Funny and Serious Security and Police videos

This situation was at a college off campus housing unit in which security was obviously greatly out numbered. In this situation Security had assistance from local PD when breaking up the huge party.

 In this situation an apparent store security guard has a little fall. In the process of falling he loses what appears to be his firearm on the floor. A pretty funny incident yet could have been very serious if the firearm was picked up by someone else. 

In this video what appears to be a 3 man crew doing some shoplifting. The one individual who actually conceals the two boxes of merchandise is the only one stopped. Notice the Black Male who hands him the item. And notice the third subject (B/M White shirt and backpack) who is acting as a look out.

  This is priceless. A shoplifter at a store is brought back in to the store and then attempts to escape from custody. Only to be tripped by a female shopper who is entering the store. Thanks to the citizen it appears this criminal will not get away.

  In this video which is related more to police officers. A drunk driving suspect runs from a police officer. To only find out that the Pizza Delivery Man has come to save the day. Quite funny.

  In this situation in which I was involved personally. A local kid had brought a firearm to school and was arrested and charged. The company I work for was brought in as a precaution. This is a small video from the local news regarding the case and security at the school.

  This guy tops the list as one of the dumbest criminals of all times. Let's try to rob a convenience store with an armed cop in it. LOL

Useful tools for the Security officer

This page contains links to useful tools for the security officer. All of these links are linked to Amazon.com where the items are for sale. I have done this so that you can learn more about certain items that are available to the security / law enforcement professional. Might see something you like too. :-)

Have a nice day and happy browsing. As I come across a new or useful item I will post a link / picture to it here on this page.

       

Thinking it Through

In this article I want to talk about something a lot of newer security guards / officers have a big problem with. That is the fact that a lot of newer officers / guards do not think through their actions. It is very important for a security guard / officer to think through what they are about to do and the impact that it could have, not only for them but the industry as a whole.

I know that when I first started working security that I would just react to a situation and not take a step back as a whole and look at it. As a security officer you must look at the whole situation and think of every possibility good or bad that could happen. For example: If you arrive at an apartment that is blasting loud music and has a party occurring in it then you will obviously want to talk to a tenant and get them to turn the music down and maybe start ending the party. If you walk up to the apartment and have an attitude and start yelling at the tenant to turn their music down because nobody can sleep around them. Then obviously the tenant is going to come back at you with an attitude and probably be backed up by however many people are in the apartment. Say you walk up to the apartment and have the tenant step outside to talk to you. Now you have eliminated the people that are inside of the apartment partying from the situation. If somebody who is not a tenant attempts to step outside then you can remind them politely that this will only take a minute and that you just need to speak to the tenant quickly. Ok with that situation taken out of the equation then you can work on talking to the tenant regarding the loud music. It's easier when you have someone by themselves to handle any situation (Granted that this will not always work but majority of the time it has worked for me). You have the tenant by themselves with the front door closed (Music still thumping away on the other side of the door). You then politely tell the tenant that their music is too loud and that it is at an unacceptable level. What the company I usually works for is to issue a warning for the loud music informing them that they have a time limit (usually 30 minutes) to take care of the loud music. Explaining to the tenant that if you have to return (not all security companies do this) you will have to issue a citation for the loud music and any other infractions that you notice upon your arrival.

The last step is to be very polite and thank the tenant for their time. It doesn't seem like much but the more polite you are then the more respectful that you will appear to the tenant and the less likely they are to be rude towards you. Granted again this doesn't always work and you will have to write citations or take further actions but the majority of the time this type of situation is easily handled.

With all of this being said it is a whole lot easier to not RUSH in to a situation that you can't handle.

Even after 7 years of experience in the security field I will usually handle a situation and then look at it and say to myself "how could I have handled that differently." Or I will contact another officer / manager and explain to them the situation that I just had and ask them if they think I handled it properly.

Basically do not over react to a situation and step back and see how it is easily / politely handled. Think it through before dealing with it. At one of the sites that I usually work at along with the local staff we will sometimes think about dealing with a problem for several hours before taking care of it. We do this to get a total feel for the situation and what type of activity is going on before we deal with it. Granted there will still be situations that come up that need to be dealt with immediately but you have to think it through to decide what you will be doing and how you will be doing it.

Best of luck in the security field and keeping local businesses / apartment complexes safe and free of problems.

Sarge

Types of Security approaches and systems

I want to take a little bit and talk about Types of security and security systems that are out there and how companies in general are misled thinking that they are completely safe with certain types of security.

Observe and Report: Basically the "observe and report" action is taken by a lot of companies today that work in the private security business. This means that a company will "Observe" what happens and "Report" what happens. Nothing more nothing less. They observe what they see and write a report up on it. This used to be fine and dandy in the security world until the criminals that security officers / guards were protecting stuff from realized. All that the guards were doing was being a visual deterrent.

