Executive Protection - Situational Alertness

Risks are minimized through situational alertness. Situational alertness can mean survival. Executives need to assemble information on the country they are traveling to and keep alert as to their surroundings. Situational alertness is a product of having information about the country, the inhabitants and the kidnap risks within the environment. Situational alertness should function at a sub-conscious level working at all times, constantly ensuring the executive is taking situational data in and then processing what is relevant to executive safety and security.

Scan the area, keep your eyes moving, maintain awareness and avoid the element of surprise. Constantly analyze your surroundings, avoid problem areas, keep a situational awareness of in-country events and ongoing threats, and take better tactical advantage of your environment in advance of having potential trouble. Analyze the situational information for what is relevant, accurate and usable for safety as well as isolating significant elements for prevention and avoidance.

This includes active observation to detect, locate, identify and avoid threats. Look for threat indicators. These are activities that confirm or deny potential kidnap threats within your surroundings. Potential threats should be detected and particular events or activities correlated, giving you the ability to read and avoid kidnap risks. Look for tiny shreds of evidence of kidnap threat activities that point towards you as a current potential target. Executives must be aware of the discrimination between threatening and non-threatening people and activities.

Keeping alert and on the lookout for kidnap threats is the best form of defense for executives to utilize.

Maximum awareness and control of the surroundings provide readiness and prevention, enabling increased safety. Overall, practicing good situational alertness and surveillance awareness and watching for multiple sightings of the same person or persons is the best way to avoid becoming a victim. Even if an executive notices the threat as it develops and acts immediately, there is a much greater chance of escape. However, if the executive is caught fully off-guard, kidnappers have all the advantages. This means executives must maintain a high level of situational alertness about their surroundings, especially near home and work and at any regular appointments or announced public events. By keeping aware of anything unusual or out of place, executives have a good chance of spotting hostile surveillance or preparation for abductions. Keep Safe Out There and God Speed.