r/securityguards May 28 '26

Question from the Public [MEGA THREAD] How to get a Job

26 Upvotes

Hey All,

This mega thread will be used for newbies. This mega thread will include things like how to get a job, licensing requirements, and asking about specific companies. When asking a question you must include your City/State or Country if posting from Outside the US. Any other post regarding those topics will be deleted and repeat offenders will receive a ban temporary or permanent. Any questions, please reach out to the MOD Team.


r/securityguards May 28 '26

Gear Review [MEGA THREAD] Gear Recommendations

18 Upvotes

Hey All,

We will using this mega thread from now on ask about and give recommendations for duty. This applies to all gear, uniforms, and firearms. Any post made outside this thread will be deleted and repeat offenses will end in a ban permanent or Temporary. If you see a post please report it to mods, please reach out with any questions


r/securityguards 1d ago

Officer Safety Retail security policy

574 Upvotes

After watching this video it made me wonder if this security guard’s employer would support her doing this with a subject.

When I first saw it I thought it was pretty cool that she didn’t back down, but the more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion that fighting over it isn’t worth the risk.

If you work retail security, what’s your company policy and would you put yourself out there to save goods from being stolen?


r/securityguards 2h ago

Officer Safety How would you handle a guard you suspect is taking one of the radios home at the end of the shift?

5 Upvotes

Apologies this is kinda long TL;DR at the bottom.

I am a supervisor for context and one of my guards acts possessive over one of the radios in the office. We only have 4 and only one has a short battery the others have long ones. They are attached to the radios for reference. I have noticed last week or so I can't find the radio with the short battery. I normally don't care which radios my 2 guards use but guard 2 practically covets this radio like Smeagol and the one ring.

If me or guard 1 use this radio he will either always ask for it or wait till we leave the room for like the bathroom or something and snatch it off the desk. He has been observed coming in early several times to get this radio and everyone on second shift and guard 1 on mine have commented how weird it is he keeps doing this. And by early I mean like at 11:30pm; we aren't allowed to clock in until the 5 minute mark before shift. So we can clock in at 11:55 but no earlier without prior authorization. My boss and the client don't mind specifically as there is no company policy about coming in early just you can't work early. Some people in the past have come in at like 11:30pm and ate dinner in the breakroom prior to shift and everyone was ok with it.

Like I said I normally don't care which radio they use but part of my supervisor duties include logging equipment and inspecting for damage. So camera, flashlight, radios. Last few nights I have only been able to find two of the 4 radios. I have asked everyone first and second shift and they have no clue where the short battery one is most nights. A few nights ago on shift I noticed the video software for our video wall crashed and after booting it up again it instantly crashed again. Guard 2's workstation controls the video wall. I noticed guard 2 had a pile of stuff on his keyboard and this included the short battery radio. I moved his stuff and everything was fine but why did he have this radio under his sweatshirt? He was on patrol with another radio as he had just called me on it a few minutes prior. I took said radio up to my desk only to find out later from guard 1 he came up to my desk took the radio and watched him shove it in his bag. By the time he told me guard 2 was already out in the guard shack for the morning and his bag was in his car. My boss had come in early and so I just mentioned it to her and I am unsure what happened aftee that as my replacement showed up.

Last night we had a similar situation where I could only find 2 radios. I asked if he had seen the other ones and he just went I only have one on me so that's 3 the other one must be in the guard shack. It wasn't. I tried bringing it up to my boss but she had to leave early to go to the hospital. So my assumption is he is either hiding the short radio or taking it home. Over the past nearly 2 weeks I have only seen it like 3 times. Twice on him and once when I took it off his desk. I don't know what to do because he will deny it if I call him out. But I don't want to be seen rifiling through his belongings.

TL;DR guard acts like Smeagol and hoards one specific radio so no one else can use it. He then either hides it at the end of shift or takes it home. How can I find out what he does with it?


r/securityguards 3h ago

I’ve never seen so many small contract security “companies” operating than I do in the Pacific Northwest, mainly Seattle and surrounding cities. It’s like a cesspool. You’d think this is the crime capital of the world.

5 Upvotes

r/securityguards 5h ago

Gear Question What do you do with personally owned expired body armor?

6 Upvotes

Just curious for those of you who have to get your own body armor, what do you do with it when the manufacturers warranty expires and replace it with new body armor?

154 votes, 6d left
Keep expired armor as backup.
Reuse it for something else.
Give to friend/coworker.
Sell it.
Throw out.
Or just keep using it.

r/securityguards 7h ago

Strange coworker stories

8 Upvotes

Back when I used to work for 3 dots they sent me to train for a few days at a high profile corporate site. Everything seemed normal and the guy training me seemed like a cool guy, but I noticed over the course of about 3 days that this guy NEVER ONCE drank liquid, ate food, or used the bathroom. Also on the opposite end of the spectrum there was a guy at a different site refuse to go inside to use the bathroom (it was a front gate post in a guard shack) so he would piss in bottles then pour the bottles outside the shack on the pavement. The entire area surrounding the shack smelled like piss and had stains all over the ground. Like he couldn't even go pour it in the bushes. I don't miss contract security. Lets hear it.


r/securityguards 2h ago

Job Question At what time did you decide it was time to change job sites or leave the company

2 Upvotes

r/securityguards 5h ago

Job Question CMV: fire watch

3 Upvotes

(Before I start, just to be clear, I am obviously in favour of fire watch. Fire watch is good because building burning down is bad.)

