End of course and a good all round team effort. Richard, Gaz, Lucy, Kristy, Shaun, John and Paul.

WWW.ARGUSEUROPE.COM.

Hold on a minute that sounds like our website. Who could it possibly be? Who wants to be like us?

Strange. When you go onto that website you are re-directed. Guess to where?

Of course the Nemesis Group. We think it is funny. But we do not know if our Lawyers are thinking the same, or the Office of Fair Trading, or Companies House, or the Institute of Directors, or the S.I.A. all of whom we are in touch with. The legal phrase is “FAIRPLAY” our phrase is “sad”.

One thing is for certain ” we will not be purchasing any sound alike web pages” to re-direct people to us.

Author: Nick Mathiason
Source: The Observer, Sunday January 13 2008

It’s enough to make Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett’s fictional private eye immortalised by Humphrey Bogart, breakfast on quadruple bourbon. Gumshoes, who have a reputation for bending the law to dig out sensitive information, face being bound up in red tape. For the first time, the government wants to regulate them.
Proposals due to be published next week are expected to see the Security Industry Authority (SIA) move to license investigators, place them on a publicly accessible database, and force them to undergo training. The proposals come in the wake of its decision in 2001 to license the security industry.
The idea has some of the most powerful investigation firms in the UK up in arms. Though they do not object to being licensed, they fear the government might go down a road that could compromise the identity of undercover detectives working on sensitive cases that involve organised crime or high finance.
‘I think they have failed to understand the breadth of our industry and the players in it,’ says John Cunningham, global director of corporate investigations at industry giant Control Risks.
Jeff Katz, chief executive of Bishop International, who made his name by establishing that Italian banker Roberto Calvi did not commit suicide but was murdered, says: ‘It would appear that the authors of the proposals are uninformed about the nature of investigations, particularly those carried out in connection with organised crime.
‘For the purposes of such investigations, it is often necessary to pose as something other than an investigator. If, in those circumstances, someone was found to be carrying [SIA] identification, they could be in danger of losing life or limb. The suggestion illustrates a gross ignorance of investigative work.’
Some believe that the government crackdown on investigators was prompted by the inability 18 months ago to sentence two private investigators, who supplied personal information on a huge range of individuals to hundreds of journalists, to more than a conditional discharge.
At the time, the government’s information commissioner, Richard Thomas, said: ‘A custodial sentence is needed to deter people from this trade.’
Richard Newman, president of the Association of British Investigators, says his organisation has been campaigning for investigators to be licensed for the past 50 years and broadly welcomes the move. He points to a case in which a man charged with paedophilia offences set up an agency to trace lost children immediately on his release: ‘This behaviour is not something we can countenance. We asked the Criminal Record Bureau if they ran checks, and were told that it wasn’t their job.’
There are estimated to be 10,000 investigators in the UK, although the Association of British Investigators believes the figure is far higher. The industry is thought to be worth well in excess of 100m. It ranges from one-man outfits hired to delve into the private lives of cheating partners, to corporate sleuths commissioned by some of the world’s biggest financial institutions.
It is the latter organisations that have objected most strongly to upcoming reform. Hired by banks keen to get ‘enhanced due diligence’ on companies they may be about to lend vast quantities of money to, corporate investigators are also employed to assess whether executives have skeletons in the cupboard that may make them unfit for high office. Recently, they have earned huge sums establishing whether firms run by Russian oligarchs are worthy of listing on London stock markets.
Many come from a legal or accountancy background, which is why the elite investigators bridle at the prospect of being forced to undergo and pay for basic training in return for being licensed.
The government estimates training will cost 900 per person, an estimate some say is on the low side. Refresher courses are also on the cards. Control Risks’ Cunningham points out the new rules would mean him forking out more than 50,000 to ensure his 50 UK investigators are accredited: ‘I’m quite happy to spend 50,000 on training,’ he says, ‘but it has to be meaningful.’
Overseeing the training is a new body, Skills for Security, chaired by former Metropolitan Police chief Sir John Stevens. Some investigators query his role; he is a key adviser to Gordon Brown and runs Quest, an investigations firm.
Some believe Stevens is about to reap rich rewards through his relationship with the new investigators’ skills body, his connections with the Prime Minister and his own detection business. But it is a charge strongly denied by senior Skills for Security official David Dickinson, who says Stevens is working for the body in a voluntary capacity and that the organisation is honoured to have him as its figurehead.
Angry private eyes on the warpath is not a prospect the government should welcome - but signs are that is exactly what it will get as it seeks to bring regulation to the mean streets.

The Princess Royal confronted an armed man trying to kidnap her in 1974, saying his plot was not “bloody likely” to work, declassified papers have said. Ian Ball, a 26-year-old burglar with mental health problems, ambushed Princess Anne’s car in the Mall, London, one night in March 1974.

He had asked her to “come with me for a day or two” because he wanted £2m.

Papers released under the 30-year rule show the Princess told him “bloody likely, and I haven’t got £2m”.

The briefing has been released by the National Archives.

In the document, written for prime minister Harold Wilson, the Princess said the only thing that had stopped her from hitting Ball was the thought that he would shoot her.

