Google VIP Transportation Florida and you’ll see a list of limo companies with chauffeurs that have not been schooled in Close Protection, Evasive Driving Techniques, Venue Recon, Embus and Debus Planning, and other necessary protection practices that help ensure a safe and stress-free trip. That’s a job for ESS Global Corp.
ESS knows how important it is for you to get to your destination both safely and in a timely manner. It is for these reasons that all of our agents are trained and well versed in motorcade operations and tactics. Each member of our team has been trained in defensive and evasive driving tactics as well as additional training at other agencies. The ESS Global promise is to get you to your destination not only safely, but comfortably as well.
Once we know the destination, we will take all the necessary measures to ensure that your travel goes by without the slightest mishap. Many hours will go into planning your travel. Our team will advance all possible routes and then choose what they believe to be the best possible routes for where it is that you want to go. This is determined by many different factors that we take into account so that you don’t have to worry and wonder, you simply enjoy your ride.
Not only do we take the time to choose the best route for you, but we will also put together embus and debus plans to make certain that you safely enter and exit your vehicle at each destination. As in our Executive Protection and our Venue Security, we leave nothing to chance.
ESS Global Corp is a licensed provider of Secure Transportation and Protective Services for executives, media personalities, professionals and families, ensuring that you and your loved ones are safe and secure. Whether transporting and protecting executives, politicians, celebrities or your family, our team has the experience and expertise to offer a broad array of safe, secure, reliable, and discrete transportation and close protection services. Whatever the situation you are in, or the situation you are trying to avoid, we can help you.
Secure VIP Transportation
Vulnerability Assessment
Executive Protection
Close Protection/Bodyguard Services
Threat Assessment
Personal Protection
Sporting Events
Estate Security
Concert Venue Security
Airport Service
Social Events
Restaurants/Clubs
Whether you’re a Florida executive going across town, across the country, or around the world, you can count on the professionals at ESS Global Corp to get you there and back in safety and comfort. Our agents are D.O.E. trained security agents who have protected executives from Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, professional athletes, politicians and clients all over the U.S. who literally trust us with their lives. With ESS Global, no job is too big. But we also know no job is too small, because if it’s important to you, it’s important to us.
VIP Transportation and Security Questions? Email or Call us, and we’ll be happy to answer your questions. Email us info@essglobalcorp.com
Terror attacks in the US, terrorist bombings in the UK, and kidnappings in South America have focused a spotlight on executive/celebrity close protection, both here and abroad. But more often, it’s a political activist, an overzealous fan or a disgruntled ex-employee trying to force his way into the CEO office. It’s more often these “less than headline grabbing problems” close protection deals with.
Are you considering a job in the fast growing Close Protection Bodyguard field? Or perhaps you are considering hiring a Close Protection Specialist. ESS Global would like to give you an inside look at Executive Protection.
ESS Global Corp is one of just a handful of Close Protection Schools nationwide that are Department of Education certified and licensed and is the only Close Protection School licensed by the State of Florida. ESS is also one of the nation’s largest Close Protection Service Agencies with active agents in cities across the country.
We thought we would take a moment, track down CEO Theo Billiris and look “behind the curtain” and answer some of the more common questions both our students and clients ask us, and share this with you.
An Inside Look at Executive Protection
What is the very first step in executive/close protection?
Get licensed in the state in which you reside and get certified at a reputable Executive Protection School. Licensed schools, such as ESS, are preferred as both our students and our clients can rest easy in knowing that the school has been and continues to be monitored and regulated by the D.O.E. On top of that, all instructors and curriculums are evaluated yearly.
What are the advantages of having a personal bodyguard? Why do celebrities and top business or political icons keep bodyguards?
Protection obviously, but even more so, convenience and making life easy. Example: when you have an Executive Protection agent, they take care of all planning on trips. Choosing hotels, restaurants, etc. and perform all security checks at those places. Then, when you arrive, you don’t have to worry about checking in or waiting for service. It’s already done. You don’t have to worry about how to get from place to place. The route recon is already complete. You just sit back and enjoy the trip. Leave the details to us.
What is the client expectation vs real life?
Well the biggest thing is they believe that when they have you, they can go and do “whatever” and expect that nothing will happen to them. The best clients understand that we are there to keep them safe, which sometimes means heeding our advice/threat assessments and not going to some places they want to go.
Also, we often see that since nothing bad happens they start to think they don’t need us. The only reason nothing bad happens is because of what we do that they don’t see. Successful Close Protection leans strongly on threat assessments and security advances that they never witness.
