Private security for an exceptional clientele
Interview:
Could you tell us about your background and experience?
During my 15 years in the Armed Forces and the French National Police, I had the opportunity to serve in elite units of excellence, such as the GIPN (National Police Intervention Group). This is the French Police’s special forces unit, specialising in close protection for diplomats, responding to hostage-takers and barricaded suspects, carrying out high-risk security operations and safe travel arrangements worldwide, and training police units across the globe. I then set up my first company in Nice, specialising in the implementation of close protection and security arrangements, as well as secure travel arrangements. Our client base, on the one hand, and the importance these same clients placed on the concept of safety and security, on the other, led my colleagues and me to consider and offer technical solutions such as cameras, alarms, panic rooms, secure telephone and internet networks, and the detection of bugging devices and/or spy cameras. To this end, I founded Preventive Concepts Monaco, which offers the following services: - security consultancy and audits (covering all technical aspects such as alarms, cameras, locks, safes, panic rooms, etc.), - safety consultancy and audits (safety protocols within a property, on a yacht, or for a family; staff recruitment, etc.).
How has your profession evolved over the past 20 years?
Who uses your services? ‘Security’ is an ambivalent and somewhat vague term (at Preventive Concepts, we consider ‘security’ to refer to the technical aspects, whilst ‘safety’ refers to human resources – in any case, everything relating to human malice: we therefore do not say ‘security guard’ but ‘safety officer’) . Over the past twenty years, we have seen that security and safety are now taken into account across all professional sectors: whether it be the security of telephone and internet networks, communications, or the physical safety of individuals. Security and safety are now at the very heart of every project; nothing can be achieved without them; today’s world is a hostile place for those who fail to anticipate these issues. In the property, yachting and hospitality sectors – which are heavily represented on the Côte d’Azur, in Monaco, Switzerland and London – professionals in these fields face specific and growing demands from their clients (security officers, CCTV, alarms… but also the implementation of security protocols by professionals). Working closely with their clients, family offices, solicitors and notaries also call upon our expertise, as do architects and project management consultants who wish, from the outset of a property’s construction or renovation, to incorporate security measures (networks, alarms, CCTV, panic rooms, reinforced glazing and locks, etc.) in line with our advice. Finally, private individuals, for their own unique reasons, seek our assistance; this is at the heart of our profession.
How do you see the future of your profession in the coming years?
Firstly, there is a real recruitment problem in this profession; there are very few well-trained people (not necessarily former military personnel or police officers) who choose this profession because it is a genuine profession in its own right. Most people choose this role because it requires no qualifications (a few days’ training is enough to work in private security), no responsibility is entrusted to them and, unfortunately, there is therefore no prospect of career progression for these agents. The standard of training and the level of pay therefore need to be significantly raised. To achieve this, security professionals must stop charging rock-bottom prices; clients must pay the going rate, but – as explained above – the officers and the advice provided must be of a high standard. This is a whole chain of thinking that needs to be re-examined. We must continue to demonstrate our competence and training in the sector, and refuse to allow the safety and security sector to be eroded by amateurs or foreign companies.