Car - Whose Weapon Is It?

• NCJ Number: 80036
• Journal: Assets Protection Volume: 6 Issue: 5 Dated: (September/October 1981) Pages: 15-19
• Author(s): E Levinson
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This article orginally appeared in TVI Journal, V 2, N 5.

Annotation

This article discusses equipment, personnel, and strategies to be used in countermeasures against terrorist kidnapping and assassination attempts while the target is traveling in a car.

Abstract

Terrorists prefer to stage kidnappings and assassinations on roadways, where targets are in the confined space of a vehicle and are exposed to new and unreconnoitered areas, moment by moment, during a trip. Three essentials in providing protection from such attacks are having the proper vehicle, having a trained and capable driver, and having the ability to be inconspicuous. Currently, the best vehicles to travel in, unarmored, are the Chevrolet Malibu or Caprice, Ford's LTD, or, in the luxury class, the Olds 98 Regency or Cadillac De Ville. When ordering a car from a factory, it is important to specify a number of heavy duty, factory-installed options that would be prohibitively expensive if installed later. Prior to ordering and preparing a vehicle for security purposes, a professional should be consulted for guidance. A driver should be carefully selected. Background checks should be run, and a Psychological Stress Evaluator exam should be given. The driver must be in excellent physical condition and be trained in counterterrorist driving. The driver should also be given the responsibility of making independent judgments about possible threatening circumstances and the taking of evasive actions. Equipment appropriate under certain circumstances include car armor, body armor for targets, weaponry in the vehicle, and bomb detection devices. Every effort should be made to keep the element of surprise and unpredictability on the side of the target, so that the terrorists will find it difficult, if not impossible, to plan an attack likely to be successful. Should an attack occur, the coordinated effort of all security personnel should be to remove the target from the scene of the attack.