Right, let’s get straight to the point. You’re out there protecting someone important, and there’s always that one individual who makes your skin crawl. They’re not just another fan or curious member of the public—there’s something different about them. Their attention feels wrong, invasive, and frankly dangerous.
Trust that instinct. What you’re likely dealing with is a fixated individual, and they represent one of the most serious threats your principal will ever face. Here’s what you need to know to spot and handle them early.
Why These People Are in a Different League
Forget what you think you know about persistent admirers or overzealous fans. Fixated individuals operate on an entirely different level. I’ve seen cases where someone spent 17 hours a day researching their target. That’s not dedication—that’s a pathological obsession.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking this is simply about mental illness. The real danger lies in this obsession’s complete takeover of their lives.
These people often know your client’s routines better than their assistant does. They’ve mapped movement patterns, identified vulnerabilities, and become genuine experts on every aspect of your principal’s life. In many ways, they’re conducting better surveillance than some professional teams.
The Two Types That’ll Cross Your Path
Personal Fixation: They want something from your client—a relationship, recognition, some form of connection. Take John Hinckley Jr., who tried to kill President Reagan. This wasn’t about politics; he was obsessed with Jodie Foster and genuinely believed assassinating the President would impress her. Mad as it sounds, that was his logic.
Ideological Fixation: Your client represents everything they despise. Thomas Mair murdered Jo Cox, MP, not because of anything she’d done to him personally but because his white supremacist beliefs made him see her as a traitor to his cause. She was simply in the wrong place, representing the wrong values.
Both types are dangerous. Both need different approaches. Get this wrong, and people die.
The Grievance That Drives Them
Here’s something that’ll help you assess just how serious the threat is. Behind virtually every fixated individual is a grievance containing four elements:
• Blame: “It’s all their fault.”
• Loss: “They’ve taken something from me.”
• Anger: “I hate them for it”
• Humiliation: “They’ve made me look stupid.”
Your client might become the target not for who they are but for what they represent to someone consumed by these feelings. A business leader is blamed for redundancies, a politician for unpopular policies, a celebrity for moral failings—the list goes on.
Violence becomes their perceived solution when someone believes they’ve exhausted all peaceful options. That’s when you’ve moved from nuisance to genuine threat.
What This Means for Your Day-to-Day Operations
They Crave Proximity: These individuals desperately want to get close to your client. When your security prevents this, that desire can transform into dangerous anger. It’s a catch-22—your protection can sometimes escalate their determination.
They Know Too Much: Don’t underestimate their intelligence-gathering capabilities. They’ve likely spent months or years building a detailed picture of your client’s life, routines, and vulnerabilities. They’re not casual observers but obsessive researchers with unlimited time and motivation.
They Give Themselves Away: The good news? They rarely keep their obsessions completely secret. Staff report odd questions; they make repeated contact attempts; their online activity reveals concerning knowledge, or their communications contain information they shouldn’t possess.
Your Practical Response Plan
Document Everything: Keep detailed records of every interaction, every communication, and every piece of concerning behaviour. Patterns emerge over time that aren’t obvious in isolated incidents. This documentation becomes vital evidence later.
Think Before You Act: Sometimes, the worst thing you can do is wade in heavy-handed. Aggressive confrontation can confirm their persecution complex and increase their commitment to harmful action. Be strategic, not reactive.
Get Expert Help Early: This isn’t a job for standard security protocols. You need professionals trained in behavioural threat assessment. The combination of security expertise and psychological understanding is what prevents tragedies.
Watch for These Warning Signs:
• Using multiple communication channels (emails, letters, calls, social media)
• Displaying knowledge they shouldn’t have
• Making references to weapons or violence
• Suddenly stopping contact after persistent communication
• Showing evidence of research into your client’s private life
The Hard Truth
Traditional security measures won’t solve a fixated threat on their own. You need to understand what’s driving the obsession, not just how to keep them physically away from your client.
The goal isn’t simply maintaining distance—it’s identifying these individuals early, understanding what motivates them, and managing the threat before it escalates to violence. In our connected world, where information flows freely and grievances get amplified online, this threat is only getting worse.
Your role goes beyond physical protection. You’re often the first to spot patterns or unusual interests. That early identification could prevent your principal from becoming another headline.
Remember this: the fixated individual sees your client as either the solution to all their problems or the cause of all their pain. Your job is to ensure they never get to test either theory.
Don’t Leave Your Knowledge Half-Empty
What I’ve shared here barely scratches the surface. Fixated individuals are just one of eight critical threat types every security professional must understand—from workplace violence and communicated threats to the specific warning behaviours that signal imminent danger.
This isn’t theoretical knowledge. It’s operational intelligence that’s prevented attacks on MPs, stopped planned school shootings, and kept prominent figures safe worldwide. The same expertise that helped me identify and prevent a planned terrorist attack from just six lines of intelligence.
Back in 2017, I was handed a scrap of paper in Parliament with details of a threat to kidnap and kill an MP. Most would have dismissed it as pub talk. But understanding fixated behaviour and threat assessment meant I could see this was genuine. Jack Renshaw got life imprisonment; Rosie Cooper, MP, stayed alive.
That’s the difference proper knowledge makes.
Get “Personal Threat Management: The Practitioner’s Guide to Keeping Clients Safer” and transform how you identify, assess, and manage every type of threat your clients face. Law enforcement, security professionals, and threat assessment teams use this book globally.
We also deliver tailored training programmes for security professionals and close protection teams that want to embed this expertise throughout their operations. When your team knows what to look for, everyone’s safer.
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Your clients’ safety depends on what you know. Make sure you know enough.
