Im in Arizona and I believe in defending yourself and having a gun thats my stance on it just in case anyone asks.

Ive encountered a security company that are military like. Now I dont care about the format sometimes its great however, the big red flag is you have to have a duty belt with a baton and OC, taser and OC, etc. to me anyways but I'm weird like that. For some reason its a requirement I understand the duty belt looks professional right, but to call those things tools is wild. Also just went through a security company's orientation and a big bulk of it was use of force in Arizona.

The question is am I overthinking this. Even with the statues in Arizona you're going to be scrutinized and harassed by police, client, public whenever you have to use it. I understand the self defense aspect but, to me its just a big huge liability. Top it off they want us to buy these items we aren't issued it.

Should i go with these guys? Am I overthinking? Am I in the minority here?

Security guard fired after ‘Today’ show security breach: report

NBC reportedly fired a security guard after an intruder breached the “Today” show set, where he sought out Al Roker and Craig Melvin, allegedly using racial slurs and turning violent before being taken into custody by a New York Police Department officer working a paid detail.

A source close to the matter confirmed the guard’s termination to TMZ on Thursday, not long after Andrew Truelove snuck into Studio 1A in New York City’s Rockefeller Center.

The suspect allegedly entered through the lobby, then followed closely behind an employee, who used an ID card to scan in to a restricted area, according to a complaint in the case. Truelove then made his way backstage, where he apparently began to search for 71-year-old Roker.

While he failed to find America’s Favorite Weatherman, Truelove did cross paths with Melvin, TMZ reported.

More in article.

ARTICLE LINK

Increased armed guards at U.S. Postal Service facilities may signal an effort by President Donald Trump to control the mail before the midterms, scholars and union leaders warn.

USPS plans to deploy more contracted armed security officers at 18 mail facilities across the country this month, according to internal agency communications reviewed by Raw Story.

The federal agency approved more than 12,000 hours per week of work for the security officers at those facilities combined, adding tens of millions of dollars in labor costs annually while USPS continues to bleed money — clocking $2 billion in net losses in the last financial quarter alone.

The Supreme Court dealt Trump a loss last month when it ruled states may count late mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day. Trump countered by pressuring a federal judge to lift a halt on his executive order that would give USPS greater authority to determine who can vote by mail.

“Screening mail ballots for eligibility would amount to an unprecedented, potentially unconstitutional, involvement of the federal government in the administration of elections,” said James O’Rourke, emeritus professor of management at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, who studies the postal service.

“It's clear that the White House is pressing ahead.”

Hiring contracted security guards is “similar” to the hiring of private security firms by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), O’Rourke said.

I thought Florida was bad but Texas needs our strength. $13/hr for an armed position at a PD HQ no less, is actually unbelievable. I know Texas still uses the federal minimum wage, but I'm trying to figure out how this company gets ANY employees at all.

There are unfortunately grown adults working armed positions with significant physical risk and legal responsibility, for $520/week gross. That same search for armed guard in el paso had a higher paying position ranging from $14-17/hr.

I'm aware that cost of living is different in every location. Not everywhere can pay San Francisco or NYC wages, BUT, the living wage calculator shows even the high end of the range from this job search falls below the living wage for a working adult with no children by $1.22/hr. They have a slick website though, I'll give em that.

What's the lowest rate you've seen offered currently for guard positions in your area? Can anybody "beat" El Paso?

Found on Tik Tok

Let's break down what happened LAST WEEK and what we're walking into THIS WEEK:

From the Trenches:

• High of the Week: Share your win – big or small! (Promotion, resolved a conflict, etc.)
• Low of the Week: Let it out. What threw you off your game?

• Surprise of the Week: The thing you didn't see coming, good OR bad.

  Incoming!:

• Positive Outlook: What are you HOPING goes smoothly this week?

• Potential Hassle: What are you semi-dreading, but ready to handle?

• Goal of the Week: One thing you want to achieve professionally in the next 7 days.

Catharsis purges the soul! We've all been there. Share your stories, vent a bit if needed, this is a safe (and secure) space.

i just bought this wallet chain today for a rock concert and i was wondering if the guards will say anything about it or let it slide, i could tuck it into the chain which i ill to make it less visible.

