Two sides of the security world exist for high-net-worth individuals and corporate execs. One is about building a security mindset: Creating preventative measures. The other is active protection in crises. Think: The Bodyguard. When security shifts from general protection to stopping clear and present dangers, my company TMAP a.k.a. Threat Management & Protection, Inc. can make all the difference between success and tragedy. It comes down to experience, professionalism, and a vast network of operatives and contacts.
And I have a tale to prove it.
A man we’ll call David Jenkins is the founder and CEO of Jenkins Scientific, a major DOD contractor whose innovative products save the lives of America’s brave men and women serving in the armed forces. He should have been focused on running his company and developing new lifesaving products.
Instead, last year his attention was diverted—in the worst possible way.
A former employee threatened to rape and kill his wife and daughter, threats which law enforcement believed to be serious. Jenkins Scientific did not have an existing relationship with a security firm capable of protecting Jenkins and his family, so its Board scrambled for help. One of Jenkins’ oldest friends suggested he contact TMAP. (The friend runs a snack food business and was pleased with how we resolved a workplace violence threat at his facility.)
The first time I spoke to Jenkins, I said, “TMAP will do anything necessary to protect your family. You’ll be safe in our care.”
As Jenkins told me, this was the first moment of calm he experienced in a full week.
One of the worst aspects of Jenkins’s plight is that the threat of workplace-related violence is rising. It can also strike when least expected. Workplace reports on violence are startling. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20,000 people yearly are negatively impacted in some way by violence related to work. Also, senior executives and high-net-worth individuals often become target of workers’ rage due to their status and wealth.
To make matters worse, human resources experts expect such incidents to become even more frequent as employees return to the office following the coronavirus pandemic. To help Jenkins and his family avoid becoming a grim statistic, TMAP immediately did two things at once: We organized protective services for them while also seeking to understand the mindset of the former employee Randy, who wanted to hurt Jenkins so badly.
Jenkins Scientific had terminated Randy seven months before. The company was entirely fair with Randy. Records indicate he received multiple warnings and chances to improve his performance before the decision was made to let him go.
Nevertheless, Randy blamed the company and Jenkins personally for what he considered unfair treatment. Randy made his threats via internet services, using his tech skills to be untraceable. Although he was believed to be located on the East Coast, far from the Jenkins in Southern California, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies advised the family and TMAP that his threats to commit vile crimes against the family were very real.
As it turns out, a growing body of work from outlets like Psychology Today exist on the increase in anger and rage, in part due to the psychological events of the pandemic. There is even an anger disorder called Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), aptly named because former employees like Randy making threats can be as dangerous as a roadside bomb.
Despite these developments, understanding the threat level they pose is best accomplished using a three-stage assessment I formed based on my decades of law enforcement experience. Essentially, we don’t need to understand the bad guy to help him, we need to understand him to stop him.
Stage 1: Rage Building
In the nascent stage, lasting about six months, fury spreads like an infection into every aspect of the threat actor’s life. In Randy’s mind, Jenkins was not just at fault for his firing, he blamed Jenkins for so many life’s injustices, such as getting caught in the rain or receiving cold fries at the diner.
Stage 2: Planning
This second stage lasts for one to two months. Now the pure rage the perpetrator feels towards his target shifts to plotting their revenge. Somehow believing that getting back at Jenkins would fix everything in his life, Randy developed different versions of his attack against the family, revising his plan over and over like a novelist plotting his next book.
Stage 3: Call to Action
In the third stage, which can be as short as one week, the perpetrator puts his plan into motion. The catalyst for such violence can be something as banal as seeing his former employer mentioned in the media to having a completely unrelated negative interaction that finally sparks action.
TMAP’s Plan
Our team assumed Randy to be in stage three and about to act. I therefore instructed my people to safeguard the Jenkins 24/7. Providing effective protection to corporate execs and high-net-worth individuals is best accomplished by creating an interlocking series of teams with specific responsibilities. At the heart of this team are personal protection specialists (PPS)—the bodyguards. Each Jenkins family member had an agent with them at all times prepared to protect them from active threats with any degree of force required.
But TMAP’s personal protection specialists were far from alone.
My protection plan for the Jenkins family also consisted of residential security teams (RST), consisting of two agents monitoring security for each of the family’s two primary residences around the clock. (This double security layer for both the principals and their residences is designed to thwart violent threats before they get close enough to harm the targeted individuals.)
Having quickly devised a plan and assigned agents with extensive law enforcement and military experience into each role on the team, TMAP provided the Jenkins an unparalleled level of security, allowing them to return to some semblance of their normal lives. This arrangement remained in place for just over a week before the threat was neutralized.
FBI agents arrested Randy as he left the East Coast bound for California. He had altered his appearance by dying his hair and growing facial hair, but alert authorities still apprehended him. According to our stages, he had in fact, just entered stage 3―he was just beginning to turn his violent threats into reality when he was arrested.
For the Jenkins, Randy’s arrest felt like a massive weight lifted off their shoulders. For TMAP and myself, it marked the conclusion of yet another successful active protection operation. In turn, the Jenkins had nothing but praise for how we handled the (very real) threats against their family.
Among other things, they thanked us for how they never felt hampered by their protection. They could go about their “normal” daily tasks without being self-conscious by the security team in their home. This exemplifies the value we bring to corporate execs and high-net-worth individuals.
As you just learned, TMAP enjoys a sterling reputation for our professionalism. This comes from hiring only the best agents, translating into truly formidable security that can carry our clients through any crisis. If your company or high-net-worth clients don’t know how they might react if they were in the Jenkins’ shoes, it’s time to contact TMAP before a crisis begins.