Had slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson employed an armed guard by way of Protector — a brand new non-public safety app billed as “Uber with guns” ― he may nonetheless be alive, the corporate posited in a video reenactment of the killing.
In that reenactment, the “Protector,” recognized by HuffPost as Los Angeles Police Division officer James Zourek, describes how he seems for “pre-incident indicators” to detect threats. These, in line with Zourek, embrace “inappropriate clothing for the environment or weather conditions, unusual gait or lack of arm-swinging, indicating they’re concealing a weapon, and frequent checking of pockets or waistband.”
The video exhibits Zourek capturing the suspect as he approaches Thompson, “eliminating the threat,” as Zourek places it.
Protector guarantees to “empower individuals” with “access to elite protection.” It delivers army experience “from the frontlines to your front door,” in line with its promotional supplies.
However what occurs if a Protector will get it fallacious? What if the sweatshirt-clad man swinging his arms insufficiently as he walks towards the shopper isn’t a menace, however a cherished one who runs chilly and has stiff joints? Tucked into the positive print of Protector’s phrases of use settlement is language waiving the corporate of any accountability if, for instance, your armed guard unintentionally shoots your dad.
Protector, the corporate claims, is “act[s] solely as a technology platform facilitating connections between users and independent security professionals” and “cannot guarantee specific security outcomes or the performance of any individual agent.” The armed guards accessible by way of Protector “operate as third-party providers, and we do not control, direct, or assume liability for their actions,” the Phrases of Use settlement states.
screenshot from Protector’s Phrases of Use
The app was launched in February by former Fb product designer Nick Sarath. It permits customers to pick out the variety of vehicles of their “motorcade” and the variety of so-called Protectors, who might be outfitted in Business Formal (a jacket and a tie), Business Informal (no tie), Tactical Informal (efficiency polo shirt and cargo pants), and Operator (SWAT cosplay), though the latter is at the moment unavailable.
Bookings begin at $100 per hour with a five-hour minimal and require a $129 annual membership, in line with the corporate. (When HuffPost opened the app to make a reservation with one automobile and a single Protector, the price was $1,500.)
After Protector initially launched in Los Angeles and New York Metropolis, HuffPost requested regulators in each locations whether or not the corporate had obtained permits to function as a rideshare or black automobile enterprise. The California Public Utilities Fee confirmed that Protector didn’t have a Transportation Community Firm allow and that the company was investigating whether or not one was required. By Thursday, Protector’s companies had been pulled from Los Angeles. Nikolaj Leszczynski, an account supervisor on the PR agency employed by Protector, confirmed on Friday that “L.A. is down” however didn’t reply to a number of questions concerning the cause.
New York Metropolis’s Tax & Limousine Fee informed HuffPost that Protector was a personal safety firm and, due to this fact, not a part of the company’s regulatory jurisdiction.
Final 12 months, an identical armed rideshare service known as BlackWolf quietly suspended operations in Phoenix and Scottsdale after Axios reported that it failed to amass the Arizona state allow required for rideshare firms.
Each Protector is a present or former member of the army or legislation enforcement, in line with the corporate. The corporate’s LinkedIn options flashy movies with close-up interviews of Protectors itemizing their army and legislation enforcement credentials, with pictures of them closely armed in warzones scattered all through.
“This app is an attempt to gamify warfare,” Mohammad Tajsar, a senior workers lawyer on the ACLU of Southern California, mentioned in an interview. “It’s the perfect Silicon Valley gimmick. Take a fake problem — rising crime — offer a fake solution that you only find in video games, dress up your own squad of goons and roll it out to a crowd of internet-brained pseudo wealthy people who want this kind of dystopian future.”
After I first reached out to the corporate in February, Leszczynski initially indicated a willingness to schedule an interview with Sarath, the corporate’s founder, and a ridealong so I may get “the Protector experience.” However Leszczynski later backtracked and mentioned that Sarath “and his Protectors are extremely swamped” and will solely reply to questions over electronic mail.
The corporate then declined to reply to an in depth checklist of questions on its insurance policies, vetting and coaching practices, and the previous conduct of its contractors. As a substitute, the corporate mentioned in an emailed assertion, “We are simply offering a new innovative option in the traditional personal security space — immediate access to the protection you want without the usual red tape, hassle, and confusion.”
Though the app refers back to the drivers by their first names, HuffPost recognized a minimum of 4 Protectors who, as of March 7, had been additionally working as Los Angeles Police Division officers, in line with the company: Zourek, Royce Burroughs, Nicholas Cho and Andrew Rea, none of whom responded to requests for remark. (SWNS reported that Zourek retired in January; neither Zourek nor Protectors answered an electronic mail in search of clarification.)
LAPD’s worker handbook permits officers to carry secondary employment after the division critiques the proposed job and determines it’s not “incompatible” with LAPD employment. The handbook states that LAPD officers can not tackle secondary jobs that contain utilizing the “badge, uniform, prestige or influence” of their place for personal achieve or benefit. LAPD didn’t reply to an electronic mail asking if officers promoting their standing as LAPD officers to advertise their non-public safety work violated the division’s insurance policies.
LAPD declined to reveal whether or not Zourek, Cho, Rea or Burroughs have disciplinary information with the division, so HuffPost filed public information requests below California’s Proper To Know Act. Though that information request remains to be pending, publicly accessible courtroom information, in addition to one of many Protectors’ public statements, present some details about the conduct of the law enforcement officials employed by Protector.