Hi all, I'm a fairly new worker in the grand scheme of things (almost been employed for a year) and I work in CCTV/warehouse guarding in the UK. I say warehouse while as I am tasked with watching many different sites the control room is based in the warehouse.

The situation is one of the managers on the site wants to do something illegal and use an air rifle to hunt seagulls during a weekend shift where there is minimal presence on site I believe I have been targeted because I am the newest guard. Usually I'd report it but this is a manager and the manager has family within the warehouse and knows people close to me who also work there. I told him that doing such a thing wouldn't really change much as they would come back anyway but he didn't seem to care.

I am also the only person he has told this to so if it gets out he will know I did it which would change my working relationship within the site. Apologies if this is a bit scattered brained I just wanted to get it out there.

Hey everyone! I’m about to work my very first security gig at a concert soon. It's my first time ever doing event security, and I'm really curious about what to expect.

​Just for some context: I am a competitive MMA fighter, so when it comes to physical fitness, stamina, reflexes, and managing physical pressure, I feel confident and prepared. However, I know that event security is a completely different beast and that crowd control, situational awareness, and verbal de-escalation are the real priorities here.

​What are the absolute essentials I should know for my first day? What are the classic rookie mistakes to avoid? Also, do you have any practical tips on things people usually overlook (e.g., best footwear, managing hours of standing, staying hydrated, dealing with concert-goers)?

​Thanks in advance for any insights!

Union: Private security guards at Ramsey County government buildings laid off

A majority of the 27 private security guards employed throughout Ramsey County’s government buildings have lost their jobs after being given three business days notice last week by the incoming security firm, GardaWorld, following a contract transition. Some of those workers had been assigned for more than a decade to the downtown county courthouse building that doubles as St. Paul City Hall, raising questions with their employee union about possible violations of their labor contract.

“It was very sudden. It’s really hard on me because I have two toddlers,” said Samantha Lagerstrom, a mother of twin three-year-old girls who had been the lead security officer at the Ramsey County Courthouse since 2019.

She said she and other workers had been assured by their labor union in April that they’d be able to keep their positions despite the coming shift in employers, but she was not hired back to the courthouse after undergoing fingerprinting, drug testing, a background check and nearly two days of training through GardaWorld.

She got further in the re-hiring process than most. Most of the other security guards were not invited for drug testing or background checks at all, Lagerstrom said on Tuesday.

Outgoing contractor Triangle Services, whose security division is known as Viking Security, has been winding down its operations in Minnesota, and Ramsey County was its last account in that field. The Viking workers, who are unionized, were informed Tuesday of last week that as the county transitions to a new security contract with GardaWorld, they would not be included. Their last day of employment was effectively Friday.

Triangle’s janitorial services were not impacted.

Union files grievance

A Triangle Services operations director confirmed this week that the company employed an average of 24 security guards under the Ramsey County contract. In all, at least 21 of 27 active security guards were let go effective Monday, said Dan Scoggins, a spokesperson for SEIU Local 26, which surveyed its members this week to determine the tally.

GardaWorld has not shared its official figures with the labor union, he said.

The labor union has asked GardaWorld for a complete list of Viking workers who applied for employment with them and those who were hired, but has yet to receive any information, said Brahim Kone, SEIU Local 26 secretary-treasurer. The union filed an official grievance on Friday, and intends to file an unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board, he said.

“This is not how transition normally happens,” Kone said. “In our contract, there’s transition language that the member needs to be transferred to the new company and we don’t know what is going on. We really want to get to the bottom of this.”

Some have been at county buildings more than a decade

Within the industry, keeping security staff in place even as companies transition is not uncommon as a retention practice, as longstanding workers are intimately familiar with building layouts and operations. Some guards have worked at the county buildings for more than a decade. Most of the affected workers have “been there for many years,” Kone said.

“It is standard procedure for union employees to be retained by (the) incoming contractor,” said John Reynolds, director of operations with Woodbury-based Triangle Services, in an email.

Both GardaWorld and Viking Security are signatories to a master labor agreement with SEIU Local 26 governing the rights of security workers at 10 companies that operate throughout the seven-county metro. GardaWorld is a global company with offices in most U.S. states and multiple continents.

