1. Are the Guards you’re considering trained and tested prior
to assignment?
The State of Georgia, unlike its close neighbor Florida, does not have regulations
regarding the licensing of unarmed security officers. Florida currently
requires 24 hours + 16 hours of initial training plus 16 hours of refresher training each year prior to license renewal.
What Georgia does
instead is to license the owner of the security guard company under the Private Detectives and Security Agencies license. It is the owner who is being qualified... not the company he or she is responsible
for running. Thus, it is at the sole discretion of the company owner(s) to see
that their guard service personnel are properly classroom trained.
The State of Georgia recommends a minimum classroom training time of eight hours. The State
does not mandate what is covered during those eight hours. Your better security
guard services should cover the following subjects, plus submit each candidate to a written test, offered one time (no retests),
which must be passed with a score of 80% or better prior to assignment to a client.
If your prospective provider claims to train and test, ask to see their training curriculum and tests.
The course structure below (as a minimum) should cover:
Introduction to Security
To provide the officer with a history of private security, major components of private security, and the primary objectives
of private security work.
The Value of the Security Officer
To provide the officer with information about the conditions which create work-place crime; and how security functions
to prevent crime, as well as the proper roles of security officers.
Introduction to Legal Issues #1
Provide the officer with a basic understanding of legal issues, including sources of security officer legal powers
and limitations and the development of criminal and civil law.
Introduction
to Legal Issues #2
Provide the officer with a basic understanding of various legal issues that impact the rights, duties, responsibilities,
and limitations of security officer work.
Introduction to Human and Public Relations
Provide the officer with a basic understanding of how people behave, are motivated; and specify processes for effective
interpersonal relations.
Introduction
to Communications
Provide the officer with a basic understanding of the process and significance of communications.
Introduction
to Patrol
Provide the officer with information about the purposes, techniques, and types of patrol.
Introduction
to General Duties
Provide the officer with a basic understanding of the general duties and responsibilities of the private security officer.
Introduction
to Report Writing
Provide the officer with a basic understanding of the need for writing accurate and complete reports and forms.
Introduction to Fire Prevention and Control
Provide the officer with information about fire prevention.
Introduction to Emergency Situations
Provide the officer with information about emergencies, with emphasis
on bomb threats, crowds, and severe weather/natural disasters.
Introduction to Safety
Provide the officer with an understanding of the importance of safety.
Additional Training for Armed Security Officers
should encompass:
€ Non-Lethal
Weapons Training
€ Handcuffs, baton,
pepper spray or foam
€ Lethal Weapons Training
€ Firearms,
Deadly Force, Georgia Law
€ Licensing
2.
Does this Company background check and drug test ALL its Guards?
Criminal background checks, credit investigations, drug test results, and
other personal information items are forbidden by federal law from being distributed or shared beyond the approved requestor. So, you’re going to have to take their word for this. Unfortunately some of the largest security services providers in metro Atlanta have been caught not doing these checks even though their omission would result in fines and possible imprisonment.
Integrity. What does it mean when it comes to background checking and testing? Everything! Any guard service, no matter whom or where, which
consistently happens to be the low bidder, is cutting corners someplace. Oftentimes,
the corner cutting starts with inadequate screening procedures and carries over into poor training.
Bottom line... Do you want a bunch of freaks, felons, thieves, and weirdoes
guarding your physical and human assets? Insist on checks and tests! It is expensive initially to check and test, but well worth the investment.
Food for thought.... Offer
to share the expense of whichever investigations and clearances you want done. Then
you can ask for documentation that these investigations have been done. You now
have proof positive.
3.
Does Company insist on written instructions prior to starting the service?
The written instructions we refer to are called “Post Orders”
in the security service industry. They are the set of written requirements, inclusions,
exclusions, policies and procedures that must be agreed to by all parties before the first guard arrives on site.
The written contract or service agreement and the Post Orders are two
important documents. They create the business relationship. Post Orders are the document set that controls the expectation program between customer and provider. Post Orders are the exchange medium that translates the internal perceptions into
the external reality.
