With the conclusion of the FIFA2010 World Cup draw in Cape Town on 4 December 2009, final preparations for the main event have entered their final phase. According to George Nicholls, CEO of Pasco Risk Management, now that there is finality about where teams will be based and playing their first round matches, the emphasis has shifted to security and logistics. “As expected there has been an upsurge in requirements for assistance with security and logistical planning, preparation and services”, Nicholls said. Pasco is currently advising one of the favored teams for FIFA2010 as well as a number of global organizations that are using the World Cup as a marketing and incentive opportunity.

Nicholls notes that while there is concern among many of Pasco's clients about the security situation in South Africa, particularly so far as the country's notoriously high crime rates are concerned, the focus tends to be less on narrow physical security requirements and more on the management of broader risks. “The face of executive protection is definitely changing”, Nicholls stated. “The security market is maturing and there is far less focus on the provision of bodyguards with guns and more requirements for an intelligence-driven security service that caters for diverse risks”.

Nicholls believes that key factors behind this shift are increasingly tough regulatory requirements and the potential for reputational damage to companies when incidents do occur. In South Africa, Nicholls observes, not only are there strict laws governing the use of force by executive protectors, but in event that those laws are transgressed the client may also be joined in any action by third parties. For example, South African law stipulates that weapons used by private protectors, supplied by a registered security company must be licensed to the security company, not the client nor the executive protector. Circumvention of the legislative provisions could lead to material liability exposure for the security company and the individual protector. “Many private security companies providing services for the 2010 World Cup may, in effect, be operating illegally and this exposes the client to risks that are potentially as serious as the security risks that they are seeking to avoid”, says Nicholls. Coupled with this, there is a growing awareness of the importance of protective intelligence in security risk management. “Over the past ten years we have built a protection model that combine security and protective intelligence – meaning information that is accurate, actionable and time sensitive – is the first and often most important line of defense” Nicholls explains: “Situational awareness of changing conditions on the ground allows us to ensure that possible threats are avoided or averted”. This approach to protection has gained Pasco international recognition and has been applied in several witness protection programs around the world and also adopted by the United Nations in its protection of key witnesses in war crimes tribunals. “For us, the requirement for protectors is not simply about being able to shoot and flex your muscles. Protectors are trained to make split-second executive decisions that avoid and mitigate risk”, Nicholls adds.

Nicholls believes that this shift in the nature and scope of executive protection requirements will ultimately result in significant changes in the private security industry, both in South Africa and internationally. “Restrictions on the use of force by private security officials and a growing emphasis on intelligence-based protection carries with it requirements that may be beyond the capacity of the smaller companies and that certainly cannot be met by the fly-by-night operators seeking to exploit opportunities such as 2010”, Nicholls states, “and this could see a consolidation of players in the industry”. As an illustration of this, every protection assignment carried out by Pasco and its specialised protection division, TravelSafe, is supported by a sophisticated 24/7 control center that ensures that updated information is constantly relayed to protection teams in the field. Reluctant to reveal the precise operational aspects for safety and security reasons, Nicholls notes that the protective intelligence collected and relayed to field operators includes information relating to terrorist threats, crime incidents, traffic and road conditions, and a range of other factors that determine the precise movements of the protection teams. In addition, specialised support is provided to deal with logisitical, medical and crisis management requirements, which includes a quick response and kidnap for ransom negotiators, if required.

“In the final analysis”, Nicholls notes, “protection requirements for 2010 are more like a sophisticated, fully integrated service rather than traditional bodyguarding”.