About a month or so ago I featured the first of many BPI Security Specialists that have been the anchors of the “on-the-ground” reputation that BPI has maintained over ten years. Today’s featured specialist is call-sign “Peppermint”. Let me start with his call-sign which he was ordained early in his career by Mark Fair. Peppermint was and still is known for the large amounts of those red and white peppermint candies he would carry in his pocket. When he walked you could hear the plastic wrapping crackling inside his pants. He would pop those peppermints throughout the day like he was addicted. It got to the point guys would hold their hands out and he would automatically reach in his pocket and bless you with the red and white treat.
Peppermint joined BPI Security with the last featured specialist “Outkast” on the same day. When Outkast called me to come on board he told me of a childhood friend that had attended the executive protection course with him. Peppermint and I spoke on the phone a couple of times and shortly thereafter he was detailed to the full-time detail in McLean, VA where most of the specialists cut their teeth. He immediately blended in with the existing BPI Security team there, as well as the Vance EP detail leader and assistant detail leader. Everyone liked working with him.
Peppermint has a very stern attitude towards protection but has a very jovial side as well. When I elevated him to detail lead on another detail his leadership skills were profound. His ability then and now to manage the operational and administrative duties on a daily and weekly basis is unmatched. This is a well rounded specialist.
I put Peppermint on a traveling detail with the children of our anchor client where he was responsible for multiple movements on a weekly basis and managing the relationship between the child protectee, the parents and my strict policies. There was never a moment that I had to call him on a daily basis to check in because I knew the detail was covered. Once again, he excelled by turning in weekly paperwork on time and flawless. He was able to manage the logistical nightmares of traveling, rental vehicles and lodging on top of the mountaneous repsonsibility of a teenage protectee.
Peppermint has a keen sense of forward thinking as well as thinking outside the box to solve a potential issue before it occurs. On one particular long-term detail he warned me of two guys on the detail and said that their behavior was indicative of a violation of the non-compete clause. I failed to respond in a timely fashion and was bit by my first client being stolen right from under me. A downside of Peppermint is that you have to make him take days off. He will work 365 days a year if you don’t manage him. In one year. his family forced him to take off. He is a relentless professional and is part of the brick and mortar that holds BPI Security together. Peppermint is a living example of what a specialist can turn into by honest professional and ethical work.
Every company needs a Peppermint on their team. A specialist that you can give basic information to and let him go and work it out as if you were there yourself. A loyal hardworking professional that exemplifies what Executive Protection really is.