Are there “cardinal rules” to follow?
Confidentiality. The best Close Protection Agents never become too familiar or comfortable – always remember they are client, not a friend.
Describe a “Typical Assignment”
Every assignment starts with a client interview/profiling. We learn about the client and their expectations. Next, we conduct a security advance of where we will be going. This includes site surveys and threat assessments of all places we will visit on the trip. We also conduct route recon on all possible routes between venues. Lastly, putting everything we learned from our advance team and putting it into play on the day of the detail. On that day we will protect the client and create an experience for them that was easy and relaxed.
What are the little things that make a difference?
At ESS Global, it’s our attention to detail. It’s important to really know your client, and that comes from our experience in the initial interview and our “Client Profile” setup. Do they like a certain drink or snack and having that in the vehicle or hotel room before they enter. Also, learning to remain professional and staying composed even if the client acts irrationally or becomes angry with you. Actually, that’s a big thing.
Do you use surveillance equipment? EP is really not like this
Yes we do. For obvious reasons, we need to be discrete here, but yes, we use state of the art surveillance and tracking devices. It also gets more complicated when we are contracted with protecting the family. Sadly, sometimes the best and easiest target is a family member.
Do you carry weapons all the time?
No, we are only armed when requested by our client. It’s really quite different than it’s portrayed in the media.
What sets ESS apart from the rest?
It’s the fact that we are a D.O.E. licensed school as well and have the ability to choose the best students for employment because we are able to assess them through the schooling process. Most other companies who hire from other “trainers” don’t get to assess them until they are working. This can obviously become a liability.
Lastly, was there ever a time when quick thinking saved the day?
Everyday! Clients change their minds by the minute. You really have to be able to think dynamically in the moment. There is always a solution. There is always somebody that knows how to get what your client wants. “No” or “I can’t” is never an option.
There is a Difference
Theo Billiris CEO of ESS Global Corp: “We find that most of executive protection companies send out an off-duty policeman with a gun. What you need to understand is if there was some sort of semi-planned attack, these guys would be of no value, or worse, dead. There was no recon, no planning, no preparation, no game plan in place, just an off-duty cop and a gun. That’s really not Executive Protection, it’s an off-duty officer. There is a big difference.” Executive Close Protection has changed over the last 10-15 years. Agents are smarter and much more professional in contrast to the stereotypical 300 pound man with the mind and intellect of a child. ESS agents have been D.O.E. trained and continue to train as they perfect their craft. Our agents come from vast backgrounds such as Military, Law Enforcement, Government Agencies and Executive Protection schools just to name a few. With this array of various backgrounds, we are able to put together protection teams that will fit and fulfill your specific security need.
ESS Global Corp is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. D.O.E Executive Protection Classes are also offered throughout the year in Tampa and as far away as Los Angeles. If you are looking to change careers and be the best and train with the best, we’d love to talk.
If you’re considering hiring an EP agent give us a call. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
ESS Global Corp provides Executive Protection Services in Florida and throughout the US and abroad.
Executive Protection Services – ESS Global Corp
Depending on your lifestyle or profession, seemingly everyday situations are not always totally risk free. Whether the threat is planned or opportunistic, incidents affecting personal safety can and do occur every day. VIP’s, executives, celebrities, government officials, and others seeking specialized executive protective services, either short term or long term, hire ESS Global Corp close protection agents that are deployed individually or in teams to give you the protection that gives you peace of mind.
Our agents are experienced members of military, law enforcement, and government agency decent, and are specially trained by the only Protection School in Florida, and one of only a handful nationwide, that is licensed by the United States Department of Education. Their extensive background and D.O.E. licensed training gives them an unmatched depth of knowledge in dealing with executive protection.
ESS Global Corp Executive Protection Agents keep our clients out of harm’s way. Trained in pro-active protection procedures that are designed to recognize, analyze, and neutralize threats before they become problems. Our agents are highly skilled in the areas of advance and logistics planning, threat assessment, crisis management, and emergency response. ESS protection professionals maintain confidentiality, sensitivity, and discretion; hallmarks of our company’s approach to personal protection. Conflict resolution, professionalism, discretion and above all sound judgment distinguish every ESS Global Executive Protection Agent.
ESS Global Corp Executive Protection Agents focus on preventing the incident from escalating. If an incident escalates to an extent where there is no other choice other than to use force to directly protect lives, our agents are very well trained to react only with the force that is necessary.