Pro-Active: The pro-active approach allows the security company to not have to just report what they noticed but allows them to actually do something about it. Other than writing in a report to be read the next day that there was some loud music at a certain apartment Or that there was a door that was unsecured part way through the shift. It allows the Officers to approach that apartment with the loud music and tell them to be quiet. Or to secure the door that isn't locked properly or to check things out further. It allows security officers / guards to work at the TOP of their games and allows them to better protect the company's assets while still being able to do the normal "observe and report" type of stuff.

Camera Systems: Now we all can agree on one thing. Camera systems are a great thing in the security world. Unfortunately a camera system can not warn you when something is going wrong in your building. A camera system can allow you to look back on what happened in the past. Without a trained officer / guard watching the camera system it is completely useless and will take several hours to look back on to find when that door got kicked in or who kicked it in. They are a GREAT tool for the security officers / guards. But without the guard / officer there watching them then they too are useless.

Alarm Systems: A lot of companies have an alarm system installed in their property now a days. Whether it is a pharmacy, car lot, medical facility, factory or jewelry shop. Looking back on my experience with alarm systems. Again I will agree that they are a great tool for  businesses to have. In recent weeks while working a morning shift at a site where there is an alarm system I found out the following. It took nearly 15 minutes for the police to arrive on site. The alarm went off twice during the night and I believe they only did perimeter checks both times. It kind of opened my eyes that even when offered to check the inside of the building with me the officer refused and left the area. Why put your money at such great risk??? You have an alarm system that will go off immediately but at 0620 it took the police until 0635 to even respond to the location. And then to top it all off refused to check the interior of the property for possible intruders. Just didn't make sense to me one bit.


Well I Just wanted to talk about those four little things to put the ideas out there. I think people should be able to do their jobs and be "pro-active" in their work. Another thing that came up while reading this is the fact that a lot of businesses do not understand that having security on-site 24/7 can lower their insurance rates significantly to the point where having security is cheaper than not having security. Even after the cost of paying a company to come in and be security at your property. Check it out business owners.

Another little fun fact for the day: There are more private security officers (Nearly 1 million) than there are sworn police officers (nearly 600 thousand). Not sure how those stats are for today but I just read it the other day and found it very interesting.

Have a nice day

Tools for the Private Security Officer

In this blog I wanted to talk about some of the tools that a private security officer may be allowed to carry while working a property and how useful they can be in any situation. These are listed in no particular order. Just kind of a what came to mind at the moment type of thing. Some are obviously more important than others as you can see.

1) Cellular phone (probably one of the most important tools someone can carry. It will allow you quick access to the police, fire department and EMS as well as other needed services such as emergency maintenance. This is a must for any private security officer to have with them at all times.)

2) Flash light (another very important piece of equipment to have with you. The flashlight is a very useful tool that can be used to see in to dark places or as I have touched on before be used to signal arriving help to your exact location.)

3) Pepper Spray (Some companies do not allow the carrying of pepper spray by their officers yet I view it as a great tool. The thought of having a completely defensive tool if you are in the fear of bodily harm is a wonderful confidence builder when dealing with tense situations. Sometimes just pulling the can out of it's holster will get immediate compliance from subjects who are acting hostile towards you.

4) Handcuffs (Depending on the type of property you work at these could be really handy to have with you. Due to some of the contracts that are worked now a days in the private security sector they are a necessary tool to have when needing to detain someone for a serious crime while you wait for the police to arrive.)

5) Latex / Nitrile gloves (Again a very handy tool to have with you at all times. As first responders it is vital that we are able to fully assist any medical need that may arrive and doing so safely is a must now a days. You can never tell who might be infected with some sort of disease that could infect you)

6) Work Gloves (I personally always carry a pair of leather work / mechanics gloves with me. It could mean the difference between getting stuck with a needle. If you are ever put in to a situation where you have to "pat down" a subject then you will understand the piece of mind that having a good pair of gloves will give you.)

7) Firearm (Some companies allow their officers to carry firearms while working. Again I will state that this is ONLY a severe bodily harm defensive item that can ONLY be used when in the fear of great bodily harm or death.)

8) Pen / Notepad (as pointed out by a reader. I forgot one of the most CRITICAL TOOLS ever. The pen and notepad are a MUST for ANY security officer. Thanks to Char for pointing this one out. A pen and notepad are critical to jot down any notes or issues and also very useful for keeping track of areas that you might have problems in)

Well that concludes a current list of items that a private security officer should utilize to perform their job better. If there are any items that I forgot please let me know so that I can update the list and make it available to everyone who is starting in this business or is curious about what a private security officer may or may not carry.

Security in schools follow up

I wanted to follow up just for a minute about one of my Blogs from yesterday regarding security in our public schools. I was shown a great article ( Silent Watchmen ) in a comment from a reader. This program sounds awesome in theory. Unfortunately with the economy the way it is it can't be conducted in every neighborhood.

The one downside which the author comments on is very true. That downside is that you can have an over abundance of police presence. Especially in a community where the youth do not trust the police. It's about time that the police step back a little bit and re-evaluate and re-educate the youth of today on the right things to do.

It's time to keep our kids out of gangs and hopefully break the cycle that has plagued our youth for so long. The kids I speak about are the ones who tend to follow in a family member's foot steps and end up going to jail or prison for doing serious crimes. We need to say enough is enough. If parents can't control their own kids from doing the stupid stuff that could land them in jail then they shouldn't be aloud to have kids. Plain and simple. Not to sound harsh or anything, kids will do stupid thing and will get in trouble that's a fact. It's how the parents react to these issues. Now a days a parent can't even give their kid a good old fashioned spanking with fear of ending up in jail for child abuse. That is pathetic, There is a line of "ABUSE" and a line of "DISCIPLINE"... Our kids now a days need discipline, they need to be held responsible for what they do. PERIOD... If we don't hold the youth responsible for their actions the cycle will never break. Kids don't understand now a days that if they end up with a felony that's it life over period... Most ex-felons will tell you it's near impossible for them to get ANY job now a days because of their criminal history... So I pose the question... When is enough going to actually be ENOUGH?


Thanks for reading have a nice day.

Private Security as a job

I wanted to take a moment and talk about something very important. PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANIES.

Although you may not notice them they are out there keeping you safe every day. Private Security Companies work in several types of places. Schools, Businesses, Apartments, Factories and many other places. You most likely enter a place where there is some form of private security every day and don't even realize it.

As a job Private Security can be really boring. From a personal stand point it can get so repetitive that the officers almost tend to get to lazy in their work. I for one have had this problem personally and professionally before. With this being said I came up with a list of new things that security officers can do while on the job to help them stay focused and more importantly help keep everyone SAFE!!!!

1) Stay awake (sounds simple right?) A lot of private security companies work odd hours (third shift) in apartment complexes and some businesses. So to stay awake is a MUST for any private security officer at a boring site. To be able to stay awake you must task yourself certain jobs throughout the night. Whether it be checking all the lights in an apartment complex to make sure they are all working properly. Checking fire doors in a business. There are lots of things that can be done to stay awake just have to find something that works for you.
2) Staying focused: A lot of things can happen when you least expect it. Whether it is helping local law enforcement or calling in a fire or a medical incident that is happening at your work site. Staying focused and knowing what to do at that critical moment is crucial to your job.
3) Think it through: When a tough situation comes up you must think it through. Don't jump in to the situation head first because you could end up getting hurt or doing something illegal in the process. As a private security officer you must think before and during any of your actions and thing through what the consequences could be for any actions you could take. Again this sounds simple but a lot of security officers just REACT which is the wrong thing to do.
4) Be professional: Your appearance and personality must remain professional at all times. You must be able to wear many hats so to speak. A lot like police officers who are usually first on site for a lot of incidents we as private security officers are there usually while the problem is still occurring. In any scenario we must remain professional while on site. Whether it is a drunken college student yelling at you or dealing with a disgruntled employee at a business. It is all in how we handle the situation. Remaining professional and being "understanding" can help defuse any situation before it gets out of hand.
5) HAVE FUN: Remember having fun at work (to a point) will help with all of these things. You can still have some sort of fun at work just gotta follow the first 4 steps without causing any problems to do so.

Private security as a job can be very rewarding and very demanding of your personal life and of your time. But in the end to be able to help out one or maybe two people can make it all worth it in the end.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Security in schools

I worked for a brief time as a uniformed security officer in a local school. I have to say that I am surprised that there is not more security in schools. The schools now a days from when I went to school have changed so dramatically. The majority of the kids are still good kids. Yet there are those that would constantly cut class, smoke during lunch. The reason we were brought in to work security is because a kid had brought a firearm to school and left it loaded in his locker. Luckily the kid was never able to use the firearm and was arrested and charged.

Over the years of working security I have seen a trend that really worries me. Businesses, schools whatever will hire a security company to come in because something bad happened or is about to happen. Then when the coast is clear and quiet they will ditch security because "everything is going fine." Do people not understand that there is a reason that things are running so smoothly when they have a security company there? It's a simple fact that the visual presence of a uniformed officer on site makes people less likely to do something illegal or something that could cause damage to the building or it's occupants.

