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A security guard or security officer is a private person who is employed to protect property and/or people. Usually security guards are uniformed and act to protect property by maintaining a high visibility presence and observing (either directly, through patrols, or by watching alarm systems or video cameras) for signs of crime, fire or disorder; then taking action and/or reporting any incidents to their client, employer and emergency services as appropriate.

1 Functions and duties
2 Types of security personnel and companies
3 Licensing
4 Security guards and the police
5 History
6 References
7 See also

Functions and duties

The security guard motto is to "observe and report." Security guards are not normally required to make arrests or otherwise act as police officers except in some United States jurisdictions in which the security officer is invested with arrest powers like those of a county sheriff. In contrast to the above mentioned motto, a Private Security Guard's or Officer's actual primary duty is prevention of crime. Security personnel do enforce company rules and can act (as would any other person) if necessary to protect lives or property. In fact, they frequently have a contractual obligation to provide these actions. Security Officers are often trained to perform arrests, operate emergency equipment, perform first aid, take accurate notes and write effective reports, and perform other tasks as required by the property they are protecting.

One major economic justification for security guards is that insurance companies (particularly fire insurance carriers) will give substantial rate discounts to sites which have a 24-hour presence; for a high risk or high value venue, the discount can often exceed the money being spent on its security program. This is because having a security guard on site increases the odds that any fire will be noticed and reported to the local fire department before a total loss occurs. Also, the presence of security guards (particularly in combination with effective security procedures) tends to diminish "shrinkage," theft, employee misconduct and safety rule violations, property damage, or even sabotage. Many casinos hire security guards to protect the money when transferring it from the casino to the casino's bank.

Security guards also perform access control at building entrances and vehicle gates by ensuring that employees and visitors display proper passes or identification before entering the facility. Security guards are often called upon to respond to minor emergencies (lost persons, lockouts, dead vehicle batteries, etc.) and to assist in serious emergencies by guiding emergency responders to the scene of the incident and documenting what happened on an incident report.

Although security guards are a distinct type of personnel from either police officers or the military, in the United States a very high proportion of security personnel, including most senior management personnel, are either former or retired members of one or both services. Many security guards who don't fit this profile (young people in particular) use the job as a springboard into a police career.

Being a private security guard is by no means a lucrative endeavor. Most first line private security personal are paid a low wage which often does not reflect the risks they endure on duty.

Types of security personnel and companies

Security guards are classified as either of the following

"in-house" or "proprietary" (i.e. employed by the same company or organisation they protect, such as a mall or a theme park)
"contract," working for a private security company which protects many locations.
"public security" or security police

Some large contract private security companies in the United States have included Pinkerton and Burns Protective (since acquired by Securitas), Wackenhut, AlliedBarton, Guardsmark, and U.S. Security Associates (aka Outsource Partners).

Industry terms for various security personnel include: guards, agents, watchmen, officers, safety patrol. Other job titles in the security industry include dispatcher, receptionist, driver, supervisor, alarm responder, armed security officer, and manager.

Newer terms have been developing within the American security industry that tend to reclassify security personnel into three basic classes, as follows:

Security guards: These personnel, usually uniformed, are primarily responsible for the protection of property only and do not have a responsibility for anything other than basic visibility and reporting. Examples of security guards include night watchmen on construction sites, bank vault guards, and monetary transport guards of money and valuables.
Security officers: These personnel, also usually uniformed, are employed in functions that involve the protection of lives, property and the public peace on private property. Examples of security officers include apartment complex security officers, mall security officers, private patrol officers, and any security personnel that operate in an environment that includes a contractual obligation for the protection of lives and/or the public peace.
Security agents: These personnel, usually without a uniform, are primarily contracted or employed with a focus on apprehension rather than prevention on private property. Examples of security agents include loss prevention agents and personal protection agents (bodyguards).

