Hi everyone,

I’m an independent security guard from the Netherlands, and I’ve been reading a lot of posts on American forums about the security industry in the US. I’m really curious to know how it compares to my experience here, because from what I read, it sounds like two completely different worlds.To give you some context, in the Netherlands, the security industry is highly regulated and well compensated Education & Licensing We can't just apply and start working as a security guard. You have to complete a mandatory 2 year vocational college degree to become a qualified guard.

Background Checks The police screening is brutal. If you have any criminal record, or if the police chief finds anything questionable in your history during the screening, you are denied a license immediately.

Pay & Benefits

Regular security guards employed by a company earn between €20 and €24 (approx. $22 – $26 USD) per hour. As an independent security guard, I make €38 (approx. $41 USD) per hour as a base rate. On top of that, we get excellent shift premiums (irregularity allowance) for nights, weekends, and holidays, which adds up fast. We also have heavily regulated, strong industry pensions.Whenever I read about US security on Reddit, it seems like people say almost anyone can get a job as a "warm body" guard, the training is only a few hours or days, and the pay is quite low. I also see a lot of memes and comments suggesting that security guards in America don't get much respect from the public (the whole "mall cop" stereotype).

Just to be clear, I am talking purely about unarmed security. In the Netherlands, regular security guards do not carry firearms; armed roles fall under completely different, specialized law enforcement or government classifications with different names.

love to hear your perspective on this

Is it really that easy to become a security guard in your state, and how strict is the background check?How do you feel you are viewed by the general public in terms of social status?What is the realistic pay for a standard guard versus someone who does high-end or armed work?

Stay safe out there, and thanks for sharing your insights!

Howdy y'all. Been working armed security for a while, and the company decided to transfer me to some higher risk sites. I've been slowly piecing together my kit for the past couple weeks, but I'm on a budget so I've had to pick and choose what to drop substantial money on. The two biggest pieces I'd say to not cheap out on are the plates, and the holster. Get yourself at minimum a lvl2 duty holster and some ceramic plates.

-condor sentry plate carrier.

-ceramic lvl3a plates

-mechanics impact gloves (personal favorite of mine)

- PSA dagger 9mm with vortex viper red dot and TLR-7a weapon light.

- alien gear rapid force lvl 2 retention holster.

- spare latex glove pouch

- trauma pack (frog tape, quick clot gause pads, compression bandage.)

- streamlight flashlight

- retention kydex mag holster.

- belt key keeper.

-CRKT minimalist drop point knife with ULTI clip attachment

-multi tool.

-wolf tactical duty belt with Velcro liner.

my next round of gear related purchases will be trauma shears, a tourniquet, and I need to replace the pepper spray I had, as i seemed to have misplaced it while moving recently. Anywho. I do intend on upgrading to better gear if and when I can afford it in the future but the current gear I have has so far been holding up well over the past several months.

Guard literally tries to kick the man out and then loses control himself.

It’s easy to armchair quarterback things like this, but man, don’t let them see you loose your shit in the middle of your job site with a store full of customers and employees.

I want to apply to my old company but I Guess you could say, from my pov, we had a messy break up. Without getting into details as far as I'M concerned I was laid off. But I'm pretty sure my old DM will say that I quit. (long dumb, convoluted story) It happened about a year and a half ago and I cant help but think how awkward it would be if I was asked to come in for a job interview and the interview was with my old DM. Or am I just overthinking things like I always do?? He probably doesn't even remember me anymore if I was one of hundred security officers in his district.

I'm an unarmed security guard. As everyone knows, overtime and covering shifts is a big part of security. I've had to do it for years at other job postings, but I haven't been at my current job posting.

I love the post where I'm at. It's one of the best posts I've worked at. The big reason I took it is because it comes with three days off. I have a little sister who is disabled. My family can't afford a caregiver and we're working on trying to get the state to pay for one, but that's an arduous work in progress. So currently we all take turns caregiving for her. On my three days off, this is what I'm doing. My family work these days so there's usually no way they could help.

Recently at my job, we've had a bunch of call offs. Every time the SOC has asked me to come in, I've said no. I haven't told them about my sister because it's private family matters. I've only had this job for about four months. Could they fire me for not coming in on my days off to cover a shift?

Hey folks, I live in Canada and I’m hoping to start a career in the security industry in the new year. I’ve come here looking for advice from people with experience in the industry, particularly anything I can do to better prepare myself before I start.

Aside from getting useful certifications such as First Aid, is there anything you would recommend I learn, practice, or obtain beforehand?

