Bodyguards on Demand: New Yorker Tests Out Private Security for Hire App
Ever want to feel like a celebrity with your own personal bodyguard to protect you? Now there’s an app for that. Tammy Johnson runs her errands on the Upper West Side with an unusual companion: private security. She’s not a celebrity, just an everyday New Yorker – but 2020 has her questioning her personal safety. “As much as I love my neighborhood, we know that safety is not always at the top,” Johnson says. “There has been a rise in the number of homeless folks that are basically throughout the neighborhood where that was not the situation prior and it’s a little concerning to me. I’m always out and about and sometimes I’m a little afraid.” Johnson turned to a relatively new app called Bond. The company’s creator just last month launched the bodyguard service where clients can hire protection for as little as $30 for 30 minutes. The program comes as New Yorkers in Johnson’s neighborhood say they feel increasingly unsafe as the country braces for a potentially contentious election....
