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A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of
The work of a bodyguard consists mainly of planning routes, pre-searching rooms and buildings where the client will be visiting, researching the backgrounds of people that will have contact with the client, searching vehicles, and escorting the client on their day-to-day activities. In the event of an emergency, a bodyguard's priority will always be to evacuate their client, rather than engage with threats.
security guard
A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...
, government law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...
officer, or servicemember who protects an important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public officials, wealthy businesspeople, and celebrities, from harm. The personnel team that protects a VIP is often referred to as the VIP's security detail
A security detail, often known as a PSD (protective services detail, personal security detachment, personal security detail) or PPD (personal protection detail), is a protective team assigned to protect the personal security of an individual or ...
.
Most important public figures, such as heads of state
A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
, heads of government
In the executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...
, and governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
s are protected by a team of bodyguards from a government agency, security forces, or police
The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
forces. Less-important public figures, or those with lower risk profiles, may be accompanied by a single bodyguard who doubles as a driver.
Bodyguards have existed since ancient civilizations, with notable examples including the Roman Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...
, Persian Immortals
Immortals (, ), or Persian Immortals, was the name given by the Greek historian Herodotus to a 10,000-strong unit of elite heavy infantry in the Achaemenid army. They served in a dual capacity, operating as an imperial guard and contributing to ...
, and the Janissaries
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
. These roles have evolved into modern executive protection professionals, equipped with advanced technologies and training.
Roles
The work of a bodyguard consists mainly of planning routes, pre-searching rooms and buildings where the client will be visiting, researching the backgrounds of people that will have contact with the client, searching vehicles, and escorting the client on their day-to-day activities. In the event of an emergency, a bodyguard's priority will always be to evacuate their client, rather than engage with threats.
See also
* List of bodyguards * List of protective service agencies *Private investigator
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...
* Private military company
* Secret service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...
* Security detail
A security detail, often known as a PSD (protective services detail, personal security detachment, personal security detail) or PPD (personal protection detail), is a protective team assigned to protect the personal security of an individual or ...
* Security police
Security police usually describes a law enforcement agency which focuses primarily on providing security and law enforcement services to particular areas or specific properties. They may be employed by governmental, public, or private institutio ...
—persons who guard government property.
* Royal guards
* Republican guard
A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...
* Witness protection
* Counterterrorism
Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and Intelligence agency, intelligence ...
* Tactics and skills
** Counter-sniper tactics
** Close-quarters combat
Close-quarters battle (CQB), also called close-quarters combat (CQC), is a close combat situation between multiple combatants involving ranged (typically firearm-based) or melee combat. It can occur between military units, law enforcement and Cr ...
** Threat assessment
** Unarmed combat
Hand-to-hand combat is a physical confrontation between two or more persons at short range (grappling distance or within the physical reach of a handheld weapon) that does not involve the use of ranged weapons.Hunsicker, A., ''Advanced Skills in ...
* Security company
* Regulation of private security guards
** :fr:Conseil national des activités privées de sécurité (French regulator)
** Security Industry Authority (UK regulator)
* Particular units or kinds
** Housecarls (medieval Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or early medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman Empire, Roman imperial rule in Roman Britain, Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Compared to modern England, the territory of the ...
)
** Antrustion, the bodyguards of the Merovingian kings
** Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...
, the bodyguards of the Roman Emperors
** Rynda, ceremonial bodyguard of early Russian tsars
** Somatophylakes
''Somatophylakes'' (; singular: ''somatophylax'', σωματοφύλαξ) were the bodyguards of high-ranking people in ancient Greece.
The most famous body of ''somatophylakes'' were those of Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. They ...
, the Macedonian bodyguard of Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
** Spatharios, the bodyguard of Byzantine emperors
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...
** Yojimbo
is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who also co-wrote the screenplay and was one of the producers. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamat ...
, the Japanese word for ''bodyguard''
** Pontifical Swiss Guard
** United Kingdom
*** Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department
The Protection Command is one of the commands within the Specialist Operations directorate of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The command specialises in protective security and has two branches: Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP), prov ...
of the Metropolitan Police
*** Sovereign's Bodyguard
**United States
*** Bureau of Diplomatic Security
The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, commonly known as Diplomatic Security (DS), is the security branch of the United States Department of State. It conducts international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, and pr ...
of the United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...
*** Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...
**India
*** National Security Guards (NSG) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (India)
The Ministry of Home Affairs (IAST: ''Gṛha Mantrālaya''), or simply the Home Ministry, is a ministry of the Government of India. It is mainly responsible for the maintenance of internal security and domestic policy. It is headed by the ...
, responsible for protecting the Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
*** Special Protection Group (SPG), a specialized unit created after the Indira Gandhi assassination in 1984
*** President's Bodyguards, a mechanized regiment of the Indian Army that is the ceremonial bodyguard of the President of India
The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...
References
{{Authority control Protective service occupations Law enforcement occupations Military personnel Security guards