Kidnapping, it may not be a typical form of attacking a person, but it involves a probable assault that should be considered. In such a case, the agenda of the attacker is not to kill the victim. The kidnapped individual is estimated to be more valuable alive than dead.
Motifs of the said act may vary:
- economic ones ( the wrongdoers want the family or close ones of the subject to pay a ransom )
- political ( the release of the kidnapped person must be connected with setting free certain prisoners, who may be connected with the terrorist or his organization)
Kidnapping is undoubtedly one of the most complex and demanding form of assault, as meticulous preparations are needed beforehand.
The moment of taking someone as a hostage must be preceded by:
- specification of the task of the attacking team:
- identification of the roles of the intelligence team,
- designation of goals to be achieved by the logistics team (mainly relating to keeping the subject alive), and choice of the place where the victim is to be kept.
While acting by surprise, kidnappers have a huge advantage over
security guards. The group of bodyguards may be quickly eliminated and that is frequently the case. One should bear in mind that
personal protection experts are unable to grant 100 % safety of the cared about individuals.
However, the knowledge of kidnapping motifs and their techniques may to a remarkable extent limit the risk of the attack. Three basic forms of the said activity can be enumerated:
Traditional kidnapping taking and keeping hostage a person, preferably a child, to make his or her close ones pay ransom or to satisfy the needs of terrorists. In such a case, the location of both the victim and the offenders is not known.
According to gather statistics, almost a half of taken individuals are kidnapped from their cars, and the remaining part – directly from their homes. Taking control over various means of communication (including buses, planes, vessels, etc.) with passengers and staff. The localization of the victims and their attackers is known.
The aforementioned kidnapping form is undoubtedly the most sophisticated one, but it is at the same the most difficult to finish successfully. Numerous mistakes that may be made in the process facilitate attack prevention by
security guards.
The latter should do what it takes to minimize the damages that can be caused by the assault and, if possible, capture the offenders. One should bear in mind that being kept captive is likely to take its toll on the victim and his or her mental condition.
Attack stages in order to prevent the assault from happening, a
close protection officer must familiarize himself with the mode of its preparation. The key point is to take full advantage of wrongdoer’s weak points. It goes without saying that any form of attack is a costly and risky undertaking.
A potential terrorist has to properly evaluate the danger, as well as to raise the funds needed to bring the whole operation to finish. Therefore, the basic goal of a prevention undertaking should make the VIP kidnapping process too costly and challenging an action for it to be considered attractive for the offender.
Professionally prepared attack can be divided into the following stages:
- choice of the target ( made basing on the capabilities and motivations of the organized crime group planning on performing the attack)
- data collection and analysis ( the said stage covers gathering valuable pieces of information concerning the victim.
An offender would not decide to attack without satisfactory prior knowledge. At this point, it must be highlighted that any form of interview or data collection is highly expensive.
The attackers are mostly willing to know whether or not the subject is protected and if so – how many skilled individuals are responsible for his or her full safety.
Other precious pieces of information are types of weapons used, ways of reaching key places by the victim to be, behavioral patterns of
private security guards, and habits or customs of all the parties involved.