Sykes Group LLC Law Enforcement and Protective Services Newsletter

In The News

Train now for the day will come!

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We at the Sykes Group LLC salute the personnel of SEAL Team Six, the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the U.S. Special Operations Command and the C.I.A. for their successful mission against Osama Bin Laden

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Practice--Without Practicing

During a scene in the movie Enter the Dragon an obnoxious bully is terrorizing the young crew members of a boat that's transporting contestants to a martial arts tournament. The bully accosts Bruce Lee on the deck and antagonistically interrogates, What's your style?

You can call it the art of fighting without fighting says Bruce.

The bully aggressively and relentlessly demands to see a demonstration of Bruces skills. Bruce convinces him there's not enough room on the boat to fight, and that they should get on the lifeboat and go to the nearby beach.

The bully agrees, and Bruce has him get on the lifeboat first. At which point Bruce immediately unties it, and allows the lifeboat to be towed far behind the main vessel, providing the bully a well-deserved dose of humiliation and seawater.

The point:...read more

See Through Enemy Eyes

The husband-and-wife team watched Sidney Reso for almost thirty days before they attacked. Sitting in a van parked down the street from Reso's suburban New Jersey house, the couple documented the Exxon executive's daily routine, learning his habits and identifying his vulnerabilities. Then, one morning, the couple abducted Reso in his driveway as he retrieved his newspaper, something they had seen him do every morning at the same time. He was shot in the struggle and died several days later in captivity a victim of a kidnap-for-ransom scheme gone tragically awry.

Whether the 1992 incident could have been prevented will never be known with certainty, but security might have detected the warning signs of the attack had the company instituted a counter surveillance program as part of its executive protection measures.

A counter surveillance operation is....read more

Major Special Events Planning

Police officers around the world share many common issues; they deal with organized crime, inefficient bureaucracies, a lack of manpower, and a diverse list of threats against their communities. As if these issues were not enough, most agencies must facilitate crowd control and provide security for several major special events throughout the year. These may include anything from a presidential visit to a rival high school football game.

If you've worked one of these events, you know that the plan is only good up to the point of execution. Once the event starts, anything can happen. In other words, don't fight Murphy's Law but instead, embrace it as your credo; anything that can go wrong, will. The best time to handle a problem is before it ever starts, so incorporating contingency planning is critical to a successful event.

A Place to Start

If you are tasked with handling crowd control and all of the other issues related to a major special event in your community, first review how the event was handled in the past and use it as your starting point. Hopefully, your predecessor had....read more

News from ILEETA 2011: Preparing for a Mumbai - or Beslan style attack in the United States of America

It went like this...

The November 2008 terrorist attack on the city of Mumbai that killed more than 170 and wounded more than 300 others two-and-a-half years ago was a game-changer for American law enforcement. Few overseas events if any have had such an impact on police training and tactics as Mumbai. Perhaps one other, the three-day hostage siege in the town of Beslan that claimed the lives of more than 300 hostages, most of whom were children has had a similar effect, but in my humble estimation, probably not at least not yet but I'll get into that later.

During an afternoon session at ILEETA 2011, Chief Jeff Chudwin of the Olympia Fields (Ill.) Police Department discussed patrol-level response to Mumbai, Beslan, and other types of terror attacks when not if! they occur here in the United States. Chief Chudwin was as dynamic and energetic in his presentation of materials as ever. If you've ever seen Chief Chudwin speak, then you know what I'm talking about when I say that he's one of the best speakers I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.

Chudwin, who also serves as the President of Illinois Tactical Officers Association, began by saying that that we have both the means and the capability to defeat an attack on our cities and towns. The only question is, Do we have...read more

The Kaspersky Kidnapping - Lessons Learned

On April 24, officers from the anti-kidnapping unit of Moscows Criminal Investigation Department and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) rescued 20-year-old Ivan Kaspersky from a dacha in Sergiev Posad, a small town about 40 miles northeast of Moscow. Kaspersky, the son of Russian computer software services billionaire Eugene Kaspersky (founder of Kaspersky Lab), was kidnapped on April 19 as he was walking to work from his Moscow apartment. A fourth-year computer student at Moscow State University, Kaspersky was working as an intern at a software company located near Moscows Strogino metro station.

