Courthouses by their nature have a lot of tension and potential for violent encounters. Generally consisting of their own security provided by Sheriffs offices and US Marshals for Federal Courthouses the concerns arise when a victim realizes they have to travel to court on a given day and time that the offender knows!
This seems like an obvious recipe for disaster, and truthfully it is for people dealing with domestic violence issues, stalkers, or even divorces from overbearing spouses. Worse yet, children have these same courtroom appearances to point out their attackers.
This says nothing of the deposition which will often take place at a law office or business with little to no security at the venue. In this circumstance you are face to face with the person that abused you, threatened you, assaulted you with nothing between you and them but a table with two lawyers and a courtroom reporter.
One of the most popular reasons people hire Executive Protection Specialists is to escort them for these short term details. Courthouse security is an involved process where the agents will visit the courthouse prior to the scheduled day to coordinate with the onsite security staff. Often we will setup entry into the building through a backdoor not available to the general public.
The level of the threat dictates the amount of counter surveillance and counterintelligence needed to safely escort the victim to the courthouse but the fees associated are not generally cost prohibitive. For most threats being moderate or lower level, we typically charge $1500 plus expenses. This service provides two executive protection agents and an advance of the facility to secure it, prior to our arrival. Higher level threats require custom plans with increased costs depending on the situation.
Because price comes into question for everyone a brief rundown is worth noting. Executive protection will be billed by the company to the client at a rate of $125-$195 per hour depending on location, how in demand the company is, and the level of threat. Billable hours include the advance of all locations with planned visits as well as the day (or days) of security. Expenses include but are not limited to rental cars, hotels, per diem, airfare, etc.
Depositions work in a similar manner to courthouse security and pricing would be similar including an advance (recon) of the location and security on the day of. All of our security details involving women or children will include a female agent which adds a level of comfort to the victims not often present with paramilitary alpha males typical in the security and personal protection industry.
Our pricing package for courthouse protection generally includes, pickup at the principles (person being protected) home or hotel, travel to appointments, lunch transportation and often a short outing (we will accommodate limited errands without an additional cost), and travel to the final location. Typical expenses to be billed will be mileage and fuel, per diem if travel is involved, tolls, parking, valet tips etc. Beyond pricing, the need and threat level will dictate the appearance and strategy of the protection detail.
Overt and covert security have their place in the world. For the same reason some police officers are in uniform and others wear plain clothes; executive protection agents have to use similar protocols during a security operation.
The nature of low profile courthouse security suggest that the mere presence of another person and some prudent clever planning eliminates the majority of threats. In other words, the likelihood of our principle being attacked drops substantially by having a second person there; it drops even further by a solid advance being performed on the premises; and again even further by the presence of a second person that is highly trained and displays confidence, situational awareness, and a mindfulness of security that makes apparent this is not an easy target.
Finally, the executive protection agents assigned are experienced and educated in various forms of hand to hand techniques and are exceedingly skilled in weaponry including both lethal and non lethal actions. Through proper planning an attack becomes extremely unlikely but the situations do arise in high threat and high risk environments where violence occurs. In those rare instances, our executive protection agents are highly skilled and capable protectors.
Timberline Security Solutions 
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