On October 31st, 1984, a woman was walking down her garden path on her way to an interview. As she walked past her own security – and one of her favourite guards – they turned and killed her. This woman was killed by her own security. This woman was Indira Gandhi. India’s third prime minister.

Her security guards killed her in revenge for an attack known as Operation Bluestar which was a mission set to evict militants from a sacred site just three months prior to her assassination.

In October of this past year in Brazil, a night time security guard returned during the day to the nursery where he worked. Carrying a bag and claiming to be dropping off medical records indicating an illness, he entered the nursery, doused the children and some staff as well as himself in a flammable liquid before setting them alight. As well as killing himself, he killed a teacher and four toddlers. He left 25 with injuries.

Security personal are there to protect us. It’s their job. There may be times when they fail – through no fault of their own but by powers and circumstances beyond their control. Sometimes they fail due to lack of training. Or lack of organization.

(As a sidenote – Sentinel Security Plus staff are professionally trained and go through regular refresher courses throughout their tenure)advanced security training

Never does one expect to have security abruptly change sides and attack while you are assuming you’re in a safe place. Luckily – the likeliness of this situation happening is incredibly slim.

This being said – the media reports a lot more police involved shooting in recent years which has sparked a melee of protests. The majority of these situations involve an officer arriving to a call and taking action as that individual sought fit at the time. Right – wrong – or indifferent. A judgement call was made and action was taken. Being caught in the heat of the moment will cause a reaction. This is inevitable, it’s how we control ourselves and our actions that determine the outcome.

There are also instances where these police shootings are seemingly unprovoked. However there are two sides to every story and often the media prefers the story that will provoke the biggest following. No one wants boring news. These ones are fewer and further between but the outcome sparks just as large a public reaction.

Now what can you do to protect against the ones in place to protect you? The short answer – nothing.

In reality anything could happen at any time. Whether you’re a believer in coincidence or fate, things happen. If something were to happen when security is involved – as I’ve said earlier, this is usually due to circumstances beyond their control.

Unfortunately if a plane flies into a building – there aren’t too many realistic security measures to prevent this.

The long answer? Always be prepared to defend yourself. Why depend solely on someone else when you can rely on your greatest friend – yourself. Train yourself and arm yourself with the knowledge and power to know that you can keep yourself safe. Always be a law abiding citizen that stays well on the path well travelled. Stay away from dark corners and rough places. This is what we all as “normal” law abiding citizens do. We obey the rules, we stay away from known dangers, and we do what’s best to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.

We rely on the police and we rely on security to keep us protected.

Are we wrong to do so?

Absolutely not. It’s their duty to prevent and protect against threats. The incidents they stop grossly outnumber the ones they don’t. Again – the media doesn’t report on things that don’t happen, so often you never hear about the prevented news.

You can eat spoiled food but that doesn’t mean all apples are rotten – just a few.

We try our best to avoid the bad ones but every once in a while you bite in and realize it after it’s too late.

In the meantime, while you sort through your apples, keep faith in those meant to keep us safe and protect us from harm.


 

Guest Blogger Rayna Davies

Rayna Davies is a graduate and practitioner of Business Management.  She has developed an expertise in blogging, covering subjects like travel, world events and security.  Having grown up with a father who has developed an expertise in Physical Security and Executive Protection in the RCMP and two major corporations, she has personally observed and experienced many security details.  These experiences have included personally meeting HM Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and many celebrities.  She presently assists Sentinel Security in Executive Protection workshops and guest blogging and also assists Gloprosec Preventative Services in Intelligence gathering and Business Administration.  Her passions include World travel, having visited every continent.  She currently is on maternity leave and providing daily close protection for a baby and a toddler and spending time with her husband who is a Police Officer.