Basic Conventions on Private Security

Under Construction

Mission of Private Security:  The mission of private security is primarily that of loss prevention. Businesses may lose money from theft, disorderly conduct on their premises, employee corruption, information leaks, or exposure to lawsuits. Security is a large mission that involves much more than a guard force. The mission of the security guard is to protect life, property and information, and this is usually done through detection, observation and proper reporting. This is very different from law enforcement, but sometimes at least as interesting.

Contract vs. Proprietary Security Forces:  The security needs of a business vary widely. Those needing smaller forces or less specialization often go to contract companies who will provide their security forces for them. The company pays, trains, equips and schedules the guards and makes sure that someone is present on all required posts at all required times. These companies act like temp agencies, and the employees are in fact temporary workers who can be terminated by the client without cause. They remain technically employed by the contractor, but the client's rejection of their services is normally cause for termination by their employer.

Security forces who are directly employed by the security consumer are proprietary. Proprietary forces are preferred in situations where the tasks performed and/or screening of personnel are more critical. They may even be college law enforcement students or retired police officers.

Powers of Arrest:  This varies with state law. Generally speaking, guards may make what amounts to a citizen's arrest on behalf of their client. If legal, such arrests are binding and unlawful to resist. Even so, most security people are not sworn peace officers and can be sued for illegal arrests & searches, mistaken identity, etc. They can also be compelled to testify in court without pay. For this and other reasons, most security forces avoid arrests if at all possible. Department stores are an exception to this, but you'll rarely witness an arrest taking place. They are careful to be discreet and to avoid publicly embarassing their suspects. The majority of sworn security officers are either governmental, railroad police or college campus police. Almost all arrests take place on the property being protected.

Discipline of Forces: Radio discipline and regular discipline tend to go hand in hand. You'll find that most proprietary forces and most larger contract forces are fairly well disciplined because their size and status demand close professional supervision. I once worked in a shop where contact and proprietary forces were set up as interdependent partners for all operations. Many functions could not be done unless a member of each force was to cooperate. Personal contact between the two was sharply limited so that friendships would not easily form.

Most small forces, however, have minimal supervision and fair amounts of spare time between their duties. While their time clocks might record the conduct of their patrols, probably no one is recording their radio traffic. At a swank condominium complex near Washington, DC, a friend and I used to listen to the nightly "chick patrol" conducted by the 2-3 officers on duty. Everyone was alerted to the apparent age and dimensions of females who transited the property, along with speculation about various habits, proclivities, and mores. What made it even more interesting is that this irked the female desk clerk of the Days Inn just down the street, who had radios on the same frequency with no CTCSS. Conversations--sometimes heated--between the two parties were inevitable.

To me, this is the best thing about listening in on security forces. When something goes down, they often have plenty to say over the radio with very little thought to the idea that they are being monitored. After all, THEY probably don't know what the frequency is and neither does Radio Shack. The frequency MUST be unknown. (heh, heh, heh)

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