We offer a wide range of executive protection services and understand the nuances of working in a corporate environment. ESS Global specializes in mitigating risk and helping clients protect themselves, their families, physical property and financial value. Our security approach includes but is not limited to:
Executive Protection
Celebrity Protection
Special Event – Venue Events
Emergency Services
Jewelry Escorts
Appearances/Speaking Engagements
Shareholder/Board Meetings
Physical Threats – Crisis Management
Downsizing/Hostile Terminations
National and International Travel Protection
More than just a bodyguard service, ESS Global Corporation provides strategy and planning along with reliable, comprehensive executive protection throughout Florida and the US, including Detroit, Chicago, Orlando, Dallas, Tampa, Los Angeles and Vegas. To learn more about how ESS Executive Protection Services can assist you:
So here we are again. Just when you think it wont happen to you, or you say to yourself, “I don’t know anyone that has had an accident. We all hear the stories and see all the pictures on the web, we even watch the videos of DEA agents actually teaching others on gun safety and yes you guessed it, BAM! A Negligent Discharge. I am in the camp, that does not believe you should call it an “accidental discharge” Really? Can accidents happen yes.! Like maybe if you drop a firearm and it goes off, or you are running from a bear and shooting at it blindly, and you accidentally kill a mocking bird. But when you reach for a firearm to handle it and you grab it incorrectly or haphazardly, that results in the discharge of the firearm that is NEGLIGENCE! You caused it! You failed to take the appropriate measures to ensure the safe handling of the firearm. Why am I writing this article, because a buddy of mine decided to discharge his pistol while in his vehicle where he, YES! You guessed it, he shot himself in the foot and through the floorboard of his car. In his words “I had an awkward grip on the gun and my ring finger slipped into the trigger guard and it went off.” I wanted to post his picture, but he threatened me with litigation if I did, so I just told him he would be the subject of our next post. So lets go through the basics once again.
1) Treat all guns as if they are loaded!
This rule by itself does not completely keep you safe of negligence but it does set the tone as to how we treat a firearm and do not just assume the gun is unloaded. It must be treated with respect! Even when someone tells you it’s “Not loaded” Clear the firearm yourself!
2) Do not point the gun at anything you do not wish to destroy!
At this point you have not verified weather or not the gun is loaded or not, so we will consider it loaded and keep it pointed either down at the ground or in the ready position. Not to the side, not in the air, keep it pointed DOWN!
3) Keep you finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard until ready to shoot!
And here we are the number one rule that if followed no matter what else you do, the gun will not discharge. Hmmm, so basically the firearm is safe, until someone picks it up, and how that person handles it determines weather or not it stays safe.
4) Know your target and what is beyond it!
So you have followed all the rules and now you are placed in the position to discharge your gun, either at the range or in a life or death situation, you must know what you target is and what is beyond it. What kind of backstop are you shooting at? Are there people behind your attacker? Always remember there is a lawyer behind every round that gets fired from your gun. And they want to know why it was fired and why it landed where it did. And you need to be able to articulate your thought processes as to why you discharged your gun, and why the bullets landed where they did.
So you are all high-speed now, you have a 1.75 inch belt, desert tan ball cap with Velcro patch. You have Sabre Red Pepper, tactical knife, and you’ve mounted torches to your waist; one in the front and a tactical back up in the rear! Remember what your instructor said during training: “two is one, one is none!”
You weren’t sure what time of day you would be on post so you stored away some black flex cuffs and some white ones, you don’t want to offend anyone, right?
Now when it comes to firearms you figure the bigger the better, so you strap a 9mm hand cannon to your hip. You have taken all the courses and the State has issued your credentials. You have passed the entire necessary tests; you’re ready to go, right? WRONG! Ask yourself these questions:
Am I willing to take another human being’s life to save my own or the life of another?
Am I capable of defending another, or myself and then render first aid and/or CPR to the very person I just injured?
Am I ready to face the consequences of my actions and defend those actions in a court of law?
What about the effects of my actions on my family and my friends, how will the public view my actions?
Each of the answers to these questions should actually create new questions to be answered, depending on which direction you have chosen. The bottom line is there is much more to think about than just, what kind of gear you will equip yourself with. Stay safe and consider all your options before you need them!
Well the biggest thing is they believe that when they have you, they can go and do “whatever” and expect that nothing will happen to them. The best clients understand that we are there to keep them safe, which sometimes means heeding our advice/threat assessments and not going to some places they want to go.
Ask yourself these questions: