Review of Protection Officer Training Manual, Seventh Edition.

Protection Officer Training Manual, Seventh Edition. By the International Foundation for Protection Officers; published by Butterworth-Heinemann; available from ASIS International,

With the advent of greater complexity in the security industry there is a greater expectation placed on the Security Officer than ever before. It doesn’t make sense to hire untrained personnel to patrol facilities containing a mixture of hazardous materials and highly complex fire and security systems when the information needed to safeguard facilities is available in this fine book. Our civilization has raised the bar on the quality of trained responders who have to deal with such unexpected high tech emergencies. This book is a major low cost solution.

A few of the chapters could also have been updated, but the most critical updates chosen for revision have both accurate and strategically complete. The artwork is helpful in nearly all instances, but there were a couple of illustrations that didn’t contribute substantially to the chapter content.

There is no simple path to excellence and I have found this book is efficiently written to convey the greatest amount of valuable information in the least amount of reading.

Our review focused mainly on the chapter content and how well it contributed to daily responsibilities of the Security Officer. The material contained in this manual is generic and applies very well to a number of different security environments. Whether the Security Officer’s environment is a hospital, campus, retail facility this manual contains material that will assist the Officer in completing the assigned duties competently.

The chapters and units are well thought out following a focused plan to take the reader on a journey to excellence. As a foundation for training, I would recommend this work as an excellent vehicle. The content is written in a manner to make it user friendly without talking down to the reader. This book constitutes a great resource and is a must for all security departments, not only as a reference work, but as a supplementary site training manual.

The quizzes at the conclusion of each chapter contain well thought out questions that encapsulate the essence of information conveyed. If the reader successfully answers the strategically worded questions in the chapter conclusion, they can be assured that the chapter content was mastered. We have seen too many textbooks that seem to miss the mark in the summary questions. That is definitely not the case here.

The author of the terrorism chapter included many recourses at the conclusion of the chapter for further research thus broadening the scope of the reader.

The chapter on the Evolution of Security is masterful, bringing the reader to understand where the profession originated and how it has evolved.

The chapter on Weapons of Mass Destruction could have included some additional references and resources, however it is essentially complete and the material chosen for presentation here was artfully chosen to give the reader a solid understanding of the concepts. The dilemma facing any author is to present a masterfully complete work and still maintain some limit on the size and scope of the work. That was done here with excellence.

In our estimation, Davies and Minion have done it once again. By and large, this is a masterful publication that compliments the field of Security and does an outstanding job of preparing the Security Officer for the daunting challenges that will face them over the course of their career.

The latest information on security procedures is concentrated in the 305 crisply written pages of this manual. You will find it to be pleasant reading, as I have, as the book flows smoothly from point to point, and with clarity. I heartily recommend this works as deserving of a place on your bookshelf.

Reviewer: Robert J. Stetson is the President and Founder of Metro Net Security Corporation. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE where he has attended the November 2002 Homeland Security Conference hosted by the IEEE. He has also voluntarily contributed hundreds of hours to local law enforcement as an Auxiliary Police Officer.