More than 5,000 private security guards affiliated with various companies will be on-site, over and above the vast public security resources provided by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC), RCMP and police, says Jim Kijewski, director of EP services at Toronto-based Reilly Security.

Major corporate sponsors such as Royal Bank, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola want private security for their key people during their stay at hotels and when they’re out and about town at restaurants, bars and other venues attending social and business events.

“With the size of the Olympics, many companies realize the police will have difficulties dealing with day-to-day security issues, and are taking it on themselves to ensure security for their own key staff and events,” says Kijewski.

Many senior company officials are vulnerable to threats because of their wealth, positions or the values their corporations represent, says Scot Filer, managing partner at Vancouver-based Lions Gate Investigations Group

“The risks they face depend on the type of EP client. It could be eco-terrorists, unstable people lashing out, kidnappers who want ransom, or pranksters throwing cream pies. When you’re involved in providing EP services, your head is on a swivel,” says Filer.

Security at sports events in stadiums and arenas will be controlled by the RCMP and the police, so EP providers will be providing discreet bodyguard services for individuals and small groups attending games.

“Corporate executives want protection for themselves and their families, but they don’t want the image they’re dragging around a big strongman who’ll beat people up,” says Filer.

But EP providers have a much larger role at the private events that many companies are organizing outside official sports events, as these aren’t secured by authorities.

An EP assignment requires exhaustive planning and higher-order security skills beyond simple bodyguard services, says Filer. “You have to get the details of your client’s itinerary, examine the routes to get to a venue and plan the most discreet but efficient one, go to the venue and review its security, arrange for the most secure seating with its managers, know all the ins and outs of where to park and where to drop off your VIP.”

Some EP assignments at the Olympics are major, full-blown security projects. Reilly Security, for example, is involved in taking over the security for an entire hotel on behalf of a major communications firm that’s a major partner for the Olympics.

“The company needed the space and bought out the hotel to accommodate all its VIPs and guests, and is assuming all the security for it,” says owner Nick Migliore.