Private Security

When bodyguards around the nation flocked to San Diego recently, the talk was all about paparazzi, terrorists and the latest tech gizmos, with seminars like "Surviving the Kill Zone ? Human Factors Are the Key. " Guards trained in martial arts showed the latest techniques for subduing nightclub troublemakers, joked about the challenges of guarding celebrities like Paris Hilton and compared notes on the latest technology borrowed from the military. The 29th annual Executive Protection Institute Conference this month came at a time when demand for bodyguards has soared in lockstep with increasing global unrest spurred by wars and economic turmoil and rising public curiosity about the private lives of celebrities.

A recent report examining the funding and implementation of diplomatic security has found, among many things, that congressional appropriations for securing embassies, consulates and the like has been less than the amount requested in every year since 2007. The report, from the Congressional Research Service, raises questions about claims from the Department of State that proper preventive measures were in place prior to the lethal attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept.

Moving to enforce a pledge that has rattled Afghanistan's foreign community, President Hamid Karzai has begun dissolving the Afghan operations of private security companies, including the firm formerly known as Blackwater, the government announced Sunday. Karzai caught Western officials by surprise in mid-August when he announced a ban on private security firms that would take effect by year's end. The U.S. Embassy at the time expressed support in principle but suggested the timetable was unrealistic.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Just one thing went wrong for the thieves during Sunday's daring theft from the Pretoria Art Museum, which netted about $2 million worth of famous South African works. One of the paintings was too big to fit with the three robbers into their getaway car, a Toyota Avanza. So they left the piece, "Two Malay Musicians" by Irma Stern , on the sidewalk and sped off with five other works. The painting by Stern, one of the country's best known artists, was the most valuable of the works taken from the museum, worth around $1.5 million.

County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier wants to study the possibility of using a private company rather than the marshal's office to install and operate an airport-style security system for the Central Courthouse in Santa Ana. The Board of Supervisors will take up her request at its meeting today. Court officials have long pushed for the security system, which they said is needed to detect weapons brought into the courthouse.

President Hamid Karzai agreed Wednesday to push back a deadline for the shutdown of private security contractors operating in Afghanistan, but the issue still looms as a potentially serious point of contention with donor governments. The dispute, which began in August when Karzai abruptly announced a ban on all private firms providing security in the country, has spotlighted the increasingly fragile and tumultuous relationship between Karzai and his Western patrons. Without private protection, major donors have said they would have no choice but to shut down development projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Some communities, especially apartment and condominium complexes, hire private security firms to patrol or stand watch over gated entries. Typically, the firm will provide unarmed guards who serve as extra eyes and ears. They call in police when they see trouble and rarely arrest criminals.

The private security industry's giant, Pinkerton's Inc., said Thursday that it has acquired Bonafide Security Service Inc., a regional firm based in Santa Ana. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bonafide, which provides uniformed security officers, patrols and alarm-response services primarily to commercial clients and gated communities in Orange County, had estimated 1998 revenue of nearly $4 million.

To combat an explosion in graffiti throughout the city, Councilman Frank Feldhaus wants to hire a private security firm to patrol the streets looking for vandals. Feldhaus made the suggestion during Tuesday's City Council meeting, saying he would like the city to hire a firm for three months as an experiment to see if it can slow the 30% increase in graffiti that has been reported this year. "We know the spots that are getting hit with graffiti," Feldhaus said. "We could stake out those areas."

Private guards may soon patrol Hollywood Boulevard and citizen watch groups will work more closely with police as part of a plan to beef up security, officials said Thursday. The Community Redevelopment Agency board approved a $1-million program which, if the City Council approves, would also provide social service agencies with extra funding.

Ghosts have nothing on some of the ideas that come out of Washington when it comes to rattling chains and knocking pictures off the wall to terrify the common people. Case in point: the privatization of Social Security. One would have thought that this proposal was done in by two major stock market crashes since 2000, not to mention the generally noisome odor arising from almost everything that Wall Street has touched in recent years. Yet ever so stealthily it's creeping back into the public debate via the presidential campaign.

LONDON -- After a chaotic and embarrassing start, the Olympic security operation wraps up this weekend without major incident or much complaint. It looks to be a face-saving ending for organizers, who were blasted in the months leading up to Games for a multitude of potential security lapses. The criticism reached its peak two weeks before the opening ceremony when the British firm picked to oversee security announced that it had not hired enough guards. The admission forced the British government to add 3,500 soldiers to the armed forces already scheduled for Olympic duty.

On his first campaign trip overseas, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney learned the first rule of diplomacy: Never say what you're really thinking. Romney is getting heat from some of the press in London for telling an American news outlet (NBC Nightly News) on Wednesday that there were "disconcerting" signs about the city's readiness for the Summer Olympic Games, which open officially Friday night. In particular, Romney noted reports that faulted the private security company hired for the Games for "not having enough people," as well as the "supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials.

LONDON - Can the Games actually begin? From airport tie-ups to security stumbles to the 50 shades of gray of London's "summer," British officials and organizers of the Olympics are fighting rising concerns over how ready this city is to host the world's biggest sporting event, which kicks off in two weeks. Problems on London's overloaded transport network have angered commuters and embarrassed the government. Beach volleyball could turn into mud wrestling if record wet weather persists, though poncho and "brolly" vendors stand to earn gold.

A Los Angeles judge has awarded a $90-million judgment in an employment lawsuit brought by 15,000 former and present guards against a private security company. In a ruling issued Friday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John S. Wiley ordered ABM Security Services of New York to pay back wages, interest and penalties to clients represented by the firm Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye & Adreani. The lawsuit alleged that ABM violated the law by refusing to give off-duty rest breaks to security personnel at commercial buildings.

Rep. Anthony Weiner continued Wednesday to try to extricate himself from allegations that he sent a college student a lewd photo over Twitter, though the congressman's explanations did little to contain the sordid drama. Weiner, a brash Democrat from New York who is considered a rising star in his party, maintained that his personal Twitter account had been hacked, but in television interviews he would not say for certain whether the crotch-level photo of a man dressed only in underwear was or was not him. Weiner denied sending the photo to a 21-year-old female student in Seattle, an incident that became public over the Memorial Day weekend after conservative bloggers circulated the Twitter message.

Culminating a months-long battle between Van Nuys neighbors and motel owners, four motels on crime-plagued Sepulveda Boulevard this week pooled their resources and hired private security, a move intended to comply with city orders to curb prostitution in the area. The motel owners, who for months said hiring security would cause them financial hardship, will pay less than $10,000 a month for the service.

When bodyguards around the nation flocked to San Diego recently, the talk was all about paparazzi, terrorists and the latest tech gizmos, with seminars like "Surviving the Kill Zone ? Human Factors Are the Key. " Guards trained in martial arts showed the latest techniques for subduing nightclub troublemakers, joked about the challenges of guarding celebrities like Paris Hilton and compared notes on the latest technology borrowed from the military. The 29th annual Executive Protection Institute Conference this month came at a time when demand for bodyguards has soared in lockstep with increasing global unrest spurred by wars and economic turmoil and rising public curiosity about the private lives of celebrities.

President Hamid Karzai agreed Wednesday to push back a deadline for the shutdown of private security contractors operating in Afghanistan, but the issue still looms as a potentially serious point of contention with donor governments. The dispute, which began in August when Karzai abruptly announced a ban on all private firms providing security in the country, has spotlighted the increasingly fragile and tumultuous relationship between Karzai and his Western patrons. Without private protection, major donors have said they would have no choice but to shut down development projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.