Distinguish individuals who make a threat from those who pose a threat using behavioural indicators.
Security Management
Protective Intelligence and Threat Assessment for Public Figures
Learn to gather, assess and act on protective intelligence about individuals who fixate on or threaten a public figure, from first contact to case closure.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Attacks on public figures are rarely spontaneous: they are usually preceded by a discernible pathway of grievance, research and preparation that protective intelligence work is designed to detect. This course trains practitioners to build a protective intelligence function that identifies concerning communications, fixated individuals and inappropriate approaches before they escalate into contact or violence. Participants study behavioural threat assessment frameworks used by protective and law enforcement agencies, learning to distinguish a person who makes a threat from one who poses a threat, and to weigh grievance, identification with prior attackers, and access to the target as related indicators. Sessions cover setting up an intake process for concerning letters, emails and social media activity, conducting a structured case assessment, and managing ongoing monitoring once a case is opened. The course also addresses coordinating with law enforcement, mental health professionals and legal counsel on cases involving genuine risk of harm, and documenting decisions defensibly. By the end, participants can run an intake and triage process, apply a structured assessment instrument to a concerning case, and manage a fixated-person case file from first report through resolution or ongoing monitoring.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Build an intake process for concerning letters, emails, calls and social media activity directed at a principal.
Apply a structured behavioural threat assessment instrument to score and prioritise open cases.
Investigate a subject's grievance, prior contact history and access to the principal or their locations.
Coordinate case escalation with law enforcement, legal counsel and mental health professionals.
Manage an active case file including monitoring triggers and criteria for downgrading or closing a case.
Document threat assessment decisions in a form defensible to legal review and post-incident scrutiny.
Who Should Attend
Executive protection and celebrity security teams managing fixated-person cases
Corporate security investigators handling threatening communications toward leadership
Threat assessment team members in media, sport and entertainment organisations
Government and public sector protective intelligence analysts
Legal and HR professionals coordinating on workplace threat cases involving public-facing staff
Law enforcement liaisons working with private sector protective intelligence functions
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Foundations of Protective Intelligence
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1The Pathway to Violence and Behavioural Indicators
- Trace the typical pathway from grievance through research, planning and preparation to attack.
- Distinguish making a threat directly from posing a threat through concerning behaviour without explicit threats.
- Identify leakage indicators where a subject signals intent to a third party before acting.
- Apply identification and grievance indicators drawn from established behavioural threat assessment research.
Session 2Setting Up the Intake and Triage Process
- Design an intake channel that captures concerning letters, calls, emails and social media contact consistently.
- Build a triage scale that separates cases needing immediate action from those for routine monitoring.
- Train front-line staff and executive assistants to recognise and escalate concerning contact promptly.
- Establish a case numbering and filing system that preserves evidentiary value from first report.
02Structured Case Assessment
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Applying a Structured Assessment Instrument
- Score a case using a structured professional judgement instrument rather than unstructured intuition.
- Assess grievance content, specificity of target and evidence of a developed plan within the case file.
- Weigh access indicators including proximity, travel toward the principal and knowledge of schedules.
- Recalibrate a case score as new information arrives rather than treating the initial score as final.
Session 2Investigating the Subject
- Research a subject's history of prior contact, criminal record and known mental health crisis indicators.
- Analyse open-source and social media activity for escalation, weapons interest or travel toward the target.
- Interview witnesses and prior contacts of the subject where legally and practically appropriate.
- Corroborate findings across sources before elevating a case's assessed risk level.
03Managing Active Cases
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Coordinating Escalation and Intervention
- Define criteria for referring a case to law enforcement versus managing it internally.
- Coordinate with mental health professionals on cases showing signs of crisis rather than pure malice.
- Brief legal counsel on intervention options including cease and desist, restraining orders and prosecution.
- Plan a proportionate intervention that reduces risk without unnecessarily escalating a subject's grievance.
Session 2Ongoing Monitoring and Case Closure
- Set monitoring triggers that reopen or upgrade a downgraded case if new concerning behaviour appears.
- Coordinate physical security adjustments for the principal while a case remains active.
- Define the evidence threshold required to close a case rather than leave it in indefinite monitoring.
- Review closed cases periodically to confirm the closure decision remains sound.
04Governance, Documentation and Legal Defensibility
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Documentation and Defensibility
- Record assessment reasoning and decisions in a case file that withstands post-incident legal review.
- Separate factual observations from analytical judgement clearly within case documentation.
- Retain evidence including communications and social media captures in a forensically sound manner.
- Prepare case summaries suitable for briefing executives, legal counsel and law enforcement without overexposure.
Session 2Building the Threat Assessment Team
- Assemble a multidisciplinary threat assessment team spanning security, legal, HR and mental health expertise.
- Define referral pathways from front-line staff and executive assistants into the threat assessment team.
- Establish meeting cadence and case review protocols for the team's ongoing caseload.
- Report programme metrics including case volume, escalation rate and closure time to organisational leadership.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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