Security Guard Equipment Choices for Your Company

As a security guard company one of the many choices that you have to make from day one is how to equip your officers.  When I think about security guard equipment I think of three  categories. Those categories are: 1) Uniforms, 2) Essential Equipment, and 3) Training.

UNIFORMS

When it comes to uniforming your officers there are 1,000’s of choices that you need to make.  Those choices include uniform type, material, quality, or the vendor that you will use. 

Uniform Type: There are three basic types of uniforms for security officers: Hard, Soft, and Tactical.  Hard uniforms are the most common uniforms that security officers wear.  It is the military or police look uniform.  The  Soft uniform is the second most recognized type of uniform.  It usually consists of a sport coat, tie, white shirt, and dress slacks.  It is the preferred uniform for officers fulfilling more of a customer service role.  The Tactical uniform is the least seen type of uniform and for good reason.  Tactical uniforms usually consist of black battle dress uniform (BDUs) or some variant.  Usually newer firms choose these uniforms.  Most of those companies haven’t figured out that security isn’t law enforcement or the military.

Initial Cost: One of the main factors determining what uniform that you will choose is cost.  There are a myriad brands that you can choose, ranging from no name brands to popular names like Elbeco (my personal favorite).  When it comes to uniforms, keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

Vendor:  There are hundreds of uniform vendors to choose from.  I’ve had a chance to work with low-cost retailers like Uniform Warehouse and higher quality retailers like Unitex Direct.  Although using a low-cost retailer may work well for smaller companies, companies like Unitex Direct provide services that low-cost retailers do not.  A great example of this is Unitex Direct’s ability to develop an online store that carries all your company’s uniforms.  By using the customized online store, you can easily place an order and have items shipped within 48 hours.

Maintenance Program: Although most frontline security officers love having a great looking uniform, I will tell you that few will invest their own money in keeping the uniform looking good.  As a result, you must decide how to address the cost of replacing those uniforms.  There are three schools of thought here: 1) Make the officer pay for their own; 2) Build the cost of replacement uniforms into your customer’s billing rate; and 3) Directly bill the customer for the cost of replacement uniforms.  Each option has its own benefits and drawbacks, which we won’t discuss here.

ESSENTIAL SECURITY GUARD EQUIPMENT

Security Guard Management: As a security guard company you know how much information that your officers produce.  That information includes daily activity reports, incident reports, field inspections, time sheets, and tour tracking information just to name some.  If you are still using paper for reports, a wand for tour tracking, and paper timesheets…the 90’s called and they want all their stuff back.  Using tools like OfficerReports.com helps modern organizations drive efficiency by easily collecting, collating, and distributing that information to the appropriate people.

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Pro V2

Less Than Lethal: With the number of stories in the news about police officer and security officer involved shootings, developing a less-than-lethal strategy should be a priority for your company.  Tools, such as Guardian 8’s Pro V2, add a layer of defensive capability that has not been available until recently.

Body Cameras: Because of all the conversations happening in the news about body cameras, they are probably something that you are considering.  Having the ability to accurately capture incidents as they occur is critical in our litigious society.  If you are having a conversation about body cameras, then you should include the Pro V2 in that conversation because of its ability to capture high quality video. Last but not least, with the availability of video recorders on most mobile devices, when paired with incident reporting software, smartphones and tablets also become a viable option as well.

Communications: Previously, because of the cost of smartphones and the associated monthly costs, they could not be considered as standard security guard equipment.  But as the cost of mobile devices and their monthly plans continue to decline, including a mobile device has become a requirement at each of your sites.

TRAINING

Although you may not agree with including training as security guard equipment, I see it as being exactly the same.  After all, you price training into your billing rate just like any other equipment and it is also the most important thing to equip your officers with.  Without training on what is expected of them, nothing else really matters.  In order to deliver that training to most of your officers, who probably work remotely, you should be looking into leveraging online training and testing platforms.  For a quick low-cost solution, check out our blog Give Your Guards Post Orders Tests Over the Web for Free.

When you carefully consider the options that you have and the implications of your choices, you can best position your company for success.  I have seen many companies poorly design their uniform programs, provide their officers with inadequate hard equipment, and even less training.  Those companies are usually not around long, so choose carefully.

 

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By Courtney Sparkman

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