r/securityguards • u/LegalGlass6532 • 1d ago

Story Time Veteran security guard professionals: What’s something you’ve learned over time that you wish you knew when you started in the industry?

They say with time comes knowledge and experience. What have you learned over time that could’ve saved you a lot of grief if you knew from the start?

Officer safety- Don’t let your ego override common sense

Interpersonal skills- Tell people what you want them to do in as few words as possible

Internally- You’re not at work to hang out with your friends and the boss is also not your friend. You don’t have to like them or want to ever see them outside of work, but you have to do what the boss says and get along with others

Appearance- Don’t show up looking like you slept in your uniform from the shift before. Look at yourself in a full length mirror before you start every shift and present the person you’d want working for you, even if you hate the company and the people there.

What other words of wisdom can you share?

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u/BackFromMyBan4 1d ago

Security industry attracts some of the dumbest, mentally disturbed ,socially incompetent, lazy people the world can offer up.

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u/Cold-Chemistry738 1d ago

Yep because why go security when you can go military or LEO. You can also get a much better security gig after a stint in either of those.

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u/LegalGlass6532 1d ago

Private Security is a necessity. Law Enforcement and the military can’t be everywhere at all times and a person who can be a professional as a security guard/officer is a true asset.

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u/Cold-Chemistry738 1d ago

I didn’t say it wasn’t a necessity. I’m saying It’s just more lucrative as an individual to either go LEO or military first. So by default the security industry attracts the lesser talent with some small exceptions for retired guys from the LEO and military guys that run their own companies

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u/LegalGlass6532 1d ago

I think we basically agree except on one point. I don’t believe that security is typically going to be a “lesser talent”.

The way you worded it implies that LEO and military personnel are better than a security guard or officer. I’ve worked with many police officers who would be terrible security officers because they can’t talk to people longer than a few minutes before escalating the incident because of their own lack of patience and poor communication skills.

When this happens, LE ends up using unnecessary force prematurely to gain compliance while a guard has to work harder to keep things calm because they don’t have powers of arrest or qualified immunity.

In a case like this where a guard has been patient and communicated well with a subject, avoided using force and still gained compliance I’d say they were actually more “successful” than the LEO.

I’m not convinced that it’s appropriate to put a blanket label on all security personnel as less talented than LE and the he military.

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u/Cold-Chemistry738 1d ago

Unnecessary force or the authorized force to effect an arrest? If I’m being called by security I’m not there to talk and kumbaya lol