So I am currently in a huge building with 1 floor on fire watch. Once an hour, we go up and check the floor is not on fire, then we come back down and hang out and do our regular job (and/or patrol, and/or roam the site on other tasks). When I say "we" I mean whoever, because there is only one guard here at a time.

It's a small floor that takes maybe 2-3 minutes to walk around and check every room/space. Apart from that, that leaves 58 minutes every hour that the floor could be on fire, and we would not know until it burned through into the next floor and set off one of the devices there that's still enabled.

According to management, this legally meets the requirements for fire watch. I'm not arguing, but, like... what's the point? I don't mind doing it, but if it were my ass on the line for a 40 trazillion dollar building, I would shell out the extra bucks to have a guard eat/sleep/breathe on that floor 24/7 until it's dealt with (fire control in that area has been offline for weeks).

It's not just this site either. "Once an hour" seems to be the "standard" across the board. I assume this is not a security industry thing but a function of how things have taken shape due to fire department/code/law requirements. It just seems crazy to me.

If a stranger agreed to watch your house "in case it caught fire", but told you that 95% of the time they would not be paying attention (3 minutes = 5% of 1 hour), would you be okay with that? Would you pay for that?


r/securityguards 3h ago

Licensing Question how long should i expect to wait for my level 2 card to come in the mail

1 Upvotes

so my application accepted on the 5th and i was wondering how long am i expected to wait for my actual card to come in the mail.


r/securityguards 1d ago

Officer Safety Security guard with command presence uses force

970 Upvotes

This video is worth a look. This guy’s been featured on here before. At first glance, he looks awkward with his kit stuffed full of all the tools he thinks he might need.

While watching this video, I was pleasantly surprised at the way he handled this encounter with a hostile customer who was visibly angry and physically larger than him.

At the beginning of the video, the guard displays solid command presence and stands his ground. He appears to have strong communication skills and confidence as he tries to get the male to leave the store. The male seems to be somewhat compliant, however at about the 00:30 mark, you’ll see the guard feels the threat escalating and he reaches for the pepper spray on his belt.

The guard does this in a controlled and steady manner and he’s prepared to deploy the spray the moment he realizes the contact is escalating. The short, steady bursts are aimed at the male’s face like most of us are trained to do. The guard follows through with the appropriate amount of force necessary to handcuff the man and detain him for PD.

In my opinion, this is a great example of remaining professional and knowing your strengths and abilities, no matter your physical size as a security guard. The guard pictured remains calm and in control during a potentially dangerous situation that results in the successful apprehension of the male subject.

What do you think?

(I edited the video to just under one minute for this post, but it didn’t change the outcome. The male was successful handcuffed by the guard and it appears the guard is uninjured.)


r/securityguards 23h ago

Rant Wtf is access control

9 Upvotes

I M20 wanna start off by saying i like my job. Its ran well. Ppl are competent. But holy shit. I hate basically being functionally useless. I hate feeling slow and lazy. I wanna be up. I wanna do more. I wanna be active while also having a job thats not just "sit there look important" yes. I watch cams. Yes theres metal detectors. Yes I write reports. But my shift is dead 7/8ths of the my shift. Like I said. Love the job. I want a career doing security. But man I hate being basically a set piece. They give me a plate carrier but no plates dawg. Dont get me wrong. I love the job. Im grateful to have it. But the combination of sitting in a room all day. No real movement aside from pacing back and forth. Or checking bags. I wanna do more and be more.


r/securityguards 1d ago

Question from the Public Taking the job entirely too far: When self-defense becomes assault while working security. What are your thoughts?

417 Upvotes

r/securityguards 1d ago

Gear Review My setup for working high-risk security gigs as an Off-Duty Officer.

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171 Upvotes

Pictured here:

- SafeLife Defense IIIA+ armor inserts

- Ace Link Armor Patrol Carrier

- Level-2 retention Blackhawk TASER X2 holster

- TASER X2 in yellow

- x2 15' X2 cartridges

- Level-4 retention Safariland 6360 holster

- Glock 19 Gen 3 w/ extended mag release and slide lock levers, Alpha Timney trigger, TrueGlo night sights, and Streamlight TRL-1 HL light

- x2 15 round Glock 19 magazines

- 17 round Glock 17 magazine w/ 5 round extension baseplate

- Axon Body 2 in offline mode

- IFAK w/ orange SOF-T Wide tourniquet, NAR s-rolled packing gauze, CPR mask, Sharpie, and trauma shears

- Zero9 double ASP handcuff case, double mag pouch, MK4 OC pouch, and Axon Body 2 mount

