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The double dipping Perpetrators

About a year ago I started noticing a curious phenomenon that I dismissed as a flash in the pan. But as of that time I have seen and heard more evidence to put this out.

About a year ago I had a limousine company owner, that I had never heard of, contact me after he has been forwarded my blog. The gentleman wanted to offer his company’s services to me. As we spoke he told me that he offered security services to some of his clients when they asked him to suggest and EP company and in doing so it peaked his interest in the craft.

I asked him if he or any of his drivers had any official protection training at which time he replied, “Not yet.” I didn’t even bother asking if he was licensed locally to provide protective services. It was fair to assume that he was not. I checked his company website and there was no reference to protection services however the wording of his limousine services implied that there was more there than driving a car. Just enough for a smart buyer of his services to read in between the lines.

What I started doing was periodically researching local limousine companies. I looked at their website to see how they described their services. Then I’d go back to my MSP days and make a cold call. I’d represent myself as a logistics manager for a CEO who was traveling into the DC area. I’d go over pricing and then move into the possibility of providing protection. I was NEVER turned down. In fact some of them were so convincing I thought I had called a security company that possible did limo services on the side.

I asked each of them if their personnel was trained in protection and the overwhelming response was yes, and surprisingly, many of the companies stated that if I needed the driver to do protection as well, he would be an off duty police officer.

In as much as I already felt this was going on, hearing it first hand opened my eyes to a more problematic issue. Undercover – unlicensed – double dipping. I’ve already blogged about the difficulties of a one specialist detail that does the protective driving and the close in protection. The difficulty comes in when you have to accomplish 2 mission sets at the same time. Multiply that times 100 when the person perpetrating the one man specialist is not trained in either.

I encourage you to make a couple cold calls and see what you find out. I don’t think this is a DC only trend.

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