FAQs

I was taught unarmed combat but I don’t train in any martial arts.

I am, to be honest, very bad at work-life balance. Mostly, it feels like work, work, work, with a bit of private life thrown in occasionally!

My industry has changed a great deal in the past 40 years. Women are now treated equally in law, so we receive the same pay for doing the same job. Men have grown used to having a female on the team and they welcome it, especially when the principal is female.

If you encounter an active shooter, my advice is “Run. Hide. Fight.” —

Run away if you can.

Hide if you cannot get away safely; switch your phone to silent and contact the emergency services if you’re able to do so without giving away your hiding place. Remember, when hiding, plasterboard (partition) walls won’t stop bullets.

Fight, if there’s no alternative and it’s the last resort. Use anything you can lay your hands on- fire extinguisher, chair, stool, and if you’re outside, any movable street furniture such as a dustbin or road cone. Your main objective is to keep the bad guy away from your reach, and if possible, make him or her inoperable until the police arrive.

I present masterclasses on how to deal with active shooter incidents and how to be more security-aware in the workplace. Click here to find out more.

From a technical point-of-view, some TV shows get it wrong, mainly in terms of protocol and the way a CPO would behave in real-life situations. The BBC series Bodyguard was great for the first couple of episodes, however, sleeping with the client is ALWAYS a big no-no.

To relax I make cakes; wedding cakes, birthday cakes, and generally I love cooking.

In the UK we’re not allowed to carry guns, however on some occasions if we have the correct permits we can carry abroad.

I was given the opportunity to train as a CPO many years ago and being the adventurous type I grabbed that challenge with both hands. Unless we are prepared to venture outside our comfort zone we will never know what we could become, or achieve in life.

Yes, I have been shot at a couple of times in other countries when on a mission. Luckily, on both occasions they missed. However, I don’t take it personally. Whoever they are, they’re just doing their job.

I have had male clients refuse to be protected by a female CPO, however, it has always been because of cultural differences, not sexual discrimination.

Today, there are probably a couple of hundred female CPOs around the world. That’s still not many though, compared to the thousands of male CPOs.

I manage to detach myself from emotional situations by focusing on the actual job in-hand, not the emotional state of the client or the consequences. You learn to just get on with it.

To become a CPO you need a sense of discipline and assurance, without being arrogant.  The basic training (according to the Security Industry Authority) is 140 hours, however, that’s nowhere near enough. It might teach you the basic drills, but until you are out in the field — as part of a team, watching, listening and learning — you won’t learn the true skills of a CPO. The single best skill you can possess, by far, is diplomacy.

My book, The Circuit, is all about my life and career and how I went from being a police officer in the late 1970s to becoming a close protection officer. Whilst there’s a lot about my job I cannot talk about, the book does contain lots of real-life stories about the missions I’ve led and some of the clients that have employed me over the years.

Click here to find out more.

What scares me is what I don’t know, and what I can’t control or affect, such as being able to fly a plane.