The Defuse Podcast: Risk in Private and Public Life

In this podcast we discuss the subject of Protective Intelligence and how it can help professionals identify who might pose a threat, whether that is from a lone actor’s perspective or in the workplace. How can we identify problems and create strategies to prevent these problems happening. We discuss the 4 different types of workplace violence and what distinguishing them from each other.

Bio: Dr. Palarea is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Operational Psychology Services (OPS). He is an internationally recognized expert on threat assessment, insider threat, protective intelligence, and counterterrorism, providing consultation in these areas to Fortune 500 corporations, global security firms, law enforcement, U.S. Government agencies, and universities.  Dr. Palarea has been an active participant with the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) since 1996 and served as ATAP’s President from 2017-2021.

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This hugely important podcast with Suky Bhaker, the CEO of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust (https://www.suzylamplugh.org/) discusses the real issues about violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the 21st century. We discuss harassment, street harassment and stalking and follow the evidence of how this impacts all females, and some men. 

We discuss the shocking evidence of hugely improved successful prosecutions for stalking when supported by an advocate and look at the new bystander training that the SLT are now delivering and why all men are part of the solution. (https://www.suzylamplugh.org/News/loreal-paris-and-the-suzy-lamplugh-trust-partner-to-educate-the-uk-on-street-harassment-through-bystander-intervention-training)
 

Suky Bhaker – CEO Suzy Lamplugh Trust

https://www.suzylamplugh.org/chief-executive-officer

Suky has been with the Trust for over seven years, holding the positions of Head of Policy and Development, and more recently CEO. 

During her time with the Trust, Suky has overseen the growth and development of its helpline and advocacy services, led its policy and campaigns team, and designed and delivered a number of complex national projects. 

Notably she has been the Programme Director for the world’s first multi-agency stalking intervention programme (MASIP) and overseen the ongoing campaign for national minimum standards for taxis and private hire vehicles.

Suky was also seconded for over 12 months from Suzy Lamplugh Trust as an adviser to the Parliamentary Security Department following the tragic death of Jo Cox MP, supporting and advising MPs and their staff in issues relating to personal safety.

Alongside her experience in frontline services, Suky has worked in policy, research and development capacities, with areas of speciality in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector including trafficking, honour-based violence, domestic and sexual violence, in addition to stalking. Suky was heavily involved in the successful coercive control campaign, which brought law change to domestic violence in the UK.

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The Online Bodyguard Podcast - PR, Crisis Communications and Strategic Advisory to the World's Elite

In this podcast we talk with Paul Blanchard, Media consigliere for global CEOs, entrepreneur, broadcaster and author.

This is a genuine masterclass on PR, crisis communications, and advising the global elite 

Paul gives his views on why sharing a bit about yourself is good for business, what Personal PR is and the objectives of many of the world’s elite in hiring him.  

He explains why press releases often fail and how to maximise our PR opportunities.  

Paul shares the difference between PR and Marketing, and how to respond in a crisis and why many get that wrong. 

He talks about the challenges of crisis communications in the internet age and how he manages those cases for his global clients. 

Paul is a hugely successful Media consigliere, and he shares some of the secrets behind that success including why he never tenders or prepares proposals. 

Paul Blanchard is one of the founders of the personal PR industry having been in the reputation game for nearly twenty years.  

Based in the UK, he is a serial entrepreneur and investor, he started his first business aged 17 and has never looked back. 

With his award-winning media and reputation consigliere Right Angles, he works exclusively with global CEOs, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians, and global investors delivering discreet, high-intensity strategic support. 

With a full-time team of over a dozen experts on his team… Paul has offices in London, New York and Los Angeles

His podcast agency operates on a first-to-market Joint Venture model, unique in the industry, and has many big-name clients with whom we create premium, impactful content.  

A podcaster himself, he’s also a best-selling author, media commentator and speaker.  

https://www.right-angles.global/

https://paul.blanchard.co/ 

https://twitter.com/paulwrblanchard?s=20&t=HhMXHT6cg2OaWxRD3uEx5w

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In this podcast we discuss the subject of interviewing with Bram B. van der Meer from Dante Psychology.

 This podcast discusses whether building rapport works and how to do it, whether police officers and other professional interviewers are better at it that the general population. We discuss memory and ask how effective is it? What helps us to recall in an interview and why memory can be tainted. We further discuss the various interview methods, such as the PACE model and what their strengths are as well as their limitations.