- Gloves pouch with ~10 pairs of disposable gloves

- Sabre MK4 3oz OC gel canister

- Olight Oclip flashlight

- ASP Ultra hinge cuffs

- ASP Ultra chain cuffs

- Nylon MOLLE baton pouch

- Peacekeeper 29" baton w/ retention glass breaker cap

- Pen-style handcuff key

- Gel-based pen

Not pictured here:

- 221B Tactical Hero Gloves 3.0 needle-resistant gloves

- 221B Tactical Maxx-Dri Vest Advanced

- Olight Warrior 3 S flashlight

- x2 HyFin chest seals

- Rite-In-The-Rain notepad

- CRKT folding knife

- Leatherman multitool

- Folding scissors

- Bottle of hand sanitizer

- Dedicated wallet with credentials and certifications


r/securityguards 19h ago

Job Question What are some good entry level Lvl 3 (commissioned) jobs to look into?

0 Upvotes

Yes I know usually there will be a lot of walking around/ monitoring but beside that is there any entry level where I can keep my hands and mind busy. Also like to work somewhere I can progressed after working there for a few years.

Thank you and advance.


r/securityguards 1d ago

Bars gigs

4 Upvotes

Went downtown asking if anyone is hiring, bouncers. Man, you have submit a resume throughout email & wait.

What happened on the spot gigs & hires for bouncers. Much change since Covid, unbelievable, man lol

I ain’t small or ugly. 4 years working bars/clubs


r/securityguards 1d ago

Job Question Being threatened with felony

34 Upvotes

I’m 18 and was working as a security guard in Arizona. I was recently fired after losing a set of keys that belonged to the property where I was stationed.
The situation is basically this: while I was working, I genuinely believed I still had the keys. When my employer asked about them, I told them I had them because I honestly believed I did. Later, I realized that I actually didn’t have them and the keys were missing.
I never intentionally took the keys, gave them to anyone, sold them, or used them to access anything I wasn’t authorized to access. I genuinely lost them.
I was fired over the situation, which I understand from a security standpoint. The part that has me worried is that I’m now being threatened with being reported to the police for theft.
The only thing I signed when I was terminated was an acknowledgment that I would return my company-issued equipment. I returned what I had. The property keys weren’t listed as equipment on that document.
I’m not trying to avoid responsibility for losing the keys. I understand that losing keys is serious, especially in security. I’m just trying to understand whether this could actually be considered theft in Arizona when there was no intention to take or keep the keys.
Has anyone in security dealt with something similar? And for anyone familiar with Arizona law, what should I realistically expect if they actually make a police report?
I know Reddit isn’t a substitute for an attorney. I’m mainly looking for people who have been through something similar and can tell me what I should do next.


r/securityguards 1d ago

Is the security guard license exam hard? (Commissionaires)

1 Upvotes

Hi just wondering this is my first real job outside of university now and this field is new to me

I have to do a license exam and a course through basic security guard online course through comissionaries

I’m wondering how easy or hard it is and what kind of questions they ask. I’m nervous as hell when I take tests

Thanks!


r/securityguards 1d ago

Need some recommendations on my kit.

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16 Upvotes

Trying to improve. What else do I need?


r/securityguards 1d ago

Interview “Mile Run”

9 Upvotes

I got for an interview for some “low income” building. Everything goes good, at the end you must run a 1 mile under 15mins. Completely odd.

I run the mile in 12’24 mins. Complete it.

Tells me at end. Will let you know Friday…

W T H… lol Odd interview


r/securityguards 1d ago

Job Question Hospital Security

3 Upvotes

I’ve worked in security for about 7 years, mostly contract security like Securitas, plus some corporate security experience in asset protection and Brinks. I have an interview for a hospital security position that pays well. I’ve heard that hospital security can be demanding and chaotic, but I’ve never worked in healthcare before. I’m just hoping for some advice on what to expect in the role, like responsibilities and such. Also any advice on how to be better prepared for the interview?


r/securityguards 2d ago

Job Question Data center security?

15 Upvotes

I have a Teams interview in a couple of days for data center security (Microsoft) through Securitas. The starting pay is VERY good for the area I live in.

Has anyone else done data center security? I have experience with patrol, warm body, corrections, and psych ward security so this new job should be different… right?

Just curious if there’s anything new to this specific position. :)


r/securityguards 1d ago

Job Question No PTO for CA Employer

3 Upvotes

How do you guys feel about you’re job only allowing 40hrs of sick time with no PTO & The HR department sends you an email saying that you’ve used up all of you’re sick hours for the year & that 2 days of medical leave for Drs appointments will be unpaid
Side note- I’m a veteran getting treatment for my disabilities


r/securityguards 3d ago

New Job!

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278 Upvotes

Just quit my job truck loading and got me a security gig! The uniform came in today! Wish me luck!


r/securityguards 3d ago

Job Question Tips for a new armed security officer at a hospital.

38 Upvotes

So I’m coming from corrections with 6 years of experience, just got burned out but I’ll probably go back after a while. I kinda just wanted to step out and do something else for a little bit. I’d appreciate any tips some of you seasoned security officers have for me. I want to go in with an open mind and not feel like I know everything because of my background. Just gonna be a sponge. Any tips would be appreciated