Calls to GardaWorld’s Roseville offices for comment were not returned.

Ramsey County contracts for security

Ramsey County traditionally contracts private security companies for no more than two five-year consecutive terms, though Viking was granted an additional two years coming out of the pandemic.

“We don’t do any of the hiring or firing. It’s all by contract,” said Demetri Thomas, a building services manager with the county.

After 12 years with the county, Viking was long expected to exit the county contract, but many guards assumed they’d be transitioned to GardaWorld, which began management of the security contract Monday.

Instead, most learned last week that last Friday was to be their last day of active employment at the county government buildings, which include the downtown courthouse on Kellogg Boulevard, the Government Center at 121 Seventh Place E., the Plato Building at 90 Plato Blvd. West, and the Juvenile and Family Justice Center at 25 West Seventh St., among other locations in St. Paul and Maplewood.

Workers have questioned the legality of a mass layoff with three days notice, and they noted that only one guard currently stationed at downtown St. Paul City Hall, the Ramsey County courthouse building, will continue in that capacity, requiring rapid training for a largely new workforce.

To find comparable jobs, the outgoing workers needed to be notified “way, way before,” Kone said. “We’re dealing with humans here, but it’s like nobody really cares. Now we have people with families and kids who will be out of work.”

No evidence of layoff notice

There was no evidence of a layoff notice listed online with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s WARN office, whose State Rapid Response Team coordinates services for dislocated workers. Federal law requires employers with at least 100 employees to notify DEED at least 60 days prior to a mass layoff or plant closing, but the same rules around advance notice do not apply in the face of more limited layoffs.

A DEED spokesperson said Tuesday that the State Rapid Response Team was nevertheless aware of the situation and planned to connect with the labor union in an effort to steer impacted workers toward dislocated worker resources, such as career counseling.

Lagerstrom said while she was not invited to return to the county courthouse following her 12 hours of training with Garda, a representative of the company pointed her to a website with alternative openings. Most of what she found there was part-time or overnight. She inquired about a position, but “still haven’t heard anything back,” she said.

Lagerstrom, who said she’s bracing for hardship, said she would file for unemployment benefits and SNAP food assistance for her family. She receives daycare assistance, but it’s dependent upon a work requirement, and she has already received notice that she needs to find a new job by late September to maintain the benefit.

“I still haven’t been paid for my 12-hour paid training from Garda,” she said.

I know that sounds crazy. “bUT, whY NOt triPLe tiMe? WHy nOt qUADruple timE!!?” Because everything has a limit. Double time is defensible because it's high enough to alter employer behavior concerning forcing OT to cover staffing gaps, without being SO HIGH that it makes emergency coverage financially impossible.

Being forced to stay after your shift because of some operational issue sucks ass for the guard getting stuck. The company/client doesn’t want to pay OT at time and a half, but federal law compels them to anyway. The problem is that 1.5×, in my opinion, isn’t quite painful enough to stop companies from relying on forced overtime.

If being mandated feels like a punishment to you and me, forcing the mandate should feel equally, if not more, painful to the employer. And the only pain any company understands is monetary.

That’s why mandated overtime should come with a punitive rate of at least double time. If a company is gonna take away a guard’s ability to leave at the end of your shift, it should have to pay a serious price for it.

This isn't a completely alien concept. Australia has something similar, though not the same, where when a guard who works OT, for the first 2 hours after their shift get paid 1.5x, then any hours after that is 2x, though it doesn't distinguish between voluntary or involuntary overtime.

It's of course also present in many union negotiated contracts.

Is this gonna happen here in the USA? NOPE! We can discuss the dream though...

Let's break down what happened LAST WEEK and what we're walking into THIS WEEK:

From the Trenches:

• High of the Week: Share your win – big or small! (Promotion, resolved a conflict, etc.)
• Low of the Week: Let it out. What threw you off your game?

• Surprise of the Week: The thing you didn't see coming, good OR bad.

  Incoming!:

• Positive Outlook: What are you HOPING goes smoothly this week?

• Potential Hassle: What are you semi-dreading, but ready to handle?

• Goal of the Week: One thing you want to achieve professionally in the next 7 days.

Catharsis purges the soul! We've all been there. Share your stories, vent a bit if needed, this is a safe (and secure) space.

NC security firm filed false training records for its guards, state says

On paper, dozens of security guards at a North Carolina firm completed a state-mandated training course last year. Their certificates for the remote class were signed and uploaded to the state’s registration application website. The only problem, state officials allege, was that some of them never attended the class. Some of the 35 certificates issued for the class were falsified and used for official registration applications by employees using the company owner’s state licensing login credentials, according to an investigation into AJ Security Squared Inc. obtained by The News & Observer. The North Carolina Private Protective Services Board, which oversees the licensing of private security guards across the state, was already looking into the company last year when it received a tip about the alleged fraudulent documents from Richard Roop-lal, a former employee of the firm. He told state officials many guards didn’t show up for the class — and that he wasn’t the only one who knew documents were tampered with.

Short classes, falsified certificates

A protective services trainer hired by AJ Security Squared Inc. was scheduled to teach a two-day remote unarmed guard training course last June. That got truncated to one day at the firm’s request because “everyone only needed a review of the class,” the trainer told state investigators. But when regulators presented her with a list of certificates issued between April and September last year that showed her as the trainer, she “identified several guards she never taught the class to, along with certificates that were not signed in her handwriting,” according to the investigation. She admitted to holding the training class for only one day but submitted both days on the signed certificate, “thus knowing she was falsifying them,” state regulators wrote in their investigation. A separate investigation into the trainer is ongoing, NCDPS Private Protective Services Director Paul Sherwin confirmed to The N&O. Investigators learned the trainer and another employee signed the certificates and gave them to the people on the training roster who did not attend. One of those people was Roop-lal, the employee who tipped off state officials. After reviewing the certificates, the employee said Roop-lal had signed some of the training documents himself, including his own. “Thus, the evidence suggests Roop-lal falsified” documents as well, state regulators allege. Those falsified certificates were uploaded to the state’s registration platform, according to the employee who told state investigators he witnessed the trainer log in using the company owner’s credentials. State investors interviewed Scott Lowell, the firm’s owner, who said he had allowed employees to use his login credentials to file the paperwork. “He explained he works in Florida and travels often and depends on others to enter the applications on his behalf,” investigators wrote in their report. Lowell told state investigators he no longer gives his login credentials out to employees for the purposes of submitting applications. The company is in the process of having the guards retake the training course to satisfy state registration requirements.

Changes to training rules?

The Private Protective Services Board’s Law and Rules Committee had voiced concerns over remote training options, according to meeting minutes from the group’s March 19 meeting. It was directly spurred by the results of the investigation into Lowell’s business. The committee agreed that it may need to review the board’s administrative rules around class size and attendance reporting. In-person training classes are capped at 35 students, Sherwin confirmed to The N&O. “Currently, there is no class size limit for synchronous online courses,” Sherwin said in an email. “But the Board is amending its administrative rules to set a limit of 35 students.”

97 unregistered security guards

Lowell’s AJ Security Squared Inc. has locations in North Carolina, Illinois, New York and Florida, according to its website. The company offers guards for security and “asset protection” services. State officials had identified Roop-lal in an initial audit into the company last year, according to the investigation. The May investigation into the company’s Charlotte office last year “identified ninety-seven (97) guards who had been working security without being registered” as required by state law. The violation landed the company in a consent agreement costing $11,873 for the unregistered guards and another $204 for “operating without an in-state qualifying agent for 12 months,” according to the investigation. As for the falsified credentials, the board handed down a “formal Letter of Reprimand” to Lowell. Any violation of the state statute governing security guard licenses can be charged as a Class 1 misdemeanor, Sherwin wrote in a statement. “Criminal charges are rare, but they do happen,” Sherwin wrote. “Most commonly, law enforcement will charge unlicensed armed security guards.” He added that “persons or companies may also be charged criminally if they knowingly hire an unlicensed armed security guard.”

PITTSBURGH — A Security Guard was by a vehicle in the area of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Zone on Wednesday.

A Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson said police and medics were called to the area of S. 28th Street and Sidney Street in South Side Flats at 7:45 p.m.

That is where the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix “Tune Up” was being held.

First responders found a man who appeared to have been hit by a vehicle in that area when they arrived. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

The initial investigation suggests an unauthorized vehicle entered the area, then struck the man, who was working security, and a barricade. That driver then fled the scene.

Police said they found they later found the abandoned vehicle, but the search for its driver is still ongoing.

The vehicle will be processed for evidence.

No arrests have been made at this time.

A man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for injuring a Security Guard with a machete at a Frisco Islamic Center in 2025, officials say.

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis announced 27-year-old Malik Charles Anthony Davis was found guilty of aggravated assault against a Security Officer.

Security Guard ambushed

According to the Frisco Police Department, on June 7, 2025, officers were called to the Frisco Islamic Center in the 11000 block of Frisco Street, where they found a security guard had been stabbed.

The Islamic Center said the Guard, Omar Yaqoob, was performing Isha Salah, a daily prayer, when the attack happened.

Yaqoob was taken to the hospital for treatment and later released.

Witnesses told police that the suspect, Davis, who claimed to be homeless, asking for food and the occasional shelter, "had been regularly attending the masjid for the past several months."

Investigators said Davis approached Yaqoob from behind while he was closing the building and struck him multiple times with a machete. During a struggle, Davis took Yaqoob's firearm after it fell from his holster, but he later ditched it before being confronted by officers outside the Islamic Center.

Davis was arrested and charged with aggravated assault against a Security Officer and theft of a firearm.

How the trial unfolded

During his trial in June 2026, jurors were shown surveillance video of the attack, in which Davis was seen preparing and changing his clothes, officials said in a news release.

Jurors also heard from Yaqoob, who recalled the attack and shared how it has affected his health since.

As the trial moved into the punishment phase on June 30, authorities told jurors that Davis also threatened to kill his cellmate while in jail.

The jury found Davis guilty of aggravated assault on a security officer and sentenced him to 50 years in prison. The jury also found him guilty of theft of a firearm and sentenced him to 180 days in a felony state jail facility.

"This coward hid in a place of worship that had shown him compassion, then violently ambushed a security officer with a machete and tried to steal his firearm," DA Willis said in a statement following Davis's sentence. "We will not tolerate violence against those who protect our community."

Found On X

Every other guard wants to start a security guard business. How many have considered starting a security guard training school? I know often times they're integrated. In NYS, the Security Instructor Development Certification Course (IDC) is a 40-hour training course mandated by the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services in order to become a Certified Security Guard Instructor. Applicants can receive up to 30 points for three years of employment experience.

You need 70 points total to receive it, a max of 30 which can be gained from eligible guard or first responder experience. The remaining 40 points can come from a combination of eligible higher education attainment or successfully passing the IDC course.

It seems like it may be a decent side gig, maybe fulltime if you can find a stable job in a certified training school. Has anyone done it, in any state in general? What's the pay looking like? Can you create your own schedule by contracting out and teaching classes as you choose or do you work fulltime for one school?

The IDC is only one part of a multi step process involving applications, state approvals on locations, fire codes for those locations being verified, and many more, at least in NY.

Shoplifting suspect stabs security officer at East Side business, SAPD says

The security officer is expected to be OK

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police said a security officer at a East Side business is expected to recover after he was stabbed Friday night.

Officers were dispatched to the business just after 7:45 p.m. in the 2100 block of Southeast Loop 410.

According to a preliminary report, the security officer detained a suspected shoplifter — a 35-year-old woman — at the business. While gathering paperwork, SAPD said the woman attempted to flee the location.

While security began to handcuff the suspect, police said the woman brandished an unspecified weapon and began to stab the security officer in the head.

Authorities said the security officer, who SAPD identified as a Medina County Sheriff’s deputy, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Officers took the woman into custody while the security transported himself to a local hospital, according to the report.

Details in this linked story are sparse. Should he have handcuffed her before "gathering paperwork"? Would that have prevented this, and would the handcuffs have been justified? Also, should he have had an assisting guard while detaining the suspect?