The mission of the International Protective Services Association is simple.  We are striving to increase the level of professionalism throughout the international community of protective services personnel. 

We are not a training organization:  we do not compete with your training school.

We are not a service provider:  we do not compete with your provision of protective specialists.

We are not a retailer:  we do not compete with your sale of protective products.

Who are we?  We are an association of professionals.  We are a provider of professional standards.  And we are the ONLY association dedicated to the professionalism of the international protective services community.

How will we increase the level of professionalism in the industry?  There are many protection training schools and associations throughout the world, however, there has never been an internationally recognized standard for professional certification.  Until now.  The primary purpose for the establishment of IPSA is to have an association that serves as a 3rd party accrediting body and certification board.  In this sense, we are very similar in nature to the American Bar Association for the legal profession.

Are we competing with other associations?  We do not intend to compete with any of the current protection associations because we are focusing primarily on the much-needed certification standards.  In fact, we expressly do not advise or ask IPSA members to resign their memberships in other protection or security associations.  We would rather work together with other protection-related associations than against them, and we realize that we can do a lot more for the industry as a whole by doing so.  Currently, a large number of protection training schools and associations issue a certification for their own graduates or members, but these certifications are usually based solely on their own proprietary training programs.  This is where we are different.  We do not offer training, and we do not have a proprietary training program.  We do, however, have a set of standards for professional certification of protection specialists, and we do offer accreditation for protective services training programs.

Why is this important?  Many employers and potential employers of protective specialists do not know or understand the differences between the various protection training programs and certifications currently available.  Now, however, employers can use the standards set by IPSA to differentiate between the professional protection specialist from all the rest.  In addition, other protection specialists can use our standards to hire qualified personnel as well as to ensure they are receiving the training necessary to meet the industry standard for certification.  IPSA provides the industry standard.   

By "protective services" we are primarily speaking of the personal protection services provided to dignitaries, executives, celebrities, witnesses, and other threatened individuals.  The personnel who provide these services are often referred to as "bodyguards".  In order to properly provide protective services, however, it takes the involvement of more than just the people who provide the actual close-in protection of the principal.  It takes a team of others includes residential security personnel, intelligence specialists, law enforcement liaisons, executive staff assistants, and many more.  This association is dedicated to all those people who are involved in the protective services.  Past, present, and future.

In addition to increasing the level of professionalism within the industry, IPSA is also interested in increasing the professional image of the industry through the Certifed Protective Services Specialist certification. 

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Order Form

IPSA Membership Application

Certified Protective Services Specialist Application

Code of Ethics

IPSA Portfolio (available soon)

IPSA Newsletter, January 2009 (available soon)