Do High-Profile Athletes Need Personal Security?

They may never amass a level of wealth comparable to that of Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey, but professional athletes tend to enjoy the kind of financial prosperity that the average person can only dream of. Lucrative contracts and endorsement deals enable them to afford lifestyles that are complete with impressive homes, luxury vehicles and expensive jewelry. Some people would do just about anything to have even a fraction of the perks that professional athletes enjoy, even if it meant robbing them at gunpoint - literally.

Numerous armed robberies committed against professional athletes have made headlines over the years, prompting people to wonder why many of them don't hire personal security until after such crimes occur. When NBA star Antoine Walker was robbed in July 2000 at gunpoint along with fellow player Nazr Mohammed as they sat in a vehicle outside a Chicago restaurant, he had no idea that almost exactly seven years later he would be robbed again - this time in his own home. Fortunately, Walker was not harmed in either incident. The perpetrators, however, did make off with several valuables of his totaling thousands of dollars.

The same year of Walker's initial robbery, New York Knicks star Stephon Marbury, who played for the New Jersey Nets at the time, was robbed in Manhattan after leaving a nightclub. According to The New York Times (June 21, 2000), two men approached Marbury's car on each side, one of them snatching a diamond necklace valued at $150,000 from around his neck before both men took off in another vehicle. Although the robbers did not use a weapon in the robbery, Marbury was quite shaken by the incident. He now travels everywhere with his own personal security.

Like Marbury, some high-profile athletes are taking matters into their own hands before they become victims of senseless crimes. Many others, however, may feel secure enough traveling with an entourage of friends. They may hold the belief that because of where they live or the types of places they frequent, they will never find themselves in harm's way. Based on the growing number of crimes against high-profile athletes, however, this is clearly not the case.

While it's pretty obvious that hiring personal security may thwart future crimes against high-profile athletes when they are out in public, one may still wonder what means can be taken to reduce the likelihood of a crime being committed against them in their own home. Associated Press (July 29, 2007) reported that Knicks star Eddy Curry recently fell victim to three masked robbers who broke into his suburban Chicago home, duct taped him, his wife and an employee and stole an undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry.

"Hiring personal security can help prevent crimes like these from occurring, especially if the person you hire picks you up from your house, drives you wherever you need to go each day and then drops you back off at home," said a personal protection specialist during a recent telephone interview with this writer. He provides security for a well-known NBA star and requested that his that his identity be kept confidential.

"A person who has knowledge and experience in protection services will make certain that they check everything out before they leave their client's house," he added. "They'll also help them find the most effective ways to secure their home, such as installing security cameras, getting the best alarm systems, and teaching their clients how to pay better attention to their surroundings so that they can identify potentially dangerous situations before they occur."

It is uncertain how many more senseless crimes will be committed against high-profile athletes and their families or friends before the message becomes clear that something needs to be done to protect their safety. And as long as each offense is viewed as an isolated incident, more athletes are likely to fall prey to such crimes in the future.