The Brains-Over-Brawn Approach

Sure, being a celebrity is glamorous. Unfortunately, it can also be dangerous.

“Access to personal information on the Internet has fueled the need for security,” says Jeff Dunn, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department’s threat management unit. “Also, the media attention that stalking has generated and the [information] made available with regard to high-profile cases has, in effect, educated stalkers with do’s and don’ts.”

To meet celebrities’ need for additional protection, security companies are changing the way they do business.

“Celebrities used to hire huge, ex-bouncer types to bolster their image, but it’s not about who has the biggest muscles,” says Chuck Vance, president of Vance International, a worldwide agency that safeguards high-profile individuals. “It’s about avoiding the problem before it occurs rather than having to take some kind of physical action.”

The company recently launched Vance West, a Los Angeles division aimed at addressing the growing security needs of the entertainment community through awareness training, threat assessment and personal protection.

“Back in the day of Cary Grant or Ava Gardner, the studio grounds served as a university for actors, training and protecting them in all aspects of their lives,” says Rocco Barnes, director of Vance’s West Coast operations. “But the system broke down about 30 years ago, and now actors . . . want to be the regular guy. Today, you’ll get a star who shows up in a jogging suit at the bank, and what we have to do is educate those people and say, ‘Look, I understand you want to lead a normal life, but it’s a compromise. You have to make some allowances.”

Having worked as a U.S. Secret Service agent for 14 years, including several years as former President Gerald Ford’s bodyguard, Vance founded the Washington-based company in 1984 after realizing that the Secret Service’s standard of security surpassed what was available in the private sector.

“The people were poorly trained, they didn’t look good and their qualifications were mediocre, so I wanted to establish a standard of excellence in that arena,” explains Vance. The most significant variance between his company and other agencies is the Secret Service background, he says. Drawing from his own training, Vance trains his guards in kidnap / assassination studies, threat assessment, counter surveillance and bomb incident management.

“Celebrities face a delicate situation,” he says. “Their lifestyle requires a certain amount of media exposure and that in turn puts them at risk. The solution is to reduce their level of vulnerability.”