Security deluxe - 24th specialist conference PERSONAL PROTECTION

If someone organizes an event continually for 24 years, there must be one or two points worth flying to Leipzig for – or so I thought. I was wrong! The target groups were supposed to be "executive personnel protection, corporate security managers" and "private service providers." I have read this so many times in my life, and just as often it was wishful thinking or advertising. But in order for you to understand me, I must describe everything in detail.

The PERSONENSCHUTZ specialist conference has been organized for 24 years by Helmut Brückmann (VEKO GmbH) – HERE in our interview –. I had known about it for about four or five years, but hadn't managed to personally attend it yet. I received general information about the schedule, location, and topics via email, and armed with this, I flew to Leipzig. Our recommended hotel, as well as the entire event, took place at the Radisson BLU Hotel at Augustusplatz, directly across from the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

At eight thirty, we were supposed to begin with the distribution of conference materials and at eight fifty with a welcome from the participants by Mr. Helmut Brückmann before starting the regular program at nine. With over seventy regular participants, I thought it would be an impossible task, before the doors to the salon were opened. In just one sentence about this part: "Frau Schuch" (also active for 24 years for the personnel protection specialist conference) handled the entry and ID verification so professionally that one only noticed the mass of participants once they were all seated (and I counted).

At eight fifty, Mr. Brückmann arrived, usually a quiet and unobtrusive man, and began to greet us with soft words. Within a few seconds, this man had us all under his spell, as he briefly spoke about the times of the constant RAF terrorism. All the living perpetrators are not only free, these criminals also enjoy a benevolent media landscape. In contrast, there is not a single line written about the murdered police officers and other victims of the terrorists. As an example, he reminded all participants, on behalf of all victims of the RAF terrorists, of Norbert Schmid, a 32-year-old policeman. When he asked us to rise and hold a minute of silence for the victims, we all did so deeply moved.

Deeply moved, we started promptly at nine o'clock, and I can reveal it now; the Thomas Lay appointed by Mr. Brückmann showed everyone that German planning and punctuality are still not empty words.

The next speaker brings "Case Analysis in Personnel Protection." Once he started, you could immediately tell that this old wolf had something to tell.

Bernd Pokojewski was chief instructor and operations manager of a Special Operations Command (SEK) and long-time head of a personal protection service station of the Ministry of the Interior. His 45 minutes were under the innocently sounding heading "Case Analysis in Personnel Protection." Once he started, you could immediately tell that this old wolf had something to tell. Subtly but memorably, he went from the "legendary" pie attack on Bill Gates, where three pies were thrown at Gates in ten seconds, to the knife attack on Monica Seles to the serious side of personal protection. One of his sentences could have also served as the title of his presentation: Defending against an attack is the result of a previous mistake! As an example, an analysis around the 2009 incident of Queen Beatrix is mentioned, but not described in more detail here. Interesting for the attending professional audience, what one can learn from a single incident if one asks the right questions.

Next, Marwin Abou-Taam presented "Mechanisms of Radicalization and Early Detection of Radical Muslims." An exciting, contemporary topic was also presented by an expert who teaches at the State Criminal Police Office of Rhineland-Palatinate and at Humboldt University. He had enough experience to present the material to us in such a way that we didn't even notice how quickly time passed us by.

The following topic on "Travel Safety" was presented by Marc Brandner. I will report separately on this in a separate interview. So here are just a few facts about the person: Marc Brandner is a partner of SmartRiskSolutions GmbH, specializing in security and crisis management. He is responsible for emergency and crisis management there. The former officer of the Special Forces Command (KSK) has been advising companies and organizations worldwide on security and crisis management since 2003. He helped build and lead security and crisis management at EUPOL in Afghanistan for several years on behalf of the EU. His expertise in creating threat defense plans for terrorist and emergency situations is based on his practical experience. For example, during a high-profile multi-day hostage situation by Islamist terrorists in Algeria involving several Western companies, he actively advised a crisis team.

