The Protective Agents employed by our agency are the experts in this industry. They are hand selected after successful completion of the Eastman Protective Agency Assessment and Selection process (EPAAS).
After selection, Mr. Eastman, personally reviews their polygraph examination, drug test, nicotine test, physical fitness scores, background checks, drug testing and cardiac stress test results. Afterward he meets with each candidate to assess his or her communication skills, character, integrity, dependability, attitude, and creativity. If selected to move forward, they attend a rigorous training course where they prepare for the sensitive and classified assignments ahead.
During this course, they are trained in prevention of violence, assessing threats, situational awareness, threat recognition, hand-to-hand combat, firearm tactics, maintaining confidentiality, medical lifesaving procedures and the detection and handling of those with mental illnesses that often pursue public figures. At the end of each day they spend 90 minutes with our physical fitness instructor. Our goal here is to make strong people into athletes.
During this course, our agents also become technically and tactfully proficient in preemptive, reactive and clandestine protection. Preemptive protection is used prior to an assignment. It is his or her preparation, advance work, reconnaissance and attention to every single detail that makes an assignment so successful. Prior to each assignment our agents assess every known location you plan to visit, meet all point of contacts, meet your driver to ensure they meet yours and our requirements, identify the nearest and best equipped medical facility in the area. If traveling internationally, they visit our contacts at the Embassy or Consulate to determine what national threats are known and what local areas to avoid. When it comes to your accommodations, we do a security sweep of your hotel room, design exit strategies to ensure your safety in an emergency and inspect the security or safety equipment in your room. We also ensure the TV, DVD player, radios, phones, internet, running water, air conditioning and heating are operational. We even go as far as checking your room for any unusual odors and meeting with the hotel manager to ensure no construction work is scheduled nearby that would affect your stay.
Reactive protection is the most common type of protection and is the most effective. When providing this type of protection, our agents are detectable and without question, providing protection for their Principal. Though there are many types of tactical formations, one thing remains constant, one agent is always assigned to close body protection. Those agents (two or more depending on the assignment) work as a team and remain attentive to everything and everyone within visible range of the Principal. If a potential threat is detected, each team member is informed and tactical formations are reconfigured for superior protection. If the threat manifest, the principal is immediately extracted while other team members subdue the threat.
Clandestine protection is used for our clientele who desire protective coverage, but prefer our agents and the type of coverage to be discreet and less obtrusive. Here our agents dress down, blend in and conceal themselves within the environment. In some cases, we assign an agent to act as an assistant, intern, or family member. It has also been requested when a client wants their children to have protection without their children feeling as if they are being supervised or monitored. Another rare request is when an inappropriate pursuer has been identified as attending an affair and we are requested to provide coverage. In this case, instead of us keeping an agent next to the principal, we shadow the pursuer.
Once our agents graduate, they are assigned to one of our senior agents, where he or she will continue to develop the skills only learned in the field. This process has proved to be extremely successful in making them masters in this challenging, yet rewarding industry of protection of life.