3 minute read
SAFETY. SECURITY. PEACE OF MIND.
from ball. Spring 2025
by ball.
ARE YOU A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR ORGANISED CRIME?
A tiny percentage of crimes against professional footballers are ever reported in the media. Most never reach the public’s attention, but the scale is staggering.
The assumption is that only players in the Premier League and top European leagues are targeted, but this is not true.
Of course, professional footballers can become victims of crimes carried out by low-level, speculative criminals. Still, when they become victims of crime in their homes, it will be at the hands of sophisticated career criminals.
We sat down with Harrier Global - a specialist security firm founded by former detectives with over 65 years of combined experience tackling organised and sophisticated crime.
There are several variables which influence target selection by higher-level criminals, but male professional footballers, in the main, have been and will continue to be targeted for three main reasons:
They are known to earn huge sums of money when compared to the general population.
This level of disposable income means, that along with their partners, they purchase and enjoy luxury items of high value including watches, jewellery, handbags etc. These items are often small and of high residual value. They are favoured by criminals because of the ease with which they can be concealed and transported along with the demand that exists for high value goods at reduced prices.
The movements of footballers are highly predictable.
Their fixture commitments, both at home and away are known and published months in advance. They train when they are not playing. When they play away, in the main they stay overnight in hotels the day before the game. Some also stay in hotels the night before home fixtures. During International Break they are either representing their country or on a domestic holiday. During the close season they usually go on a domestic holiday, pre-season tour and are then engaged in pre-season training. The location of grounds and training facilities are well known along with the timings of players attendance. In short, it is relatively easy to work out when a player is and also is not at home. Those intent on committing robberies want to know when individuals are at home and those that burgle houses, in the main want to know when they are empty.
They often have inadequate levels of security.
This can be easily overcome with a good level of research and effective planning. Of the very many footballers who have become victims of crime in their home, almost all had some level of security. A security infrastructure capable of deterring a motivated and equipped career criminal, must be multi-layered and stitched together for it to be effective. Most footballers tend to rely on a single or small number of measures that are easily overcome by those who know what they are doing.
When committing crime, criminals balance the risk of getting caught and the subsequent implications, against the financial rewards should they be successful. Harrier Global seek to adjust this ratio in favour of its clients, so that criminals are deterred and look elsewhere. By hypothetically targeting their clients as career criminals might, Harrier Global is able to identify vulnerabilities where lifestyle adjustments and security measures could be introduced to reduce the risk of becoming a victim.
Always proportionate and anchored in reality, Harrier Global really is the one-stop shop in the world of lifestyle security.
Contact the team:
+44 7710 940 697