That’s a whole lot of words that mean one thing... Don’t
expect your security provider to perform duties they aren’t aware they’re supposed to perform. People don’t know what they don’t know! It’s
elementary, but the cause of many, many communications and contract breakdowns.
4.
Are Guards Site-specific Trained before arriving to your site?
Most of the more common guard companies will train their security guards
when they arrive at the client’s place of business for their first shift. And
worse yet, they’ll use the guard coming off duty to train the novice guard coming on duty.
You’re safer with a guard company that understands and lives by
the value of training. One that prepares the post orders well enough in advance
of start date to be able to educate your new security officers ahead of time
according to your desires.
It’s embarrassing for you to have a new security guard arrive at
your facility without a clue as to their duties.
5.
Are Professional dress codes Company-enforced on all shifts?
Gee, your guards look great! During
the daytime shift when every one is around, they better look good. But, when
the sun goes down, or on weekends, who knows what you’ll find. Make one
of your evaluation criteria that the guard service management makes routine inspections of their night time people assigned
to your facility.
6.
Are Guards required to make on-duty and hourly call-ins?
Be honest, if absolutely no one was around to watch what you were doing,
do you think you might take a quick nap, a trip to the convenience store, an early quit?
If you might try something like this, what do you think the chances are that a guard might?
Now, imagine that you started work when no one else was there. Ever. You weren’t relieving another security officer. There was just you. If you showed up
10 to 15 minutes late, who’d care? Who
would know? How about a half-hour late?
So what?
Once again, who would know? What
if your security officer was attacked and knocked unconscious or worse? Who would
know?
The simple remedy is that the security officers be required to announce “on-duty”
from the client’s phone. The hourly call-ins must also come from the same
phone number. If an hourly call in is missed, the guard company's Command Center should place a call to the client’s site to see if there is a problem. If this call isn’t answered, two more attempts should be made, followed by a
dispatch of the security company’s road supervisor.
Could this system be fooled? With "Caller
I.D." activated, not really. Calls made from the security officer’s
residence rather than the client’s location will immediately red flag the Command Center.
7.
Would you have 24 hour availability of management personnel?
You never know what can happen.
Nobody wants to bother people in the middle of the night, but.... In your
selection of a security company, in this day and age it is imperative that if need be, you can have 24 hour access to key
management personnel. You might not have their private home phone numbers, but
one call to a 24/7/365 Command Center should get you a return phone call from key management within a realistic time frame.
8.
Company size – Big enough to handle your needs?
Size does matter. If you
don’t want tired, overworked, overtime security officers, size matters. If
your situation escalated where you needed another two or three, or eight or more security officers ASAP, size would really
matter.
Ways to check on the size of your prospective security provider: Look at the guards uniforms. If they’re
worn out, but the guard continues to wear the same worn out clothes, chances are the company is small and without adequate
reserves of replacement uniforms.
Ask for a copy of their certificate of insurance. If it’s expired, there may be a problem. If current,
but the listing of companies providing coverage are not familiar to you, they might be very small and/or very high risk. Do they have Workers Comp? Have them
prove it.
Along with size comes experience in many phases of security tasks. The smaller the firm, the less experience they can call upon when the need arises.
Look up the company address. Is
this a residential street listing? A P.O. Box?
Another dead giveaway!
Do they have a web presence?
Do they use a payroll service or does the owner hand-write the payroll
checks?
9.
Company strength - Insurance and Financials of substance?
The better the security company, the better the insurance. Bigger insurance company names oftentimes come at an increased premium, but bigger names are also most
adept in handling claims.
Ask for their certificate of insurance.
Current? Limits OK? Do they
have Workers Comp? Since 09-11-01, Workers Comp premiums have increased 700%. Where a security company paid
$8000 last year, they’re paying $40000 to $60000 this year.... if they can get it.
Why is this important to you? If one of their security guards is injured
on your site, and your new security company doesn’t have Workers Comp, guess who their guard is going to look to for
medical or other compensation?
