1. How Long Does Security Guard Training Take?

A. Security guard training initially requires guards to complete course material equal to roughly eight hours of work. The coursework should cover a variety of topics, including:

• Arresting individuals
• Proper and ethical restraining methods
• People’s rights
• Laws regarding private property
  

Guards should expect to complete this required overview coursework prior to applying for jobs. After completing this initial training, additional courses will be required once hired. Within 30 days of accepting a security guard position, and depending on the state where the guard will work, he or she will need to complete 16 hours of courses while on the job. They will also need to take an additional 16 hours of courses within six months of their hiring. These courses will cover everything from dealing with people carrying concealed weapons to public relations to managing potential terrorist activities. Ultimately, there are roughly 40 additional hours of training, including eight hours prior to hiring and 32 hours after they begin working.

2. Is Security Guard Training Available Online?

A. Security guard training is available to take online and in person. With online courses, make sure the provider has accreditation and is legally authorized in your state.

3. As Part of Their Training, Will Security Guards Work with Guns?

A. If he or she will be an armed security guard, they will be required to complete additional training that encompasses general firearm safety and marksmanship courses. Generally, security guards who use weapons need to have a state-issued firearm permit. Depending on the level of security required for the job location, expect that, as an armed security guard, the training can potentially add months of coursework to their security education. Additionally, some states will require guards to participate in regular refresher courses to maintain a firearm permit.

4. What Are the Requirements to Begin the Security Guard Training Process?

A. While some jobs are lenient on criminal records, security guard positions are typically stringent. Even a misdemeanor offense can make it difficult to obtain employment as a security guard. Each state has its own training enrollment requirements.

5. What Skills Should a Guard Expect to Get from Training and While on the Job?

A. Security guards protect against a wide range of threats. They put their lives on the line in the same way police officers do. For that reason, expect training to deal with a wide range of potential issues. Security guards will typically learn how to deal with vandalism, trespassing, robberies, fires, and other violent and nonviolent crimes.

Communication is paramount in dangerous situations. For that reason, guards can expect to refine their communication skills so they are clear and concise. Security guards will file reports outlining incidents that take place. These reports may include both observations and witness accounts.

Training should include how to properly collect information from a crime scene without damaging the integrity of the scene and how to document it in an appropriate format to assist law enforcement. These reports can become evidence materials for criminal cases, and the guard who completes the report may be required to testify about the information they provided to the court trying the case.

1. Punctuality

Criminals are counting on your security guard to be even five minutes late.

2. De-escalation Tactics

The real mark of talent when it comes to being a security guard is someone who looks to physical force and the use of weapons as a last possible resort.

3. Knowledge of the Warning Signs of Danger

Security officers need to be able to recognize the clear warning signs of potential danger.

4. A Strong Presence

Security officers need to be physically strong enough to deter criminals from engaging in illegal activity. They need to be firm, thorough, and never take shortcuts when it comes to building security.

5. The Ability to Write Concise Reports

Security officers need to have superior communication skills. After all, the faster and better they communicate, the sooner a criminal can be brought to justice.

6. A Continued Commitment to Excellence

This means that they will make use of the latest technological developments and surveillance tools when they protect your business.

7. An Understanding of Your Unique Needs

A qualified security guard will sit down with you and determine the best type of security, monitoring systems, and more for the unique requirements of your business.

What Else Should a Security Guard Have?

Whether you want to know how to be a good security guard to advance your own career or because you want to protect yourself and your employees, we hope you have found this guide helpful. Remember, however, that there is one more thing that every security guard needs to have. What is it? Proper insurance, and we can help you get it.

Spend some time on our website to learn more about how to ensure you are always protected. Keep checking back with our blog for more invaluable security tips that are right for any industry.

As of Thursday, August 10, 2017, President Trump stated that the opioid crisis was a national emergency. Trump also established a panel to evaluate crisis management options, which promptly related current opioid use, with 100 Americans dying each day from opioid overdoses, to the tragic events of 9/11. The issue of drug abuse, drug trafficking, and drug overdose is not going away. Increasingly, professional security guards are being confronted with this potentially explosive issue.

In all cases, the decision was prompted by continued increases in opioid-related deaths, along with increasing costs of the only drug that can reverse an overdose condition, naloxone. The goal of issuing the state of emergency has been to obtain access to financial resources that are reserved for emergency situations.

Drug and alcohol abuse has become a mainstay issue nationwide that security guard personnel may face on a daily basis. Because drug-related issues are so frequently linked to violence, it has also led to a rise in the number of security personnel choosing to apply for security guard liability insurance and security company insurance as an extra protective precaution. No matter where you work, widespread drug activity virtually ensures you will encounter this issue at some point at your worksite.

