r/securityguards

So I was at an interview, they really liked me they had offered me a job. I was filling out the paperwork when they asked if they could see my ID, I gave it to them and she said wait, you don't have a real ID? I said no I haven't needed one. She said I needed a real ID to be hired on with the company. Have you guys ever heard of this?

Okay so I have had this happen few weeks ago and it really made me mad

We've had a HUGE flood at one of the buildings we patrol at the main floor. I'm talking almost ankle level depth of water. My socks were soaking when I stepped inside the building to check it out. Something broke inside the sprinkler room which is why it happened. Long story short contractors screwed up (that's another story itself), water was shut off from the city and fire panel taken offline

The company sent out an additional patrol guard to do the fire watches. They sent out this old dude on this specific day when I got mad at him. Probably in his 60s or 70s, he was very unaware of himself and his belongings. He kept his phone on the desk while on patrols and it would keep ringing all the time. Should've known that was the beginning of it. Me being on dispatch duties, I wanted to rip my ears out

Anyway he completely half-assed the fire watches, never checked the penthouse mechanical rooms and did only like 5 of them in his 12hrs shift. We said nothing but eventually had to because he apparently "lost" the key that we signed out. "Lost" because we had a tracker on the key and tracked it down to where he lives. He denied confidently that he never received a key but the logs say otherwise and my other colleague is adamant that he handed him a key

Turns out the key was with him the entire time and he never used it and took it home instead of returning it. The client, after hearing all this (we emailed them regarding this) urged my manager to have it returned to the site ASAP. My manager had to personally go over to where the guy lives and get the key back from him. Safe to say this guy is never coming here probably

Why are some of us like this?

Hey guys hope yall are well. Im making this post regarding some questions ive got with the security field. So im only 20. Turning 21 this year. Id like to go armed. But im not entirely sure if its my best path upward. I absolutely love working security. As of right now im just a gate guard for a lumberyard. But I genuinely do want to do more. Possibly make a career out of it. But I wanted to ask yall if its worth going armed. I already plan on getting a permit once I turn 21. I dont have anything higher than just a highschool diploma. But I do have abt six months expierence at a post. Any advice would be totally appreciated

Ok this is kind of a dumb question but here it goes. So I just started at a new site full time my old site was Saturday Sunday 6a-6p and usually busy as it was and old folks home and people would come steady all day to visit. My new site is pretty busy in the morning but after lunch time it usually starts to slow down a bit. I often find myself bored. I’m autistic I collect model trains of all scales. So I’m wondering will I get in trouble if I bring a train and some track set it up on the floor and run it while I’m in the gatehouse if someone pulls up sees model trains on the ground and complains even if im not doing my job

Just putting this out there, but I feel the hardest part of working hospital security for me recently is not having people to talk about/process some of the things I have to do and witness working this job.

Like today I just had to wake up a guy in our parking lot stairwell. While leaving he kept trying to piss in the garage and when we finally got to the top of the stairs he whips out his thang and starts peeing everywhere. Or when we have to hold people against their own will for a blood draw/medications. It happens so much more than I ever thought it would and sometimes those people are truly terrified of what’s going on. But it has to happen whether legally or their own good. Don’t get me started holding people down for an IO. Went to talk about it a bit with my brother and his face said it all in how he did not want to be hearing about my job.

Regardless, I love my job. I love the people I work with and protect. But outside of work when I’m trying to make friends or just talk about work it’s draining seeing the looks of shock, disgust, and displeasure.

EDIT: Trying my best to reply to everyone, but thank you all for your words and advice. And thank you all for the work y’all do.

I was wondering what medical items should I carry with me? I was thinking about a tourniquet or maybe two and a pressure bandage.

There was a stabbing at the end of the last year that resulted in the realization that the protective vests they had aren't enough (officer got stabbed in the leg while two officers took slashes across their vest, old vest was just kevlar), as a result of this they haven't purchased any new ones while they search for a new one with stab protection. I just finished my third week of training and am now moving onto field training, when I inquired as to the status of picking up my vest and additional uniforms(supplier still hasn't delivered those) I was told that they have not placed the order for new vests and that it will be approximately 45 days for delivery.

So now I had to shell out $700 for a vest because I would rather have it then not since getting knives pulled isn't as uncommon as we would like because of all the homeless shelters around the hospital. Great benefits and the best paying hospital in the area (there are a lot of hospitals in the area each with their own public safety department and the prevailing wage isn't that much above an unarmed contract guard) but still.

Last week during a patrol I had to tap the phone against a digital patrol point to prove I had been into the room. I wasn't aware that these rooms with digital keys can open on the inside without a key since I've never seen that happen and all of these doors are open at all times. My office has an issue where if the door is locked then you can't open it from the inside and I thought all of the doors with digital keys are like that.

As a result I used a portable light to keep the door from being shut. I totally forgot to remove the light and shut the door and when I went back to work today I got told by a colleague that he and another colleague got a real bollocking (British for being told off bad). Turned out one colleague got in trouble for not telling me how all the doors work since he's a senior colleague and knows the whole building as well as being responsible for teaching new people to the building. The other colleague got in trouble since he was on days right after that night shift and didn't spot the door wedged open so it was assumed he wasn't paying attention on his patrols. The email regarding it got sent out to everyone as the room is the server room with all the private information and the light I used is considered an emergency light. It went all the way up to building management and every contractor in the building.

I learned to never make that mistake again.

I currently work 40hrs/week full-time for a security company as a guard. I recently signed employment paperwork for an on call company paying a bit more.

I texted the guy and asked some basic questions and he came off like a real asshole. He told me the question wasn’t policy it was commonsense.

I asked if I when I claim a shift, is it locked in or can it be unclaimed/given to someone else in the event something comes up (unlikely situation but I need to know the policy as some sites do allow this). He told me I’d be fired if I pulled this, and that its not acceptable.

I also asked him to resend en email because he sent me 5 emails and all had same email title and file name. He told me I need to exhaust all my resources before making contact.

The guy is a retired LEO and strikes me as a real impatient person. Perhaps I am used to just being under the arm of a kind person and I am not used to it.

Ultimately I wanna be a LEO and don’t want this guy being a bad reference for me. Should I just bite the bullet and chance it or move on? Because if a simple question is going to have him open fire then that seems problematic; I am also open minded and maybe its me haha.

Edit: Its evident he adopted Law Enforcement type traits based in his hiring process forms and way he speaks haha. I just don’t want a leo environment for security guard pay.

Edit: He also mentioned if I mess up my time sheet like clock in and out improperly it’s time fraud and a write up.

I'm curious how you get into that? I live in SoCal and would love to work security for some red carpet event. Anybody here got experience with that?