With Boris Gehrke, a true professional from the Crisis Response Center at the Federal Foreign Office, joined us. He is the deputy head of this institution and gave us many new insights firsthand. His topic "Crisis Abroad" – what does the crisis team of the German government do?

Gunter P. Grasemann represents "ArGUS – Assistance System for Situation-Aware Defense against Threats from UAS," in short: it was about drone defense. Or rather, about assistance, as he emphatically emphasized. Experts estimate there are several hundred thousand drones in Germany alone, but there are no exact numbers. The potential threats are just as numerous, which is why the scientist from the Frauenhofer Institute and his team are researching viable concepts and took us on a "journey into tomorrow" of the security industry.

With Christopher Schramm, a crisis consultant from red24, the organizer brought another top expert in security on board. Schramm's way of presenting his topic "Kidnapping and Extortion in Germany – a Challenge for Security Managers in Companies" captured all participants' attention from the very first second like a magnet. As a case study, Schramm from red24 presented a relatively recent kidnapping and extortion, so that we could derive the maximum benefit for our work from his presentation. Christopher Schramm is a representative of the "Concrete before Abstract" philosophy in the security industry, but one could also say that everything he told us was well-founded and left no one indifferent.

I will briefly summarize the second day. We started on Wednesday with Carsten Klauer, the CEO of POWER GmbH. Using an old newspaper about the "Gladbeck Hostage Crisis" from 1988, he prepared us for the topic: Criminals, Terrorists, Media, and Hamburg. Like the day before, I felt that the organizer was conducting some kind of physical secret experiments on us. Time kept passing too quickly, including with Carsten Klauer and his topic "G20 Summit in Hamburg." Perhaps it was also because he gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the private security firms involved in the G20.

Frank Göpper – Lawyer and Managing Director of the "Forum Waffenrecht e.V." – captured our hearts and ears with a presentation on current weapons law. His references to current case law were certainly helpful for all of us.

Unfortunately, in this context, I cannot go into more detail about the expert presentation by Jürgen Harrer and Robert Braun. "Personnel Protection within the Framework of Project Security" was a presentation backed by practical examples that I wished had lasted for hours.

From the well-known Alsfeld Special Bodywork Company Hartmann, Sales Manager Simon Ernst came to present a new screening vehicle for mobile checkpoints. It was almost inevitable that there were immediately one or two potential buyers or renters for this vehicle among the audience.

Telekom also brought in a strong player with Andreas Nees. Nees has been an employee of Telekom for 30 years and has been working in internal security for 28 years. He studied communications technology and is the technical director in the field of bug sweeping. There he specializes in bug sweeping inspections (in the external market segment). Naturally, this topic once again greatly interested all participants.

The presentation had the same flaw as all other seminar contributions in these two days: it was too short!

To conclude the 24th SPECIALIST CONFERENCE for PERSONNEL PROTECTION, Helmut Brückmann landed a perfect cup with Florian Oelmaier. Oelmaier heads the Cyber Security department at Corporate Trust GmbH and is also a member of the expert council on cyber security at the BSI. His presentation had the same flaw as all other seminar contributions in those two days: it was too short! If you want to know more about him, you can hire him like all others, or read a bit about him on Computerwoche.

CONCLUSION: I wrote, "If someone organizes an event continually for 24 years, there must be one or two points worth flying to Leipzig for – or so I thought." Completely wrong! My notebook is filled with new information and ideas, I have met valuable new contacts, learned a lot, and wouldn't want to miss a single presentation. It's customary not to say too much in the industry. In this case, it was really difficult for me. For 2018, I have already noted this event and "ordered" some of my friends and colleagues to come with me.

CONCLUSION Part 2: SPECIALIST CONFERENCE for PERSONNEL PROTECTION 2018 = MUST-HAVE

HERE is the interview with Helmut Brückmann on SPARTANAT

Author: Ulf Wanderer [www.ulf-wanderer.at] (CEO – PROTECT AND PREVENT) ) [www.protect-and-prevent.at]

Photos: Courtesy of Helmut Brückmann/Veko-online