by Gerald L. DeSalvo
In today’s global business environment tens of thousands of employees are regularly traveling outside of their home countries for their organizations. Global business travelers, especially those from countries with effective criminal justice systems and low overall violent crime rates, face a wide variety of unfamiliar risks in many of the foreign countries they visit.
In many cases, they may not be accustomed to living and working in high threat environments with weak police and security services and widespread criminality (much of it very violent). They may also lack detailed information on the nature of the risks present at foreign locations, and may not be familiar with effective techniques to reduce their vulnerability to them.
This article will address the problems mentioned above, and provide some suggestions for preventing security incidents when abroad. It begins with a brief discussion of crime in order to create an informed foundation for a discussion of the main focus of this article – Security Situational Awareness – a key personal safety concept that can help international business travelers reduce their vulnerability when traveling.