Screenshot from Protector app
Zourek, who’s prominently featured in Protectors’ promotional supplies, has been with LAPD since 1997. A self-described “knuckle dragger,” Zourek has additionally labored as a Marine Corps Scout Sniper in Iraq, a federal jail guard and a firearms teacher. In December 2023, whereas head of LAPD’s union, Zourek gave an hour-long interview on a podcast known as “The IA Guy” about his remedy by the police division’s inside affairs division, which investigates allegations of misconduct.
“One hundred percent of the job” of an inside affairs investigator ought to be defending cops, Zourek mentioned, stating that it’s a “detriment” to the police division for an officer to “feel like you’ve been run through the ringer.”
Early on in his profession, Zourek was given a 22-day suspension “for unnecessarily extending a lawful detention,” he mentioned on the podcast. One of many classes he discovered from that incident was the significance of being trustworthy throughout the inside investigation — up to some extent. “Look, if you got a body buried in the backyard, roll the dice, don’t tell them about it,” he mentioned.
In 2004, Zourek put an unarmed man suspected of eradicating property from a stolen car in a carotid restraint, or a chokehold, inflicting the suspect to lose consciousness, courtroom information present.
“The LAPD ridiculously, they consider a carotid restraint, or a chokehold, they consider it a lethal use of force,” Zourek mentioned on the podcast, relaying the incident. “If that’s true, then every night in jiu jitsu, I’m committing attempted homicide.”
LAPD suspended using carotid restraints in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. California lawmakers banned the apply later that 12 months.
Zourek took the case to LAPD’s disciplinary enchantment board, which discovered him responsible and really helpful a five-day suspension. Zourek filed a writ of mandate in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket, arguing that his conduct was affordable primarily based on the knowledge he had on the time, and that his punishment was inconsistent with LAPD’s previous apply. In 2007, a choose granted Zourek’s petition and directed LAPD to rescind the suspension and reimburse Zourek for misplaced wages, with curiosity.
Zourek has “zero lessons learned” from that incident, he mentioned on the podcast. “I will do it every day, all day, I don’t care about the five-day suspension,” he mentioned of the chokehold. “I’ll do it tonight if I go out there. Because I’m 100% in the right.”
After the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Zourek wrote in a gaggle textual content, “I haven’t seen the democrats this mad since we freed their slaves,” LAPD watchdog William Gude reported on X. Zourek was initially suspended for the textual content, however was later cleared of wrongdoing by the disciplinary board.
HuffPost requested Protector if the corporate has a use of power coverage, affords deescalation coaching to its Protectors, has a mechanism to evaluate allegations of pointless power and if it critiques LAPD disciplinary information earlier than hiring officers. In response, Protector mentioned that with “rigorous vetting and extensive training,” their group members observe all legal guidelines. “They adhere to the highest standards of professionalism, safety, and integrity, with extensive expertise in de-escalation tactics to ensure peace of mind for all.”
One other LAPD officer who works with Protector, Royce Burroughs, is at the moment a named defendant in a civil go well with introduced by a lady who alleges that he was a part of a group of LAPD officers who, whereas responding to a hostage state of affairs, blew up a door and wall of her residence whereas she was inside, stormed by way of the opening in her wall, and pointed weapons at her whereas she frantically tried to maintain her kittens from operating away. The lady went on to undergo from signs of traumatic mind harm, in addition to anxiousness, melancholy, again ache and a sensitivity to loud noises, she mentioned within the criticism.
Earlier than Protector launched, Burroughs and fellow LAPD officer/Protector Nicholas Cho operated their very own non-public safety firm known as Delta Particular Operations Corp, the place they marketed being lively members of LAPD’s SWAT Workforce, providing non-public companies beginning at $150 per hour.
A reputation search of Cho and Rea in LA’s Superior Court docket database didn’t produce any courtroom circumstances with allegations of misconduct.
It’s not clear who Protector is meant for. Extremely-wealthy folks with an ongoing use for personal safety will merely rent their very own safety element. The service is just too costly for most individuals and it’s exhausting to think about many eventualities during which somebody would have a one-time use for personal safety that doesn’t contain committing against the law.
The corporate’s phrases of use prohibit particular conduct, together with hate speech, harassment, stalking, defamation and youngster sexual exploitation, however doesn’t embrace a blanket ban on illegal exercise, like shopping for medication. It’s additionally not clear how the corporate would forestall its companies from getting used to hold out the exercise it purports to ban. What’s to cease an abusive man from hiring a Protector to lurk round his ex-girlfriend? Requested how it will forestall such use of its companies, Protector mentioned, “Protecting lives is a grave responsibility, and it’s one we take very seriously. Any attempt to exploit our services in any way will result in immediate suspension and account termination.”
Protector plans to quickly launch a companion app known as Patrol, which might enable residents of neighborhoods in Los Angeles to crowdfund skilled neighborhood safety patrol. Like Protector, Patrol offers non-public residents with the flexibility to rent present legislation enforcement officers for his or her private safety whims.
The presence of apps like Protector and Patrol “create the fear the apps claim to respond to,” Tajsar, the ACLU lawyer, mentioned. “If the apps exist, it creates the sense that there must be crime, and we must need private security,” he mentioned, noting that crime ranges are, the truth is, declining.
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“It is clearly designed to appeal to rich people’s anxieties, which is basically what policing in America is,” Tajsar mentioned.
“It’s basically class warfare right in front of us.”