Following the abduction, Kaspersky was reportedly forced to call his father and relay his captors demands for a ransom of 3 million euros ($4.4 million). After receiving the ransom call, the elder Kaspersky turned to Russian law enforcement for assistance. On April 21, news of the abduction hit the Russian and international press, placing pressure on the kidnappers and potentially placing Kasperskys life in jeopardy. In order to defuse the situation, disinformation was leaked to the press that a ransom had been paid, that Kaspersky had been released unharmed and that the family did not want the authorities involved. Kasperskys father also contacted the kidnappers and agreed to pay the ransom. Responding to the ruse, four of the five members of the kidnapping gang left the dacha where Kaspersky was being held to retrieve the ransom and were intercepted by Russian authorities as they left. The authorities then stormed the dacha, arrested the remaining captor and released Kaspersky. The five kidnappers remain in custody and are awaiting trial.

According to Russias RT television network, Russian officials indicated that the kidnapping was orchestrated by...read more

Suspect Wore Explosives During AK-47 Police Attack

COLUMBIA, SC - Police found homemade explosives on the body of a 22-year-old Columbia man who died Wednesday after charging police with an AK-47 in Shandon.

Blakely Hilton Jernigan had built the homemade explosives out of a powder, but they were no more sophisticated than high-powered firecrackers, Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott said. Investigators also found more weapons, cocaine and marijuana in Jernigans apartment after the hour-long standoff ended in a hail of gunfire, Scott said.

More details emerged Thursday about the standoff that resulted in police SWAT members shooting and killing Jernigan outside a rental house in the Shandon neighborhood. Police continued their investigation as they tried to piece together events that led Jernigan, a former Eagle Scout, A.C. Flora High soccer player and Clemson University student, to...read more

VEHICLE DYNAMICS BASICS

Vehicle dynamics, two words you tend to hear often, unfortunately most people don't quite understand what the words mean and how it affects their day to day driving. As an example I recently reviewed a solicitation for driver training from a military entity. They asked the bidders to include a vehicle dynamics exercises. Well driving to the shopping mall, parking your car, parallel parking are all exercises in vehicle dynamics.

Vehicle Dynamics is the application of the laws of physics to a vehicle in motion. That vehicle can be a fighter jet, train, or a horse draw cart. In our case it is a vehicle with four rubber tires or two or 18 rubber tires as I have done in some training. The basic principals are the same no matter how many tires are attached to the vehicles. Hence when driving down the highway, around corners, or trying to drive out of a potentially dangerous scenario, the vehicle driver combination must operate within the laws of physics and specifically within Sir Isaac Newtons three laws of motion.

If driving is a big part of your life personally or professionally having an understanding of vehicle dynamics will make for a more enjoyable driving experience. For driver trainers, at any level of instruction, in depth knowledge of vehicle dynamics is a must. It transforms an average instructor into a professional instructor. Yet most people shy away...read more

Visual Screening for Concealed Handguns, Firearms and Weapons

Bail enforcement agents often face dangerous situations in the performance of their work; there is no doubt that the greatest risk comes from concealed weapons and firearms in the possession of those who would do us harm. The reality of our work is that there are evil people out there who will kill us if given the opportunity and situational awareness is the greatest tool (an) investigator may employ to identify danger before it is too late. Visual weapons screening is an easily learned and valuable skill that helps bail agents during an apprehension (or others with security concerns) spot individuals who deserve closer attention and, when appropriate and lawful, a physical search.

The U.S. Secret Service, backed up by three studies over a period of 15 years and published in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (3/06), identified the following visual cues indicating a person may be carrying a concealed weapon:

Behavioral Traits In all three aforementioned studies, none of the criminal offenders interviewed used...read more