Who are the best security guards?
Live security guards are a common visible deterrent in and around your local mall, shopping center, marijuana dispensary, office building, and other stores and commercial real estate locations.
Security guards can be a business asset. The best security guards are fully trained and can be valuable in:
- Emergency preparedness and evacuation
- Segway, foot and K9 patrolling
- Customer relations
- Medical emergency response
- Confrontation and high-risk response
- Liability and risk management
- Anti-terrorism strategies
- How to testify properly in court
- In CPR and First Aid
However security guards can also have significant disadvantages. As a result, security guards may be referred to as ‘toy cops’ or second tier security and ignored by sophisticated thieves.
- Security guards are typically an expensive security solution.
- Many guards are not trained and can become a liability when confronting thieves and other criminals.
- A guard can only be in one place at a time.
- Security patrols cover multiple properties and so are only on your site for a limited time.
- Certain areas on business grounds like roofs and alleys may be off-limits to a security guard or patrol.
Security guards can be targets of criminals who cause injuries or fatalities. One study compiled by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services found that security guards are vulnerable.
- The average mall reports 50 – 100 shopping center security guard assault incidents every year.
- Sometimes malls don’t officially report these incidents because they don’t want the public to stop shopping there.
- Nightclubs, residential areas, hospitals and retail centers report the most assaults on security personnel each year.
- 112 security guards were killed on the job in one southern state in 2013.
- Many shopping center security guard officers don’t report incidents because they feel it’s just part of the job
The best security guards combine on-site guards with virtual guards who can complement and fill in the weaknesses above. Video cameras can be placed throughout a property to provide multiple real-time views. Trained operators watch the remote security cameras for suspicious or criminal behavior. The monitors can activate a speaker warning and call an on-site guard or the police. The price of cameras and remote operators is often a fraction of the price of guards. So live video monitoring can supplement or even replace security guards.
Stealth Monitoring and UCIT Online are the leader in live video surveillance in the U.S. and Canada with over 400 employees, 9 offices, and 3 live video monitoring control centers. Stealth proactive video monitoring watches over 15,000 cameras and can detect and deter crime nationwide while reducing security guard and other expenses. A remote surveillance Stealth operator can be part of your full security solution for best security guards.
Please call toll-free (866) 382-3873 or contact Stealth today for more information to protect your shopping center, multifamily apartment, office, warehouse, or other property. Visit our web site to see actual videos of criminals being apprehended at a range of commercial businesses.