Licensing

Most U.S. states and counties require a license to work as a security guard. This license may include a criminal background check and/or training requirements. Most security guards do not carry weapons and have the same powers of arrest as a private citizen,called a "private person" arrest or "citizen's arrest." If weapons are carried, additional permits and training are usually required. Normally armed security guards are used (in the USA) to protect sensitive sites such as government and military installations, banks or other financial institutions, and nuclear power plants. However, armed security is quickly becoming a standard for vehicle patrol officers and on many other non-government sites. Armed private security is much rarer in Europe and other developed countries. In developing countries (with host country permission) armed security composed mostly of ex-military personnel is often used to protect corporate assets, particularly in war-torn regions.

Security guards and the police

Security personnel are not police officers but are often confused with them due to similar uniforms and behaviors, especially on private property. Security personnel derive their powers not from the state, as public police officers do, but from a contractual arrangement that give them 'Agent of the Owner' powers. This includes a nearly unlimited power to question with the freedom of an absence of probable cause requirements that frequently dog public law enforcement officers. Additionally, as legal precedents have further restrained the traditional police officers' power of 'officer discretion' regarding arrests in the field, requiring a police officer to arrest minor lawbreakers, Private Security personnel still enjoy such powers of discretion largely due to their private citizen status. Since the laws regarding the limitations of powers generally have to do with public law enforcement, private security is relatively free to utilize non-traditional means to protect and serve their clients' interests. This does not come without checks, however, as private security personnel do not enjoy the benefit of civil protection, as public law enforcement does, and can be sued directly for false arrests and illegal actions if they commit such acts.

Some jurisdictions do commission or deputize security guards and give them limited additional powers, particularly when employed in protecting public property such as mass transit stations. This is a special case that is often unique to a particular jurisdiction or locale.

Some security officers with police powers, typically employed directly by governmental agencies, are called security police. Typically these are police whose duties primarily involve the security of a government installation, and are also a special case.

Some security guards, particularly in hazardous jobs such as bodyguard work and bouncers outside nightclubs, are off-duty police officers (although in some countries, including the United Kingdom, it is illegal for police officers to take private security work).

Except in these special cases, a security guard who misrepresents himself as police is committing a felony crime. However, security personnel by their very nature often work in cooperation with police officials. Police are called in when a situation warrants a higher degree of authority to act upon reported observations of the security personnel that could not be directly acted upon safely by the security personnel.

History

The vigiles were Roman soldiers assigned to guard the city of Rome, often credited as the origin of both security personnel and police. There have been night watchmen since at least the Middle Ages in Europe; walled cities of ancient times also had watchmen.

It was a security guard, Frank Wills, who detected the Watergate burglars, ultimately leading to the resignation of Richard M. Nixon as President of the United States.

Christoph Meili is another security guard who became a whistle blower in 1997. While Meili was a night guard at a Swiss bank he found out that the bank destroyed records of holocaust victims whose money the bank was supposed to return their heirs. Christoph Meili managed to get some records out of the bank and to pass it through to a Jewish organization, which immediately filed a complaint with the police against the bank. The Swiss authorities reacted with an arrest warrant against Meili, who was able to escape the country. Meili and his family received political asylum in the United States.

Derogatory terms for security guards include rent-a-cops, toy cops and imitation bacon (after the derogatory slang "pig" for "policeman"). Some people do not like security guards because their duties include enforcing rules and serving as a symbol of authority. Others believe that security guards are "wanna-be" or would-be police officers, or have had bad experiences with security guards in the past. In recent years many private security companies have tried to make the term "security officer" standard for this occupation, feeling the term "guard" to be somewhat demeaning. (This is similar to the movement to redesignate "prison guards" as "prison officers", "correctional officers" or "corrections officers".)

References

California Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Security and Investigative Services

The Apartment Owner Magazine, pp34-41, June, 1990, "Private Security Officers; A Cost of Doing Busines in the Modern Property Management Industry," by Jason M. Smith