PMCI - October 2014

Personal Security
When I read about the tragic death of Venezuelan
beauty queen Monica Spear and her British ex-husband
Thomas Berry, in January 2014, I felt physically sick. It
was a tragic example of being in the wrong place at the
wrong time and underlined the vulnerability that travellers
face, even when they know the local terrain well.
I had travelled that road myself - an eight-hour ribbon
of danger linking Caracas with Punto Fijo - on numerous
occasions, always with an armoured vehicle and
driver. The road was notoriously bad, dotted with crime
hotspots and slums on either side. At night, the risk of
violent assault increased and so did the danger of wild
boars and cows wandering into the path of fast-moving
cars. Worst of all, the 3G signal regularly dropped. I did
that journey out of obligation, with all other transport
options exhausted.
Some aspects of a trip you may have relatively little
control over but the one thing you are in charge of is
your own conduct and you should always be thinking
how to decrease the risk of being singled out as a target.
Leave the Guidebook in the hotel if you are heading to
an unknown area – tear out or print maps and other pages
that you think you may need. When out and about in
urban environments, think about your positioning on the
street (not too close to the curb, but not hugging buildings
either). Try and minimise conspicuous displays of
wealth: Do you really need to take that chunky Rolex
out with you, or can it be left at home in favour of a less
showy timepiece, such as a good old Casio Mark I? And
don’t overindulge in a public place that you will need to
navigate your way home from.
If trouble arrives, don´t be a hero. A football pundit
at Brazil’s World Cup found himself haring down the
street after a petty criminal although given the level of
gun crime in Sao Paulo, I can’t endorse this course of
action. Reaction, or self-defence, arguably encourages
reaction as opposed to prevention. In contrast, when I
was held up at knifepoint in Bogota I gave my mugger
exactly what he wanted, mainly to get him away from
my wife. This included my passport, three days before I
was due to fly home to see my family for the first time
in more than a year. While a passport is replaceable, no
matter how annoying the bureaucracy may be, a perforated
stomach is not.
Whoever you are and whatever your background
and experience, understand the law as it relates to selfdefence
in the country you´re visiting. Consider attending
a workshop in the basics of personal security awareness.
If you are working for a large corporate in a part of the
world, such as Venezuela or Russia, where the state and
business interests are intertwined, you might want to
think about switching it up a notch and understand how
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