Bram B. van der Meer holds academic degrees in Criminology from the University of Pretoria, South-Africa and received a MSc. in Clinical-Forensic Psychology from Leiden University, the Netherlands. He received additional specialised education in offender profiling, threat assessment and forensic linguistics from law enforcement agencies around the world. He completed a post-doctoral education program in investigative psychology.

He is a guest lecturer at the Netherlands Police Academy and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. He serves on the editorial board of the American Psychological Association Accredited Journal of Threat Assessment and Management. He is the former president and currently board member of the Swiss based Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals. He is an internationally recognised threat assessment professional and is registered as such with the Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals.

https://www.dantespsychology.com/en/

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In this episode of The Defuse Podcast, Totti Karpela, Executive board member for the Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals (AETAP) shares his expertise on how to assess persons of concern who may pose a threat to public and prominent figures. He discusses his expertise around conflict management, vexatious complainant, the cultural challenges a threat management professional must be aware of, and the impact on workplace conflicts from the Covid pandemic.

 Mr Karpela, a graduate of the Finland’s Police University College, has a 20-year career in the National Police of Finland where he worked as a unit supervisor and subject matter expert. During his career, Inspector Karpela was part of a team that specialized in managing threats that were directed towards law enforcement and judicial officials. Mr. Karpela has undergone specialised training pertaining to the psychological assessment of offending behaviour and has experience in both the private and public sectors, particularly working with high-risk and high-harm offenders. He also spent nine years as a member of the hostage negotiator team in the National SWAT team. For the majority of his career Mr. Karpela also worked at the National Police University, teaching management of aggressive behaviour and conflict resolution skills.

 In his current role in the private sector Mr. Karpela has worked with presidential candidates, celebrities, media companies, banks and insurance companies, aviation industry, educational facilities as well as multinational corporations specializing in threat assessment and case management. He frequently provides behavioural and security consultation to multinational organizations.

 Mr. Karpela has worked as a subject matter expert since 1986, consulting and coaching government organizations and corporations on five continents in the prevention of violent crime, security issues, conflict resolution and risk mitigation. Mr. Karpela is the only person outside of the United States to hold a CTM-accreditation, a professional accreditation for security professionals related to the assessment and management of violent behaviour. Mr. Karpela is also accredited to provide consultation and training related to the European equivalent, CETAP. He holds numerous professional certifications related to violence risk assessment.

Mr. Karpela is a graduate of U.S. Secret Service Threat Management Program, Gavin De Becker threat management academy and he has done numerous other professional training programs with the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Before joining the National police of Finland, Mr. Karpela served in the Military Police SRT-team. He is still in the Finnish reserve corps with the rank of Warrant officer.

 Other relevant NGO responsibilities: Subject matter expert for European Council and O.S.C.E. in crime prevention projects. Totti is also a member of the Merrick & Company’s Global Biosafety & Biosecurity Consulting Advisory Board since 2017. Executive board member for the Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals (AETAP). He also spent nine years as a senior research fellow at the Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals - Centre for Security Studies and a committee member for the Nordic Counter Terrorism Network. He is an internationally recognised threat assessment professional and is registered as such with the Association of European Threat Assessment Professionals.

 Mr. Karpela has also authored three books on police operations with organized crime (1995), personal security (1998) and case management guide for stalking cases (2001). He has also authored a chapter on the use of social psychology in counter terrorism operations (2017). In 2022 his book a management of vexatious complainants comes out. 

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In an increasingly global market in which employees travel the world and holidaymakers explore ever increasing boundaries accidents and tragedies happen, whether by acts of terrorism, crime, negligence, or accidents.

When those tragedies occur, the reputations of the organisations involved can be instantly and permanently damaged, with litigation and blame following close behind.

This podcast discusses the impact of a traumatic event, the issues involved, and the expertise required to defuse the emotional, reputational and financial costs.

Miles Manning worked closely with The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). In 2011 Miles became one of a small number of Family Liaison Coordinators on the Counter Terrorism Command. Dealing with atrocities in Algeria and Kenya, Miles pushed for more FLO involvement on scene and in 2015 following the attack in Sousse, Tunisia, Miles led a team of FLO's deployed in country within hours of the first reports. Working with multiple agencies, local government and crisis response companies, his team assisted several families with identification and repatriation of loved ones. Miles also led the team that deployed to Brussels and Marseille, again as part of The FCO Rapid Deployment Team.

Miles is a director of FLS Global, who in the event of a death or serious injury abroad, support organisations to ensure harm is minimised and trauma is managed. https://www.fls-global.co.uk/

Miles is the Family Liaison advisor to The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deaths Abroad, as well as providing practical support and his extensive experience to advise corporate clients, dealing with families who are affected by the death or serious injury of a loved one abroad.

