Book Review: An Introduction to Celebrity Protection and Touring

By Elijah Shaw and Dale June. Charles C. Thomas Publishers; ccthomas.com; 218 pages; $34.95.

The authors of this book are practitioners in their field and bring many years of solid experience to this exciting and useful volume. An Introduction to Celebrity Protection and Touring focuses primarily on protecting celebrities in music and film. It looks at securing the music celebrity while recording, touring, and making personal appearances, as well as in their private time. Safeguarding the film celebrity involves different environments, such as studios, awards ceremonies, and filming locations. While the focus is mainly on film and music VIPs, the authors do look at the world of corporate protection and safeguarding executives and the difference between this type of security and protection of those in the entertainment business.

Early on, the book describes the purpose of personal protection and the skills required of the right candidate. The authors also share the tasks that are not always in the job description, such as finding lost luggage and carrying bags while also responding to an attacker.

The book contains essential information regarding security planning. The security survey is discussed, as is the importance of advanced preparation. The authors also discuss hotels, vehicles and other forms of transport, and what to look for in a car and driver. Other specific information deals with preventing incidents while in public, reacting to problems, and moving the celebrity should there be an emergency. Dealing with stalkers and paparazzi is also discussed. The appendix is an excellent resource with checklists for advance preparations of all kinds.

Overall, this book is well laid out and easy to read. It will appeal to those thinking of entering the celebrity protection business and is an excellent reference for experienced protection officers. Although it touches on protection of executives, its primary focus is celebrities. Those looking for more in-depth reading on executive protection in a business environment will need to explore other publications.

Reviewer: Dr. Declan Garrett is a director of the Security Institute of Ireland, member of the ISRM Global Advisory Council, visiting lecturer at Berlin Institute of Economics and Law, and a member of the ASIS Cultural Properties Community.