How to choose an executive protection company | TB Defense

Plenty of companies will tell you they do executive protection. Far fewer can show you the training, the licensing, and the judgment behind it. The difference rarely shows up in a sales call. It shows up the one time something goes wrong. Here is how to tell them apart before you sign anything.

Check the license first

In Illinois, protective work is regulated. A legitimate firm holds a Private Security Contractor Agency license, and its people are registered and trained to the state standard. Ask for the agency license number, then verify it yourself through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which runs a free public license lookup. If a company cannot produce a number, the conversation is over. Ours is at the bottom of every page on this site, and you can look it up the same way.

Look at who actually does the work

A logo and a website do not protect anyone. People do. Ask who will be assigned to you, what their background is, and who trained them. Former law enforcement and military experience matters, but only when it is real and relevant. A homicide or counterterrorism background means someone has thought about threats for a living, not read about them in a course.

Questions worth asking

• Are you licensed in Illinois, and what is your agency number?
• Who specifically will be on my detail, and what is their experience?
• How do you plan and assess before the first day?
• What happens if the threat picture changes in the middle of an engagement?
• Can you give references from work that looks like mine?

Red flags

Be careful with anyone who quotes a flat price before they understand your situation, who treats armed coverage as the answer to everything, who name drops clients they should not be naming, or who cannot explain how they would handle a bad day. Discretion and preparation are the job. If those are missing in the sales process, they will be missing in the field.

If you are comparing firms and want straight answers to every question above, request a confidential consultation.