Protection equipment for security forces

A modern security force faces many challenges.  In a world of instantaneous communications – change is equally fast and security force needs protection equipment that can provide solutions for expected dangers.  But protection equipment must also be versatile enough to meet the unexpected challenges.  Modern protection equipment must be capable of protecting the security personnel both in the field and in security facilities.  Protection equipment must also be able to provide protection for the general public, VIP's and vital installations.

Defining protection equipment

In reality, there is no simple or single definition for protection equipment.  The security field is so complex, covers such a wide range of issues and threats that protection equipment can now cover a whole range of areas of expertise that just a few years ago were not considered as meeting any protection equipment definition.

Areas of expertise

Let's look at just a few of those areas that can now be considered to be part of the world of protection equipment:
• Information – mobile phones, internet, SMS – so many ways to communicate from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world, instantaneously and almost unseen.  Threats no longer need to meet face to face; they don't even need to know one another.  This puts the need for fast access to reliable and update information as one of the critically important areas that can now be defined as protection equipment.
• Communication - just as the threats use communications, so must security forces utilize the most up to date communication in order to react quickly and effectively.  This can mean preparing for a quick attack, or swiftly putting a protective screen around a person or facility.  Protection equipment par excellence. 
• Mobility – the need for fast reactions to rapidly developing situation means that mobility, the ability to muster a unit and get it on site fast is vital.  In the war against terrorism, the enemy has the benefit of surprise and size – small units capable of moving unnoticed through the general population.  Security forces must be ready to move at an instants notice with all the equipment needed to thwart the terrorists.  Yet another example of a new definition for protection equipment.

Conventional protection equipment

In the second article of this two part series, we will look at the modern versions of conventional protection equipment and how such equipment has developed to meet the new threats facing security personnel.