Always be on one's guard

By ESTELLE SARNEY

Auckland now has the first comprehensive course of its kind in the country training average people how to protect the most famous in the world.

The National College of Security's Diploma in Close Protection is run by Barrie Rice, a former group commander in the SAS who has since worked as a close protection officer in countries as diverse as Cambodia, Brunei, Namibia and the United States.

"The first thing I tell students is that close protection work should not contain all the dramatics you see in movies," he says. "If your client is shot at or taken hostage then you haven't done your job properly. It's all about planning and checking."

They also learn CQB, or close-quarter combat, should it be necessary, as well as protocol in different cultures and how to dress.

"The days of the gorilla on your shoulder are gone," says college director Wayne Tempero.

"Close protection means just that - you have to eat with the client, sleep in adjoining rooms with the door open. It's like being married. Clients want officers with personality and intellect as well as the skills to protect them."

Ultimately, says Rice, you have to be prepared to die for them. He has had guns and knives waved in his face in Africa and been shot at in America.

Current student CJ, who does not want her surname printed, is also a wife and mother who left farming behind to do the course. She deals with the risk of "taking a bullet" by thinking she could also be run over by a bus tomorrow.

"If you plan ahead and all your checks are thorough, you shouldn't jeopardise yourself or your team."

She and her 19 fellow students on the course's first intake are about to graduate, possibly to jobs in New Zealand, possibly overseas among Rice's network of international contacts. Over Queen's Birthday weekend the group travelled the length of New Zealand by air, ferry, train and car in a drill, protecting a "client" from threats ranging from hotel telephone bugs to stalkers and physical attacks.

The college also offers courses in investigation skills and general security work.

John Fale had worked in a commercial laundry for seven years when he saw an advertisement for the Certificate in Security Personnel and Technology. He was offered seven jobs while on the course, which includes modules on customer service, stress management and security-related law.

Within two months of joining First Security he was made a supervisor, overseeing nine mobile patrol units checking sites all over the city between 6 pm and 6 am.

"I've got 20 arrests to my name, from finding guys breaking into cars, buildings and sites. I'm not a small guy, so most of my catches were made by talking the guys into giving themselves up.

But he recommends those thinking of applying for the course to take a realistic look at themselves.

"You have to have the willpower to stay honest, because you are exposed to limitless valuable goods. I've had friends fall by the wayside because they think a client won't miss this or that, but they do."

College tutor Richard Howe says the formerly shady nature of the security industry is changing: "A security guard is no longer just a heavy on a door."

Even the most basic of doorstep heavies, the bouncer, is on the way out. The college is planning to start a two-day course for people interested in such work, teaching them skills ranging from how to greet and farewell customers to cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and fire safety. Along the way they'd like to rid the industry of the term bouncer, and replace it with the slightly more polished name doorman.

National College of Security Courses


All courses are NZQA-certified and students are eligible for student loans.

* Diploma in Close Protection

Course length: 13 weeks, full-time. Cost: $6500.

Job options: Protecting VIPs, usually from the business or entertainment industries, coming into New Zealand, and New Zealand business people visiting overseas. If based overseas, clients could also include politicians and royalty.

Earning potential: $50-$60 an hour, up to $500 a day in New Zealand or $US500 a day overseas.

* Diploma in Investigative Services

Course length: 14 weeks, minimum 30 hours a week. Cost: $4847.

Job options: Claims investigation for ACC and insurance companies, business investigation for corporates, work for private investigation companies, self-employed private investigator .

Earning potential: $45,000-$60,000 annually as a claims investigator, $80-250 an hour as a self-employed private investigator.

* Certificate of Security Personnel and Technology

Course length: 18 weeks of 30 hours a week, or 42 week night class.

Cost: $5620

Job options: Work with security companies doing site and building checks and surveillance, hotel and retail security, transporting money and documents, supervisory roles. Possible stepping-stone to careers in the police or government work such as in the Department of Corrections.

Earning potential: $10-$12 an hour.