For example, in Oklahoma City, OK, an active duty security guard identified what appeared to be a drug deal in progress at his post at the Metro Waffle House very early one morning. He contacted the local police immediately. A unit was dispatched, and two arrests were made. Because the security guard knew what he was looking at, he was able to aid police in arresting two repeat drug offenders.

If you work as a private security guard, you cannot count on state regulations to ensure you are adequately trained and prepared for drug violence at your worksite. It will be your full responsibility to ensure you are trained in safety procedures for addressing drug violence.

If you work for a security company, your employer may be willing to fund drug violence-related continuing education and training. Some cities or states may also have extra funding set aside for security guard training, although the availability and amount of grant funding can vary greatly from year to year.

Eldorado Insurance Agency

The prevalence of mass school shootings has desensitized the American psyche. While always tragic, their happening with some regularity is diminishing the shock value of such horrific events. The recent school shooting in the Seattle, WA, suburb of Marysville in October barely made headlines, even though five victims were wounded, four of whom died of their injuries, and the shooter ended the attack by shooting himself. He was just 15 years old.

Stories like this, Sandy Hook, and Columbine were not common 30 years ago. What has happened to increase their prevalence? And is there anything that security guards can do to help?

Security officer companies would be wise to evaluate the chances of school shootings occurring. According to USA Today, children have a one in two million chance of dying at school, a thankfully promising statistic. While some parents feel that their children would be safer with armed security guards on school premises, research has shown that one armed security guard in a school is not likely to stop an ill-intentioned person carrying a firearm from causing damage. On the contrary, introducing more firearms, even in the hands of a trained security guard, increases the chances that someone will get hurt.

How Can Security Help?

Security guards do bring with them one important yet overlooked benefit: awareness. Like most conflicts in group environments such as schools and offices, raising awareness of potential dangers is one of the top ways to prevent a negative circumstance.

The importance of raising awareness is to help initiate and facilitate a culture of security awareness. Kenneth Chutchian says it well: “The true test of whether a school is taking care of the health and safety of people inside is the extent to which they have created a culture of security awareness.”

Creating this security culture can occur in several ways. One is to equip the school with physical security measures. A double-entry system, also known as a sally port or mantrap, can be enforced. Students would need a keycard to enter the port, and a security guard would need to approve their entry to the building. This would communicate a strong message that the school is serious about security. Secondly, faculty, staff, and students should be aware of visitors and lead them to their intended location.

Video cameras are another good way to demonstrate that security is an important value at the school. While the communication value of the mere presence of the camera is helpful, it can also help prevent activity or help predict negative events.

Finally, for students, knowing the warning signs of depression and excessive aggression can help prevent tragedies from occurring. Sometimes a simple display of empathy can quell an angry person, demonstrating that someone does care and that things do not have to take a violent turn. School safety is about protecting people, and in many cases these shootings occur because someone does not feel wanted or taken care of. A little empathy and compassion can go a long way, whether it is provided by faculty, students, or even staffed security guards.

Background checks are mandatory across the United States in a variety of capacities. In order to get a loan, rent an apartment, or adopt a pet, background checks are typically the norm to ensure the protection of all parties involved. Another application in which background checks are either considered or mandatory is pre-employment screening. Part of those background checks includes reviewing criminal records, if they exist.

There are obvious reasons why professionals like teachers, surgeons, or babysitters undergo background checks, given that these positions deal with either the health or care of other persons. Should security guards be required to submit to background checks as well?

This question arises with the news of Georgia banning the consideration of criminal records in hiring. In other words, job applicants in Georgia would no longer be required to disclose criminal histories when applying for employment. According to the Washington Post, the primary purpose for this move was to try to ease the transition from former inmates into civilian life.

Georgia is not the first state to adopt the law, as it joins 14 other states that have already enacted this policy. States ranging in social policies, such as Nebraska, New Mexico, California, and Hawaii, have applied what is now known as “ban the box,” a reference to the checkbox on a job application asking about prior criminal convictions. All states that have adopted the policy have placed the ban on state employment, and six states have banned it for private employment: Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

While the initiative comes with a host of well-meaning intentions regarding criminals’ reintegration into society, it does come with concerns as well. Are there some industries that could be in danger because of this policy?

One industry is the security guard industry. If a law were passed disallowing criminal background checks, security guard companies as well as insurers would have sincere cause for alarm. Given the risks associated with this line of work, it is important for employers to be able to evaluate candidates thoroughly for the protection of the company, those they intend to guard, and themselves.

Fortunately, legislators agree. While the law states employees are not required to reveal criminal history, not every state employee is free from questioning. The executive order for “ban the box” exempts what it calls “sensitive governmental positions.” These sensitive positions specifically include professionals like security officers or prison guards, persons for whom a criminal history would immediately disqualify them from employment.

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