Is your proposed guard service company financially healthy or are they
getting by week to week? Can they afford to do business with you? Will they be at your President’s or controller’s doorstep demanding payment when their invoice
is one day past due? Are their guards attempting to borrow money from your employees
because the guards aren’t getting paid on time?
If you see the guard company’s security equipment needing replacing,
worn out uniforms, beat to death marked vehicles, no company vehicles, asking for payment in advance of services.... All these are signs of poor financial health.
As you interview a new guard service, you have the right to ask for financial
references.
10.
How is this Company’s Management organized? How deep does it run?
Is the company you’re considering a one-man show, or are they properly
staffed to handle your business?
At a minimum, directly below the company Owner/ President/ Vice President
Level should be an operations staff leveraged as follows based upon weekly hours of security services provided:
Up to 3500 hours per week
One Director of Operations
One Operations Manager
Three Field Supervisors
Administrative support personnel
3500 – 5000 hours per week
One Ass’t. Operations Manager added
Two Field Supervisors added
5001 – 7500 hours per week
2nd Operations Manager on board
Field supervisors increased by two
11.
How does the Company support their Guards in the field?
Here are just a few of the things that are needed, but are seldom delivered
to guards in the field:
Tablets
Activity Logs/ Incident Reports
Pens or pencils
Flashlights or flashlight batteries
Paper clips or stapler
Fax paper/ Availability of a Fax
Rain gear
Cold weather jackets and hats
Replacement Uniforms (Or
sometimes, their 1st issue of a complete uniform)
Clarifications on Post Orders, Personnel Policies, Vacation time, etc.
Funny thing. The Guard’s
requests of these small items, when ignored by his company’s management, can result in your assets being compromised. Not only by theft, but by lack of motivation to secure and safeguard your facility.
If the Security Officers sense that no one in their company cares about
their needs, they begin to ask why should they care about your needs? A very
dangerous, potentially explosive, situation develops.
This is a good time to discuss who pays for the security uniforms. The guards? The company? A combination of the two is the best where the security officers have a vested financial interest in keeping
their uniforms clean and presentable.
12.
Reputation and community/ business standing through references
If it is your responsibility to hire the new guard company, you must
check their client references. Always ask for more than three. Check their financial references. You, as a new prospective
client, should ask for their account manager’s name at whatever financial institution they use for payroll and accounts
payable.
Try to remember if you saw the prospective provider mentioned in the
news, the media. Was it in a favorable or unfavorable light?
There is a lot more to being in business now than there ever was. It is no longer adequate to be the best in ones industry. Your business now should have a social consciousness to deserve to be in business. Does the prospective
provider donate any time, manpower, or money to worthwhile charities, organizations, environmental concerns? Check them out. We’ve found that the more socially conscious
a service company is, the better the company is run internally which subsequently shows in the quality of work they do at
your facility.
13.
Guard turnover under 200%? Client retention above 85%?
These are indicators you must pay attention to. They say a lot about who you are interviewing.
It is disconcerting, but the average turnover percentage for all guards
nationally is well over 200% annually.
A claimed employee turnover percentage of less than 25% means you’re
dealing with a very small company despite anything else you’ve heard to the contrary.
Most quality driven security firms in metro Atlanta survive with a 60%
- 90% turnover rate.
14.
Do the quoted hourly bill rates reflect adequate Guard compensation, Company’s depth, and Management’s
availability to you?
Just as your organization has been created with a vision of generating
reasonable profits, so are security service companies.
You should expect your security company to pay out 60 – 65% of
your hourly bill rate as gross wages. In other words, if you’re paying
$16.00 an hour for your unarmed security officers, the officers should be making between $10.00 and $10.40 as their gross
wage. This is not to say that the security company might start a new guard at
$9.50 and raise him or her to $10.00 in 60 to 90 days. However, the reverse also
occurs... that situation being a really outstanding guard employee having been at your site for several months, being bumped
above the norm to $10.70 per hour.
So, at 60 to 65% being paid to the guards, where does the other 35 –
40% go? Insurance. Benefits. Taxes. Uniforms. Overhead. Road Supervisors.
