The Professional Security Manual Class 1, Urban Security

When you’re signing up to be your basic security guard for so-and-so law firm or that high-profile business that needs overnight protection, you need to be sure you’ve got the skills and the chops to carry out the job to the letter, whether it’s impressing the guys giving you your paycheck or fellow security guards who need to know you’re the best of the best. Thankfully, there’s this handy dandy book, The Professional Security Manual Class 1: Urban Security.

Lieutenant Charles White has a lot of experience and a lot of things to say on the subject of urban security. Thankfully, the editor recorded all this and then synthesized it into this useful book format with ten separate sections giving the reader a full course in urban security. The chapters cover important matters like “Surveillance and Patrol,” “Bomb Recognition,” “Advanced Firearms Instruction,” and, very important, “Ghosts in the Workplace.” The book is full of important pearls of wisdom and mantras like:

– “You must secure the respect of employees by practicing martial arts in full view of everyone in the break room.”

– “The modern martial artist is forced to keep in practice with the steel stapler, an item of office equipment ideal for self defense.”

– “I have friends shoot arrows at me as I block. I stand in the middle of a ring of flaming torches, to force myself to stay in bounds.”

At the end of the book, there is an important self-test in firearms and weapons, as well as a shooting gallery that forces the reader to quickly choose between enemies that need to be killed and innocents that need to be spared.

Professional Security Manual Class 1: Urban Security is an entertaining read that’s a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it ends pretty quickly, and really could be double the length for its entertainment value. Plus the humorous language is great and should be more present to really make the reader laugh out loud.