High-quality leadership is necessary for all security services, but especially when a team of guards is working a private and executive protection job. It requires expert coordination, and for that, the detail lead is vital for the safety and comfort of the client.
A private and executive protection team is just that – a team. While it sounds simple, those outside the security industry can think of it in sports terms: the detail lead is a combination of team coach and captain. Here’s how we use the position to provide the best in private and executive protection.
What Is A Detail In Private & Executive Protection?
A security detail is a team assigned to serve as the personal security of an individual or group. Clients hire this team for one goal: protection as they move. Each job is different, and the detail needs to offer individualized and in-depth security services for clients.
While all the guards in a security detail work together for this outcome, making sure they achieve it comes from the leader, who is known as the detail lead. It’s a role that keeps every member of the team coordinated, and as such, it involves strong operational, strategic, interpersonal skills, and experience.
What Does The Detail Lead Do?
The detail lead is the coordinator, both with the client and the rest of the security staff. The role requires the member to perform tasks that organize, develop, and maintain the rest of the private and executive security personnel assigned to the detail. They must engage everybody appropriately and with professionalism while still commanding the whole operation.
Before the job, the leader must know the client’s needs better than anyone and coordinate the security team to meet them. In the event of any suspicious activities and emergencies, the detail lead must act as a first responder and report the details of the incidents, accidents, or emergencies. It’s why the detail lead is most likely the most experienced member of the entire team.
The detail lead also must ensure the rest of the security team is ready to handle any problems. They must prepare and plan the team for a client’s movements before departure. When on an assignment, the detail lead directs and coordinates the actions they have assigned to the security team members during client movements. They ensure the timely completion and submission of team schedules to keep the full coverage at all times.
Private and executive protection isn’t only about actual protection – it’s about providing the client with outstanding customer service and making them feel secure. By exercising sound operational judgment and knowing how to shift the team based on real-world needs, the detail lead can shift priorities and challenges in ways that make the client feel comfortable.
