Consultants. What defines them?

Kia Ora,

Well still no word from 'Mr Angry' over my post yesterday.

But I do thank all those who sent messages of support. I really appreaciate them in particular from former military comrades & people I worked alongside in Iraq with, some who do have 'formal qualifications' & have done the hard yards.

At least they have given me something to write about. For the next few days I will go more in depth into what the issues are.

One of the main gripes was I was not a consultant.

So what defines a  security consultant?

 First there is the consultant I was contractored as in Iraq. As one mate found out & as I said as was pointed out to me, you were only there in some roles to advise & where therefore contracted as a consultant.

One mate lost his position for taking physical action because he felt it was too dangerous for the clients. Major news crews hire people as consultants, not specifically as bodyguards. They can ignore the consultants advice & more often than not those they employ come from one company whose operators experience is way in advance of my own.

But I am able to claim that I have & can work as a security consultant & I don't need a bit of paper to do so.

Of course there is the other more traditional view of a consultant, which is the person who carries out a security survey, then produces a nicely written assessment of what they think needs to be carried out to ensure the security of a premises or person.

This also is only advice which can be & is often ignored.

Again due to military qualifications, training & experience I can do that to a very high standard if asked. So can any person who was in the NZ military after they have gone through certain stages of their training.

In the last 12 months an experienced security consultant (of both types) has been trying to get me to stop giving out tips for free & focus on the consultancy role for which they believe I have the experience & knowledge to carryout this to a high degree.

Outside NZ, ex NZ military are considered extremely highly in the private security world & it is not based on a bit of paper.

Though if I do carryout a consultancy expect somethings outside the square.

For example when my runanga built our Marae I offered some security advise based on what the discussions were at the time.

Someone else spoke to a security consultant at the time who waffled on about alarms etc.

Like many Marae & Maori communities this is extremely isolated & in fact in 1906 was said to be the most isolated Maori community in NZ. Road goes through now but still isolated. No cell phone coverage, limited TV channels unless you go for Sky, internet is by satellite & it is only in the last 25 years that diesel generators have gone(though we have an emergency one at the Marae). 

Alarms are not a real option even if they were directed to someones house. You just never know if anyone is going to be in. Not to mention the weather plays havoc with them if wireless & if hardwired same issue plus having to lay wire through a swamp.

So down there you need to look more at using the ground to enhance security.

Some of my suggestions were using Geese instead of the proposed Dogs, gravel driveway as opposed to sealed, extending the ditches along roadside around the Marae site, then building old style pallisades to assist with fact it was built in a swamp.

In other words it was just like been in the army. Make use of the ground to benefit you or your client in this case.

Not all ideas were taken up, but that is fine.

As I said in yesterday's post, basically I can claim to be a consultant but it is not my focus. It is why I split the company in two. One side can do those areas if required, the newer one is focused on basic security, which in NZ is where we need to get it up to speed first. It is well away from that at present.

Anyway a blog is just opinion & I write mine based on experience in the NZ army, NZ security industry, working in Iraq, where I see the threats to NZ society & what we have to do to bring it up to a minimum level.

                                           http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz