The Security Guard Industry Death Spiral

I am proud to say that I have been working in the security guard industry for over a decade.  During that time I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the most intelligent, capable, dependable, and dedicated professionals that any industry could hope to have.  But over that time I have also noticed what has become a very disturbing pattern of finger-pointing between security guards, security guard buyers, and security guard companies. Security guards blame their company’s for not paying enough and blame their customers for not giving them the respect that they deserve. Customers who buy security guard services blame the security companies for not providing adequate training or staffing posts with guards who are not suitable for the job.  They will also blame their guards for not caring enough about their jobs or the duties that they perform.
Security guard companies lament that their customers refuse to accept billing rate increases despite almost always having a guard on shift.  They also commonly complain that the guards don’t care about their jobs or would rather get paid for staying home. These attitudes and beliefs feed the cycle that has lead to the situation in which we now find our industry.  A situation that I am calling the Security Guard Industry Death Spiral.  Group A blames Group B who blames Group C who then blames Group A.  Where does the cycle end? Things have gotten so bad that some security guard companies are saying that more government regulation of the security guard industry might be necessary.  Is that really the road that we would like to travel?  Although I believe that some government regulation is required to protect the public’s interest, I also believe that it is not the government’s place to improve the  conditions within OUR industry.   The task of “fixing” the security guard industry lies squarely on the shoulders of security guards and more so on the security guard companies that hire them. I believe that the solution comes down to one simple thing, taking responsibility.  As an industry, we must all take responsibility for fixing the things that are broken.  We have the talent, resources, and ability to address every wrong that should be righted.  The biggest challenges that I see facing the security guard industry are:
  1. Consistently identifying and rewarding high performing officers. (i.e. Ralph Day Award)
  2. Consistently providing value added to security guard customers.
  3. Identifying security guard industry best practices and educating security guard buyers of those practices.
  4. Lack of a true dialogue between security guards and their companies.
I would like to end this post with one simple question, which I hope you will take some time to think about and offer an answer to below.  The question is, “Where do we start?” “We have met the enemy and he is us.” – Walt Kelly  security-guard-industry By Courtney Sparkman
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