LEGAL KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-RESTRAINT

The most challenging situations in bodyguarding usually are those in which tensions develop and hatreds and hostilities are exposed.  Although no crime has been committed, and no one has yet physically harmed your client, it may be necessary to protect him.  At this point a difficult question arises:  At what point in the situation are you legally entitled to act in behalf of your client to protect him from assassination or bodily harm?  In order to protect himself, the bodyguard should have a thorough knowledge of the law within the area he is working.  He must know not only what authority he legally has, but where that authority ends.

Sometimes a bodyguard will lose his self-control and act earlier than he should.  In such cases, he may legally become the offender rather than the defender, and jeopardize his client in his eagerness to protect him.  He may put his client and himself in a libelous situation; the need for self-restraint is great.

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