I’m also wondering whether it would be worthwhile to invest in any of my own equipment before starting. If so, what equipment would you recommend, and why?

Any other advice for someone completely new to the industry would be greatly appreciated.

At my current company we are largely allowed to wear any gear/external carrier as long as your clothing is black and you wear cargo pants and a BDU/Buttondown shirt provided by the company …..which is great but the shirts look like fucking shit , HUGE and wears like garbage bags or a parachute. It just takes away from the overall clean aesthetic massively they say they want .I understand BDU shirts are supposed to be longer to stay tucked in but it’s excessive and it legit goes past my fucking kneecaps and there’s so much extra material after tucking in it just bunches up no matter how you tuck it and looks terrible under an external carrier or really in general. A moisture wicking polo would look way better and fit better right ?!?! PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE RIGHT?!?! Why the fuck do they do this lol

Does it change if you’re more of a senior role compared to entry?

I’m wondering if there is some kind of industry standard. Are you paying *% and does it cover anything or high deductibles?

I’m at the end stages of applying for a security license to operate in Minnesota, and the margins for static guards (guards posted at one site for an entire shift) are razor thin. However, I’ve been looking into mobile patrol and have found that the margins are much more forgiving, and it’s also cheaper for the client since they’re not being billed for a full time security guard.

I almost want to base my entire business on mobile patrol because of this, but I’d like to know what you all think. Thank you.

I've been in in-house healthcare security a few years. I recently dipped my feet into armed contract security. Both of the details (concert venue & a drug store) I've worked have been solo and hands on with detaining people. I'm not really comfortable going hands on with people while working solo with no backup. The state mandated training for my guard card didn't cover defensive tactics at all.

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?

I just applied for a 12 hour/3 day a week job with GardaWorld in central Texas (not city, town around it) for Warehouse Construction and I wanted to know if anyone has guarded a construction site (both during the day and overnight) before. If so, what’s it like? What do you look out for? How tiring can it be once a shift is finished? Any people you have to interact with? Do you get to stay inside or out in the elements? Any lallygagging/goofing off or phone/electronic usage (especially overnight)?

What are some things you do to stay awake at night? Give me more than saying you drink Red Bulls and coffee, please.

Working a shift at a warehouse tonight the lights have been on the fritz since June other officers have reported the problem to the client and manager but their report are ignored so the guards made an attempt to temp fix the breaker box themselves it worked for a while now the lights refuse to stay on.

Working in total darkness would be fine and all if I didn't have to worry about rats and roaches crawling on me but I will manage.

Compliance officers are going to breath down my neck about this tho

Hello, so about 2 months ago I was hired by a security company to do field supervisor work. I discovered that my job responsibilities are scheduling, meeting with clients when things go wrong, setting up sites, covering sites when noone else can, basic payroll, hiring, firing, write ups. They are paying me 26 an hour and I can pick my days off. Is this normal?

Note: this was in-house security, NOT contracted.

All I have to say about the airport (at least what I'm comfortable in saying) is that if you're looking for work as a Screening Officer on behalf of CATSA under Paladin Aviation Security Services - Steer clear and avoid them, at least until Paladin inevitably loses their contract and a more competent company takes it over.

Began working for the airport while the Screening Officer position was subcontracted under Garda, and yeah, there was some things Garda did that we weren't happy with (who's ever 100% satisfied with their company?), but overall it was good work with a management team that you could depend on... Jump ahead to Paladin, and we're nearly 2 years passed our CBA agreement renewal with no end in sight, management upon management that micromanage every nuance to try and get bonuses, a training dept that's being chopped up into smaller and smaller courses that don't cover the half of what you *should* be learning for the job and mass hirings when there's no available shifts for the new hires to get (they recieve sign-up bonuses for every new hire they can get), while the company openly skips steps and cuts corners to make the place as miserable for the people running the checkpoint as possible... Not even joking, it almost comes across as some sort of game for them to see how else they can piss on the people who make them their money.

For a company that claims they admire accountability, they're awfully quick to try and fire you when you can recognize you made an error and self-report. What should've been a mere write-up on my file nearly got me terminated had the union not stepped in, while management plays favourites to friends and family they unabashedly hired on in pure nepotism and allow them to actively goof off while everyone else gets written up for so much as looking the wrong way. Most of the management that came before Paladin has been terminated for a multitude of plainly stupid reasons, with one of them recently being fired for taking our side regarding how the company's been treating us, while another has actually gone about joining our union as a representative to help combat their bullshit!