“It was all so infuriating; I kept saying I didn’t want to get out of the car, and I was not going to get out of the car,” she said.

“I nearly lost my temper with him, but I knew that if I did, I should hit him and he would shoot me.”

Ball was apprehended after shooting and wounding two police officers, Princess Anne’s driver and a journalist who had been following in a taxi.

Ball fired 11 rounds after using his Ford Escort car to stop the Princess Anne’s vehicle. She, her then husband Mark Phillips and her lady-in-waiting were thrown to the floor.

Ball was finally subdued by another police officer who brought him down with a flying tackle as he tried to get away.

Ball later pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder and attempted kidnap and was imprisoned indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

The government file also confirms that Ball was working alone.

The then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson praised the Princess’ bravery, saying she had behaved with “quite extraordinary courage and presence of mind”

CQB Training Footage

The blank/simulation training takes place near our offices in the North East of England in a purpose built facility and incorporates everything from the VERY basics taking you as far as you can go, depending on your learning abilities.

We have had some very experienced people tell us that they had achieved more in 15 minutes with Bob than they had in the whole of their careers - quite an admission for someone to make! We have also had pure novices attain an incredible standard in a very short space of time.

Remember, get the basics wrong like holding and sighting the weapon and everything else becomes much more difficult and could result in you missing your target which could well turn out to be fatal……for you or your principal!

THIS INSTRUCTION IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS - IF YOU WANT TO BE EFFECTIVE WITH A PISTOL THEN COME AND SEE US. The LIVE FIRING takes place within the United Kingdom and is again instructed by Bob Dunkley and assisted by the other Argus Europe instructors. Prices for the training include weapons, ammunition, ear and eye defense, insurance on the range and transfers from and to the airport. The course is a one or two day package depending on your needs or requirements.

We are more than happy for people not on our Close Protection Course to come and join us for a days training with Bob. Please get in touch if you would like to come and have a look at our set-up, as well as get some 1st class instruction with a pistol.

Argus Europe Team Read the rest of this entry »

Banker Alfred Herrhausen fell victim to a deadly terrorist bomb shortly after leaving his home in Bad Homburg on the 30th of November 1989. He was being chauffeured to work in his armored Mercedes, with bodyguards in both a lead vehicle and another following behind. At the time of his death Herrhausen was a key director (Vorstandssprecher, lit., “speaker of the board”) on the Deutsche Bank board. He had been with Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest, since 1969. From 1971 on he was a member of the bank’s board of directors.

The fatal light-activated bomb had been hidden in an innocent looking school bag on a bike next to the road that the terrorists knew Herrhausen would be traveling in his three-car convoy. In the bag was a 20 kilo (44 pound) TNT bomb that was detonated when Herrhausen’s car interrupted a beam of light as it passed close to the bomb. The bomb and its triggering mechanism were quite sophisticated. The bomb targeted the most vulnerable area of Herrhausen’s car—the door where he was sitting—and required split-second timing to overcome the car’s special armor plating. The terrorists also had to account for the bodyguards’ lead vehicle, and precisely place the bomb-laden bicycle in such a manner that the blast would do the most damage when it struck the side of Herrhausen’s car.

The German terrorist group Rote Armee Faktion (RAF) later claimed responsibility for the assassination and released a bizarre anti-imperialist statement (signed “Kommando Wolfgang Beer”) blaming Deutsche Bank for just about all that the RAF felt was bad or unfair in Germany and Europe.

A politicians bodyguard has been badly burned in Spain after a bomb planted in his car exploded.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the northern city of Bilbao but the regional government blamed rebels from the Basque separatist group ETA. The terrorist organisation has increased its operations in recent months.A senior member of the movement this week said that the arrest of 23 politicians belonging to the banned Batasuna party - seen as a front for ETA - amounted to a “declaration of war”.

The injured guard was working for a politician from Spain’s governing Socialist Party and the bomb went off in the La Pena area. A regional government spokeswoman said of the man: “It doesn’t seem his injuries are very serious, at least not bad enough to put his life in danger. “He has burns on his scalp, on his hands and some superficial wounds on his back.”

Many public figures in the Basque region use bodyguards to protect against ETA attacks. The terror group has killed more than 800 people in four decades of armed struggle for independence of the Basque Country. It called a ceasefire in March 2006, but grew frustrated with a lack of concessions in peace talks with the Spanish government and detonated a huge bomb at Madrid airport in December, killing two people.

It insisted then that the ceasefire still held, but declared it formally over in June and resumed attacks in August, although there have been no fatalities.

I have recently had enquiries about completing the APL course (accredited prior learning). This is a short Close Protection course which allows you to obtain the full Close Protection SIA licence.

One candidate fell “well” short of the requirements. He has recently informed me that he has completed it with another company. I have reported this fact to the S.I.A. for the following reason.

Standards are standards and have to be enforced. The person who obtained his licence may well end up having it revoked and hopefully the company involved will be disciplined.

The parameters are plain enough if you consult the S.I.A. website. Be careful and listen to reasoned advice or you may end up losing money, licence and course experience.

Brian Tough Q.G.M.