Hi Guys,
I hope you don’t mind me butting in, I have been involve in Close Protection training at both a civilian and government level for a number of year and have seen drastic changes in the civilian market mainly a lowering of standards or not knowing what should be taught. This was mainly due to Iraq when a few years ago; due to certain misunderstandings the corporate sector hired a lot of ex military as protection operators. They did this without requiring an accepted syllabus or creating the proper structures to ensure accountability. We are now flooded with no knowledge experts teaching out anything they like. At the same time at the top level the unique nature of the modern threat has transformed the close protection operation into an intelligence-based multitasking process. Within top level protection the catch phase is Security Hazard Effects Management Process (SHEMP). This is a method of decision-making in which individual risks are analyzed to determine the optimal course of action for each phase of the operation. When combined with the procedures of planning and intelligence SHEMP produces the safest method of operating in any hazardous situation. If the same amount of planning was applied to military operations it would save lives. With SHEMP the Close Protection Officer applies this information to the tactical environment. This allows him to see what is invisible to most. They see patterns that others do not and can spot anomalies, things that should happen but didn't or vis-à-vis. It also recognizes when expected elements are missing from the picture. This is describes as "negative cues" and again are invisible to novices. Close Protection doesn’t stop there after SHEMP, comes probability theory. Analytic studies show that criminal or terrorist attacks are influenced by different situational factors. These will depend upon a different constellation of opportunities that are tailored to the crimes in question. What it means is that you can predict the place where an attack is most likely to happen. This list is endless surveillance counter and anti, threat and risk assessment, survey and audits. I don’t know about the Canadian training but I would say its one of the best courses available and one of the most interesting jobs for any military operator. If any body want info on the British Standard Instute Close Protection Pas let me know