and demonstrates an understanding of the handling and sensitivity of information that they are privy to.
  • Social situational awareness. A good protection provider will be as courteous, engaging, diplomatic and at ease in the company of a client, a member of staff, a family member, friend, venue host or even member of Royalty! A good protection provider will have a swift appreciation of any social environment and the circumstances in which they and the client find themselves. A good provider will, by being measured, tempered and calm likely exceed the expectations of the client. This ability to ‘read any room’ enhances the CP provider’s capability to see threats and risks.
  • Principal led activity. Essentially, the schedule and lifestyle of the principal will determine the extent and type of CP coverage that the provider applies. Good CP provision turns on understanding a client in a considerable amount of detail. Necessarily deploying a two-, four- or six-person team as a one-size fits all response to the client will likely be wrong and will cost the client more, too. Good CP provision will have the flexibility to amend and match the correct level of CP resource to the needs, schedule and lifestyle of the client. Continuity of team members will also be critical to ensure symbiosis.

What to look out for, and maintain a distance from, when selecting a CP provider:

  • Clients should be wary of any CP provider indicating a set, or fixed level of CP resource for every circumstance. Does it really need six CP operatives to accompany a client and family to the cinema?
  • Prospective clients should be aware of CP provider websites featuring people training with firearms and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Private sector CP operations across most of the world, including the UK and EU, are prohibited from carrying firearms, and any use of physical force applied by a CP operator, anywhere in the world, will have to be justified according to the law of the relevant country. There are no exemptions regarding use of force for private CP providers. Clients should think carefully about CP providers that showcase themselves extolling physical power and prowess. Any use of force by a CP provider invariably will have a detrimental effect on the profile of the client. Intelligent and intelligence led protection will avoid the need for force to ever have to be used.
  • Some CP clients are high profile, high net wealth and may be publicly recognisable figures. Any media or public interest in a client should limit itself to the client, and not the CP provider. Some CP providers, sadly, wish to absorb this limelight for themselves and revel in being photographed closely, and then post this on their website and other social media platforms. Simply put, the CP provider should not be the story. Clients should distance themselves from CP providers that like to include imagery on websites and posts of who they are protecting/have protected. This is an unhelpful distraction for the client, undermines professional standards within the security sector and paints a picture and pattern of behaviour and routine of the client. This increases the exposure of the client to threats and risks.
  • A prospective client should also carefully consider a CP provider that doesn’t or won’t subscribe to industry standards in regards best practise and accreditation. For example, all CP operators in the UK must according to Security Industry Authority (SIA) regulation have received medical training, but what does that mean? Clients should ask questions, such as ‘what medical provision do you carry?’ and ‘what vetting and safeguarding measures are in place for your own staff?’