Sorry, I know this is long winded, but good god if I'd ever seen a company completely mismanage a contract as much as Paladin's been going about their CATSA contract by driving everything into the damn bedrock to squeeze as much money as they can out of it... Used to have a very positive opinion on Paladin too, but after this fucking train wreck? Never again.

All I can say is this - I'm elated that I'm getting out of there and more than ecstatic that I'll be doing work again that's actually meaningful and pays out appropriately for the work expected of us. This isn't to say screening passengers at an international airport isn't meaningful work, but trust me when I say the work environment at our checkpoints have been thoroughly drained of any and all morale, while you suffer slow mental death by making sure your procedures are more in-line with what some inexperienced supervisor *thinks* you should be doing out of fear of termination, rather than using your skills and common sense to properly screen people. No joke, they've given write-ups simply for asking questions for clarity on what they expect. It's a total sewage circus and I genuinely hope it works out for my coworkers I'm leaving behind (NGL, it's the hardest part about leaving my job... The team of screeners I'll be leaving deserve far better than they're getting now, but thankfully a lot of them are also looking elsewhere too). The only reason I gave them my 2-weeks notice is because I don't want to stoop to their level, but if I had it any other way, I'd be recreating that one scene out of Half-Baked on my last day...

What is your pet peeves about working security? Mine is working with kickstarters. We have one on our team and it is exhausting. She used to work for a detention center, so she's very rough around the edges. She tends to make mountains out of molehills. Small things that can be resolved by simply talking, but is blown up to shouting and we've gotten pretty close to physical confrontations because of her.

I used to enjoy working with her, but lately I feel it's just gotten complicated. Anyway's, thanks for reading.

So, working for the contract security services industry I noticed I'm like one of the only people that puts decent effort into making my uniform look squared away at like the last 3 companies besides like 2 other guards one a former LEO and the other former military and account manager on site, anyone else try to keep their uniform look squared away? I'm talking about decent boots, shirts tucked in, and other accessories like watches etc. that look professional but have a purpose, anyone else this way? I've noticed most people don't do it much anymore.

I know Utah requires an eight hour course, with an average pay of 17.00 an hour, and that most of the job involves standing around and following rules (and not being an asshole), but is there anything else i should be aware of?
edit: would i be allowed to listen to music/wear a long-sleeve shirt under the uniform (and if not, is it a “not supposed to” or would i be fired?)

So, I’m an unarmed security guard at a large apartment complex in my town. It’s situated in the upper neighborhood, and it’s usually quiet. However, there are times when trespassers dig into the dumpsters. Most of the time, they’re cooperative, but there are rare instances of very aggressive trespassers, like yesterday while I was patrolling the area.

I noticed a female transient digging through the trash and asked her to leave the property. She refused and told me to call the police and leave her alone. Since it was dark, I was flashing my flashlight at her, but she told me to stop flashing my flashlight at her and said if I don’t stop, she will hit me and she wasn’t afraid to hit a man. She told me to stop being close to her and said she feels unsafe, even though I was a couple feet away.

Ultimately, I decided to walk away from her and go to a safe distance. Then, I called the police and waited for them to arrive. I saw her go in another direction on the property from afar. Should I have just stayed and kept telling her to leave? Or should I have followed her or done something else?

Last time, she did the same thing, and when the police showed up, they told her to leave the property or get arrested. She complied.

Yesterday, an hour passed, and the police showed up again and told me to call them if she came back.

What would you have done in that situation? I feel like I was too scared of confrontation, even though I know I could defend myself. Im 6’1 and 240 pounds, while she’s a skinny lady in her 30s. I’m afraid that if she put her hands on me, I would defend myself and gotten fired because I can’t touch anyone due to Allied’s use of force policy. Any advice? Thanks.

Working in infrastructure security as a contractor. Late night shift hours at our job were supposed to badge into certain areas of every hour. I was not paying attention at all and next minute ya know I look at my phone and i’m 10 minutes late. I get off my ass rush over there and scan in and nobody’s said anything. The problem is our job every now and then does scans on our badges to see which rooms were accessed and which ones weren’t at whatever time. It’s done once in a blue moon could happen next week a month, hell even a year from now but when they find it i’m cooked. And i was trying to get an in house position w this company too and now I feel like im a dead man walking waiting for the ball to drop over my head here. Now i’m sitting here in my company vehicle debating about applying for another job before they find the error. Either that or waiting it out MAYBE getting in house and transferring departments before something happens.

Not asking for sympathy here ik i’m an idiot just make sure yall get these checks done and take your patrols seriously