Management Support for your needs and the guards. And, profit. Just in case you didn’t know, the security guard business is a 8 – 9% net profit business.
15.
Local, Regional, National. Which would better serve your site?
Most of the national and regional contractors we come across in good
spirited competition are not serving the best interests of prospective Clients.
It may simplify matters at a purely administrative level, but that’s about it.
Post orders are standardized, but always amended to account for local issues.
Rates are standardized, but oftentimes are in excess of local market pricing.
We’re LOCAL. We like
being local. We eat, and shop, and go to movies in the same places as our Clients. We know the local authorities and are treated very well by the media. Everyone knows we can be counted on.
When a major decision needs to be made, we do it now. We don’t have to wait for a return call from hundreds or thousands of miles away. And, the decision doesn’t have to be bounced off half a dozen people before it can be implemented.
16.
Is the proposed Management Team experienced, well-rounded, and current?
Local companies don’t necessarily come from small roots. We’re very local but the Management Team and the management support teams of PSI come from:
Pinkerton
U.S. Alliance Corp.
California Plant Protection
Access Control Group
ISMG
Wackenhut
F.B.I.
Phoenix Loss Prevention
CIA
U.S. Customs
17.
Is Company’s Management familiar with your industry?
If knowledge is power, then true understanding must be priceless.
To know what issues might confront them at your facility, it would be
very helpful if your prospective security provider would take the time to understand your business. If your provider is local, they are already attuned to your geography.
A good security supplier needs to appreciate what it is that your customers rely on you for. And how negative security issues can impair your delivery of goods and/ or services to your Clients.
If your security services provider can do the right things to make your
customers happy, they have to be doing the right things for you.
18. Is there any outstanding litigation against
the Company that could impair their ability to serve your needs?
Nothing like an unexpected settlement against your security provider
to rock the boat at your facility. If you’re already trying to work with
an undercapitalized guard firm, the first thing that might occur is the guards’ payroll checks bouncing, payroll and
federal taxes not being paid, insurance being cancelled, and, worst of all... the
guards no longer showing up for work at your site. And what happens when the
guards come to you or your boss to complain about the bounced checks?
Outstanding litigation could come from both over-zealous and/ or under-prepared
guards stepping over the line. It could come from any number of varied circumstances.
19. Is the Company current on payroll, State,
and Federal taxes?
They better be, or they won’t be around next year to ignore them
again.
20. Can your guard company’s Management
think outside the box?
Sadly, 80% of all security services companies still operate under the
business plan of simply filling openings in shifts. They see an open shift and
stick anybody in it. They show no signs of understanding which guards would work well at your facility and which
ones wouldn’t. They cram square pegs into round holes day after day, after
day.
Does your prospective contractor display signs of creativity? Can they show you maximum “bang for the buck”? Do
they talk about potential alternatives in security outside of guard services? Are
they familiar with security electronics? Are they willing to forego some
guard service revenue so you can allocate those resources elsewhere to improve the security of your facility?
21. Does your service agreement (contract)
clearly indicate that national holidays will be billed at time and one half the regular hourly bill rates?
Check to see that it does so you can’t be charged indiscriminately. Also, if you will be charged time and one half, (industry norm) does that mean the
security officers will be paid time and a half, or do they receive only their regular hourly wage?
Here we are at the end of the 21 Frequently Asked
Questions and Answers White Paper. We hope we’ve provided additional
insight into selecting your next (or first) security services company. We don’t
have all the answers, nor do we profess to, but we do know how to structure a team of professionals that can pull together
to help you. All you have to do is ask!
Some reviewers of this White Paper might perceive it as being a slam
of the contract guard service industry. Nothing could be further from the truth. We love our industry and it shows in the work we do.
We could never write such a piece in good conscience if we didn’t possess a full appreciation of the many, many
elements that go into delivering a quality product. The security industry
is finally coming into its own following the intelligent creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the public’s
acceptance of their new security knowledge. As a matter of record, it was the
Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency that awarded PSI its certification.
Now that you know what to look for, and what to look out for, isn't
it great to have a friend on the inside? Your friend on the inside... PSI.
