Targeted Violence (PDF)

Glenn McGovern, district attorney investigator, Special Deputy U.S. Marshal, police officer, deputy sheriff, law enforcement specialist, began his law enforcement career in 1986 as an eighteen-year-old member of the U.S. Air Force Security Police. It was here that he first began his studies of terrorism, tactical operations, and protective details. Europe, at the time, was on fire as groups such as the Sicilian mafia, November 17, Red Army Faction, Hizbollah, and many others were conducting their terrorist attacks. As a newly minted law enforcement member who was also assigned to a police unit that had a combat mission and was deployable worldwide, the study of the tactics used by these groups was mandatory. It was during this time that he had his first introduction to close personal protection operations, first with Soviet diplomats visiting under the SALT II treaties, then later in Panama with the commanding general of all U.S. forces in South America. He was also involved in an unusual protective operation in that he was locked in with the protectee, which in this case was over $16 million in cash en route to the U.S. military installations in the Pacific.

Upon completion of his military service, he went to work for the Orange County Marshal's Department, assigned to courthouse security as well as bailiff functions. Upon completing the sheriff's academy, he was assigned as a deputy sheriff working in the jails. Approximately two years later he obtained a position with the Pacific Grove Police Department in Monterey County. While there he worked as a patrolman, detective, and corporal. He also held a collateral assignment as a member of the SWAT team. Although the Pacific Grove Police Department was small, as were many of the departments on the coast, being on one of only three SWAT teams in the entire county, he had the opportunity to participate in a variety of operations, from hostage situations to barricaded gunmen to many hig