More companies each day think about how to secure and protect their liabilities. Each day they try to cut costs to make more money. Isn't it enough now to understand that keeping your work place / schools safe from the problems that plague our society. With crime and unemployment on the rise more people tend to turn to the easy money (illegal ways) than to buckle down and get a regular job. It's this trend in society that needs to be broke so our kids can grow up the way that we did and so that we can move forward as a nation.

Working in the Cold Weather

Well it's that time of the evening everybody. I've gotta get ready to go brave the cold for a few hours and protect the employees at a local place as they leave for the day.

What a Security Officer should keep in mind when working in cold weather:

1) Dress for the weather (Warm jacket, pants, shirts and socks) Ok now that being said here is what I usually do when getting ready for work in the cold weather. I will put on a pair of under armour long underwear and an under armour shirt. Then will come just my standard uniform pants and shirt. Next depending on how cold out it is I might put on my hooded sweat shirt followed by a down vest (with hood). Then depending again on how cold it is outside I will usually put on my black carhart bibs. Putting the bibs on OVER the down vest helps keep it insulated and stops wind from blowing up inside of it. Next I put on my issued security company jacket and grab a hat / ski mask that says security on it. A good pair of gloves is also a plus to have in this weather and will help keep your hands warm in case you have to act quickly.

2) As far as my assorted gear that I would usually carry with me (pepper spray, flashlight, handcuffs etc.) I will usually take the pepper spray and handcuffs and place them in an easily accessible pocket (chest of the bibs) and the flashlight (XL 50 by Maglite) will be placed in a coat or pants pocket.

Remember you can always take layers of clothes off but you can't run home and get more if you are already at work. So please everybody dress warm for the weather and hopefully these cold weather tips will help you stay warmer when you are working outside.

New Flashlight

So the other day I picked up a new flashlight for work. I had the following things in mind when I purchased my new flashlight. First of all it had to be bright. So I looked at several LED flashlights... Secondly it needed to be easily portable (working an 8-12 hour shift carrying a huge flash light doesn't work out too well). And most importantly I wanted it to have a strobe feature on it.

So after hours of searching on-line and looking at different stores I gave up my old 6 cell Mag-Lite and purchased a brand new MAG-LITE XL50. Now you might be wondering what this little light has to offer. It's a little shorter than the old 2xAA Maglite that I used to keep in my car. This little light is WONDERFUL. I found it to be plenty bright enough (104 Lumens) and plenty of durability built right in to it (it's a mag-lite). It also has a tail cap switch which has 3 functions to it (High, Low and Strobe).

Now many of you will probably be wondering what a strobe light feature is good for. Well in the security business any type of light will help see in to a room. But in the off chance you catch yourself in a situation where you are caught by surprise a flash of a strobe light will definitely give you the advantage to decipher if the subject you are encountering is going to give you trouble or if they are totally innocent. Secondly a strobe feature as I have found out gives you an easy way to signal to police or other agencies that might be trying to locate you.

Now on to the good stuff about this amazing little light I picked up. Besides being bright, durable and having the strobe light I picked it up for around $30.00 at a local store. Not a bad deal at all... Lots of high end flash lights offer similar features to this little mag-lite (XL 50) yet use EXPENSIVE BATTERIES. We all know what I am talking about, the flashlights that use CR123 batteries and such. Well the beauty of this flashlight is that it runs off of AAA batteries (3 of them). I simply went to the store and picked up a pack of re-chargeable batteries to use (about $10.00). Charged the batteries up and the light runs great. Now some of you might be asking WHY RE-CHARGEABLE BATTERIES? I have found that using the Re-chargeable batteries saves LOTS of money. Sure the initial start up cost is going to be a little bit more for the charger and the batteries. But think of it this way... Every time I need to replace the batteries in my flashlight (once a week or so) That will cost me about $3.00 to do so. So with in one month I have spent more money on the batteries than if I bought a new pack of re-chargeable batteries. Makes sense now?

So in my conclusion and after using the new XL 50 for about 2 weeks now I have found the following, The battery life is phenomenal (Mag-lite claims it can run for 8 hours 45 minutes on High and 36 Hours on Low). I have only charged the batteries for the initial time and haven't had a problem yet. The Strobe feature has come in handy a couple of times and the size of the flashlight is perfect for in pockets of a jacket or pants. As a huge bonus I haven't felt weighed down and don't need to carry my big (6 cell) mag-lite everywhere I go anymore. It's a perfect light for working in dark areas and hasn't given me any issues at this point.

Anyone have any other suggestions of good flashlights let me know?

Oh yeah and here's a link to Mag-lite's page for the XL50 so you can learn a little more about it if you want to. http://www.maglite.com/maglite_xl50_led.asp

Hopefully this will work for you as well as it has for me...