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In this episode of The Online Bodyguard Podcast, he shares his expertise on how to assess persons of concern who may pose a threat to public and prominent figures. He discusses his extensive case history and expertise of proximal warning behaviours, communicated threats, mental illness in attackers, how they plan, escalate and appropriate interventions. Dr Meloy shares his thoughts of the future of the threat assessment industry, how to identify a professional organisation and finally shares some of his top tips for staying safe.

Dr. Reid Meloy is widely known as one the preeminent experts in the field of assessing threats of violence. Dr. Reid Meloy is a board-certified forensic psychologist (ABPP) and consults on criminal and civil cases throughout the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Meloy has authored or co-authored over two hundred fifty papers published in peer-reviewed psychiatric and psychological journals, and has authored, co-authored or edited thirteen books. He has been consulting, researching and writing about personality disorder, psychopathy, stalking, narcissism, criminality, mental disorder, and targeted violence for the past thirty years. He was a technical consultant to the television series CSI from its inception in 2000 until its final episode in 2015; and is the technical consultant to “Indivisible: Healing Hate,” a Paramount + television series exploring the historical roots of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. https://drreidmeloy.com/

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Richard Levick Esq was known as the ‘father of modern reputation management,’.

He was Chairman & CEO of LEVICK, a crisis communications and public affairs firm, representing countries and companies in the highest-stakes global matters – the Venezuelan crisis, Qatar, the Chinese trade war, the Gulf oil spill; Guantanamo Bay, the Catholic Church and many others.

He and his firm have represented over 300 of the world’s largest law firms, hundreds of companies and over 30 countries, providing heads of state with communications, access and insight into Washington.

Mr. Levick has been honoured multiple times on the prestigious “The 100 Most Influential People in the Boardroom” list. He has been named to several professional Halls of Fame for lifetime achievement.

He is the co-author of four books, including two on litigation communications, hosts daily podcasts for various publications and is a regular commentator on television and in print.

Under Richard Levick’s leadership, LEVICK has grown to one of the world’s leading firms in crisis, litigation, and public affairs, representing companies and countries in the highest-profile matters.

This podcast is a masterclass in crisis communications. It discusses the following:

• What constitutes a crisis
• Crisis communication in the internet age
• How crisis communications strategy has evolved
• Cancel Culture and how to recover from it
• The challenges of global clients
• The problem with ‘Wokeness’

Richard died on April 11 2023,  at a hospice centre in Bethesda, Md. He was 65.

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Dr Lorraine Sheridan is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist and partner in Defuse®. Lorraine completed Europe’s first PhD on stalking. She is a police accredited offender profiler and compiles psychological reports related to offenders, highlighting the risks posed by known or unknown suspects. Lorraine was formerly a senior academic in Perth, Western Australia.

Dr. Sheridan is the former President of the Asia Pacific Association of Threat Assessment Professionals.

This podcast is a masterclass in stalking. It discusses the following:

• What is stalking?
• What is the difference between harassment and stalking?
• Are there different types of stalking?
• What do you do if you are being stalked?
• What is psychological profiling?
• When should you have a profile completed?

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On this episode of the Family Business Voice, Philip Grindell, CEO of Defuse Global, and Ramia talk about how family businesses can stay safe in the digital age.

Philip Grindell’s background as a Scotland Yard Detective with time spent seconded to British Intelligence gives him an in-depth view on just what can happen in unsafe situations. And now, he’s applying those insights to the world of private security, helping family business members, politicians and other high-profile clients stay safe both online and in-person.

• Safety starts with people. Regardless of the type of threat a family business has to deal with, that threat originates from a person on the other end, and a person in the business must let that threat in — knowingly or unknowingly. As such, businesses should vet their employees thoroughly and check in with them regularly to make sure they are doing everything they can to keep the organisation safe. Check more than just a possible recruit’s experience or skills; check their associations and their potential to heighten risk.
•  Businesses should consider implementing safety governance. Even a few simple regulations can go a long way. Some examples of good safety governance are: changing passwords regularly and not using third-party hardware with unknown providence (thumb-drives from tradeshows, for instance).
• Start the conversation around safety before circumstance necessitates it. Only by encouraging a culture that recognises threats, whether physical, reputational or psychological, as real and serious can family businesses mitigate those threats when they arise.

https://www.tharawat-magazine.com/podcast/family-business-safety/

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